E-Learning Awards 2009 - The Winners
Here are our winners who triumphed at the E-Learning Awards on 12 November 2009, together with the judges' comments. The awards were presented by TV presenter, Angela Lamont and some of our sponsors gave out the last few awards.
Learnosity Voice
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Implementing new technology in a school typically involves massive amounts of time, effort, and money, but the judges picked out Learnosity Voice as an impressive exception. All that students learning a foreign language require with Learnosity Voice is a mobile phone and a computer. For homework, they simply phone the system, enter their PIN, and answer questions posed to them. Completed sessions are then available for the teacher to review and students can also view the sessions online. Students feel empowered and more engaged in the classroom. They enjoy the privacy and freedom of practising oral and conversational skills outside the classroom, and gain a level of confidence that impresses teachers, who can spend more class time on cultural and grammatical objectives.
Learnosity Voice
Gold Winner - Most Innovations New Product or Tool in E-learning
Caspian Learning for Thinking Worlds
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The creation of immersive 3D learning simulations goes hand in hand with the deployment of a small army of highly skilled C++ programmers, a budget in the millions, and a development team of programmers, designers and trainers sitting together week after week. Caspian Learning’s Thinking Worlds does it very differently, putting educationalists rather than programmers at the heart of the authoring process. Even basic users can build robust applications in the timescales and cost levels typical of 2D game development environments. The authoring interface is fused with a visual storyboarding system with easy-to-follow templates; neither requires any programming skill whatsoever. And as the 3D worlds created can be deployed through a web browser as well as standalone files, no local installation is required to use them. In the opinion of the judges, Thinking Worlds is a great product idea that lets learning professionals create sophisticated worlds on their own without any knowledge of coding.
Caspian Learning for Thinking Worlds
Silver Winner - Most Innovative New Product or Tool in E-learning
SuperConnie Software
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Multiple choice answers and drag-and-drop are about as interactive as most maths software gets, with PDFs standing in for the rendering of mathematical expressions onscreen. SuperConnie’s forMath program, on the other hand, allows detailed, individualised diagnosis and feedback that tracks how users arrive at an answer as well as the answer itself. The student is given an expression – a numeric exercise or quadratic equation, say – and then solves it one step at a time. forMath identifies and indicates semantic and syntax errors, will inform the student if there is a quicker way to solve the problem, and offers help via a Hints button. If the author sets no restrictions, students can solve the problem in any way they want as long as it is mathematically correct. And the right solution is always at hand through the Generate button: press it for the answer and all the in-between steps required to reach it. The judges particularly liked the flexibility of detail allowed.
SuperConnie Software
Bronze Winner - Most Innovative New Product or Tool in E-learning
E-FLI
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Adrenaline-packed while in the air and a magnet for students with a love of adventure, skydiving has traditionally been a very different matter on the ground. Instructors tend to offer dry course content and teaching methods, and there are few accurate resources for students to reference in their own time. E-FLI is the world’s only e-learning platform for skydiving, and aims to make the training as much fun as skydiving itself. Its unique and highly creative approach includes a comprehensive range of 3D animations to illustrate clearly what is required of the student during the skydive, where communication between instructor and student is very limited. It offers exceptional customisation and personalisation, and wins an award for its resolute focus on delivering what trainers and learners require.
E-FLI
Gold Winner - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Private Sector
LINE Communications and Ford of Europe
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LINE created an online portal for Ford of Europe, which wanted a better and cheaper way to train and communicate with its European car dealership network. It delivers top-level messages appropriate to all Ford’s European markets as well as all new vehicle launches and information for new salespeople. Acknowledging that salespeople would have little time to spend on learning, LINE designed each e-learning unit to have a notional learning time of 10 minutes. Warm and irreverent animations communicate the key messages in a light-hearted and friendly way. The project had more than 90% take-up by Ford’s 20,000 dealer sales consultants in 21 European markets – an exceptional business result, the judges felt.
LINE Communications and Ford of Europe
Silver Winner - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Private Sector
Legal & General
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By moving from the classroom to a commendably creative e-learning solution to raise fraud awareness among its employees, Legal & General has saved over £1m in classroom costs and reduced the risk to the business. The company’s e-learning team seized this opportunity to break away from traditional templated, text-heavy e-learning with both hands, producing content that engages learners, encourages culture change and provides business benefits, without the need for a huge budget or external providers. A “day in the life” showed key occasions when learners could be a target for fraud. Photostory-style scenarios were used, with examples including real fraud attempts picked up by Legal & General, to bring home the reality of the threat. The content also tests risk awareness, explains how fraud works and shows the correct course of action. Over 95% of staff have now completed the module.
Legal & General
Bronze Winners - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Private Sector
BBC Academy
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Before the Upfront online module was introduced to the BBC’s induction programme, new beginners had to wait for up to three months to be inducted. Upfront has improved the effectiveness of induction, giving new staff a sense of the organisation and its culture quickly, and reducing from three days to two the time required for face-to-face workshop and team events (saving well over £600k in the process). The BBC’s training and development team created a 3D journey through an imaginary BBC that successfully holds the attention of a creative and visually literate audience. The learner-centred module uses videos and interactive exercises that can be stopped, started and repeated, and concludes with a Just A Minute-style quiz hosted by Nicholas Parsons. The technical sophistication and visual quality of 3D elements and the greenscreening are impressive, and the programme also offers an emotional, compelling and persuasive experience. Its excellent use of great resources and highly creative approach to design were what wowed the judges.
BBC Academy
Gold Winner - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Public Sector
Atticmedia in partnership with learndirect
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Atticmedia and learndirect’s entry, the Legula Adventure, had very strong emotional and social objectives. The aim was to improve the numeracy and literacy of children in a fun way. Exciting and appealing to small children, it is also challenging and engaging enough for parents – and the judges – to want to sit down and play it with their child. Users have to find three crystals on a 3D island called Legula, moving between set stopping points as the story progresses where they meet the game characters, solve puzzles and decide how to proceed. The adventure incorporates English and maths-based puzzles, together with an arcade game to retrieve each of the three crystals, which are integrated into the narrative. Some of the puzzles are specifically for the child or parent, others are for both, but almost all contain a difficulty level to challenge a wide range of abilities. The learning also gives parents an option to follow up on their own numeracy and literacy by doing one of the many other learndirect programmes available.
Atticmedia in partnership with learndirect
Silver Winner - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Public Sector
St George's, University of London
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Initially developed as a CD-ROM, St George’s Taste Of Medicine tool evolved into a free, interactive, educational and engaging web portal targeted at secondary school students aged 12 and upwards. Its aim is to scotch the assumption that medical studies are an elitist preserve and to encourage individuals to apply irrespective of their social or cultural background. It provides transparent and appropriate information, advice and guidance in a format that is appealing and accessible to its target audience. The judges liked the demonstration of shifts in learner attitudes and data linked backed to original goals. Anecdotal evidence from a range of stakeholders was particularly powerful.
St George's, University of London
Gold Winner - Excellence in the Production of Learning Content - Not for Profit Sector
Royal Bank of Scotland
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By taking a multilayered individual approach to its e-resource, RBS has maximised efficiency, acceptance and alignment through the use of a single module for its training on recording and resolving customer complaints. The judges praised an inventive design process that helped develop and deliver critical training on a global scale. The module takes into account the disparate global user group and has separate learning paths to direct staff to elements relating specifically to their roles. Dispensing with the one-size-fits-all approach allowed learners to focus on learning relevant to them, typically halving the time taken for completion.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Gold Winner - Meeting the Needs of Compliance for an External Regulator or an Internal Workforce
Learning Innovations, AXA UK
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With environmental management accreditation increasingly important if AXA PPP Healthcare was to win more new business, the company used e-learning to secure the green credentials it needed quickly and cheaply. The training module took no longer than 30 minutes to work through and was successfully completed by nearly 95% of employees (it had an 80% goal) within the target date. It was written from scratch as an e-learning module to minimise direct costs of training and time away for 800 contact centre staff. Before this initiative, AXA PPP had used traditional one-hour trainer-led sessions that had cost much more in direct costs alone.
Learning Innovations, AXA UK
Silver Winner - Meeting the Needs of Compliance for an External Regulator or an Internal Workforce
The Dental Channel
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Continuing professional development is compulsory for dentists and dental technicians. Over a five-year period the former must complete at least 250 hours (at least 75 hours of which are verifiable), while the latter must complete 150 hours (at least 50 hours verifiable). The judges commended the Dental Channel’s provision of an excellent range of resources, and fine mix of multimedia e-learning, journals and meaningful assessments including webinars. Live webinars offer the online equivalent of evening lectures, with webcams, polling and chat ensuring that participants are actively engaged in learning. On-demand webinars provide edited versions of the live events, combined with quizzes and feedback.
The Dental Channel
Bronze Winner - Meeting the Needs of Compliance for an External Regulator or an Internal Workforce
Information Transfer and Care Management Group
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CMG had concluded that its traditional model of face-to-face classroom courses, coaching and observation to train staff in its care homes was flawed. It was expensive, hard to scale, and increased the risk of inadequate staff competencies in a highly regulated sector. Information Transfer’s e-solution created six e-learning modules to cover a range of specialist needs for the Fulfilling Potential project; ultimately there will be 14 modules. Each was accompanied by an offline learning activity and assessment. A focus on learner needs, workflow integration and extensive internal communication drove an enthusiastic wave of adoption and very high approval ratings by CMG staff. It has also cut costs by around £300k a year.
Information Transfer and Care Management Group
Gold Winner - Best E-learning Project Securing Widespread Adoption
Boots UK
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In the year since its launch, e-learning has been taken up by 71% of Boots staff, with 250,000 modules completed – an average of 3.5 per store employee. This exceptional performance impressed the judges. The company invested in e-learning following an employee engagement survey indicating that training consistently fell short of expectations. With around 20% of the workforce over 50 and with limited exposure to e-learning, the e-system puts a premium on user-friendliness. Modules are typically 20 minutes long, headphones are provided for PCs sited in public areas, home access is enabled, there is a dedicated phone/email helpdesk and each store has an e-learning champion. Fostering competition between the stores helped treble user engagement in months.
Boots UK
Silver Winner - Best E-learning Project Securing Widespread Adoption
Inmarkets and Aviva
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With no consistent message in its training and no way of accurately auditing it all, Aviva wanted to create a group-wide e-learning programme covering business security and spanning 20 countries and 16 languages. To win buy-in, it involved line managers and business protection staff in the content development and communication plan to create a single 30-minute course. The judges liked the clear linking of content to business practices, using recognisable examples and realistic scenarios. The roll-out was accompanied by a blaze of publicity. Of the 20,000 employees targeted, 84% completed the training within six weeks. The average mark in the post-course assessments was 92%.
Inmarkets and Aviva
Bronze Winner - Best E-learning Project Securing Widespread Adoption
The British Army in partnership with Epic
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With nearly half its recruits lacking essential numeracy skills, the British Army realised something new was needed. The traditional blend of classroom training and paper-based workbooks simply wasn’t working: the Nintendo DS mobile platform was the solution. Visualisations aid understanding, help demonstrate relevance and overcome language barriers. Recruits are competitive, and repeat the maths games out of a natural desire to improve their score. The judges singled it out as an outstanding example of educationally based gaming in a vital topic.
The British Army in partnership with Epic
Winner - Best Use of Mobile Learning
Autonomy E-learning
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Autonomy showed just how rapidly an urgent and specific need can be addressed. It developed an e-guide for Citröen in just 10 days to solve the problem of car owners claiming on their warranties for car keys that don’t work properly. The car keys can typically be repaired in minutes at the car dealership. Though fast, the repair is fiddly: difficult to describe on paper but easy to master once it has been demonstrated. It took Autonomy just 10 days to create and roll out a short video e-guide explaining the repair. And within six weeks more than 1,600 dealer staff had viewed it. An e-guide that cost less than £4,000 to make is now well on the way to saving Citröen £1m.
Autonomy E-learning
Gold Winner - Best Use of Rapid E-learning Content
Canon and Kineo
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Kineo’s task was to create a short e-learning module to communicate Canon’s key messages and approach to 500 staff attending a major print exhibition. And it was given just 17 days – and £10,000 – to deliver. Kineo’s resourcefulness produced a very high-quality solution on a tight timescale that met the business need. Its module included an interactive stand guide to walk staff through the key features of the Canon show presence, and the use of Moodle to track learner progress and scores.
Canon and Kineo
Silver Winner - Best Use of Rapid E-learning Content
NHS 24
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NHS 24 had to meet an urgent training requirement on a tight budget and went for an in-house solution produced by a very small team. The e-learning module captured the screens and key functionality of NHS 24’s call streaming system so a simulation could be built to let learners practice correct call handling. Learners access the module following attendance at a classroom session. To address difficult staff shift patterns, a range of options, availability and flexibility was built into the module, which the team successfully built within two weeks.
NHS 24
Bronze Winner - Best Use of Rapid E-learning Content
Lloyds Banking Group
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By combining synchronous e-learning using Microsoft Live Meeting as part of an overall blend much admired by the judges, Lloyds’ HBOS arm is on track to cut its accommodation costs by £730,000 a year. The success of the initiative has established synchronous e-learning as a viable and valuable tool within HBOS, and the wider business is keen to adopt it. The system underpins a financial adviser induction programme that lets experienced classroom trainers deliver shorter sessions on the same material, but with more interaction, halving the time it takes to develop a financial adviser to competence. Live training sessions are shorter and more focused than face-to-face and allow HBOS trainers to be in multiple virtual places at once. It has also resulted in a more learner centred experience with less travelling.
Lloyds Banking Group
Gold Winner - Best Use of Synchronous E-learning
Hibernia College
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A private college offering online and blended learning programmes, Hibernia College has used synchronous e-learning to address the needs of its students whatever their domestic, economic, geographic, financial or occupational circumstances. Online synchronous tutorials using AT&T’s Connect web conferencing tool are now an integral part of Hibernia’s design and delivery model. Interaction is controlled by the tutor, with student engagement facilitated through a Raise A Hand button. Learning points are given on an interactive whiteboard that students can view and contribute to from access devices, and the live tutorials are recorded so students can subsequently access them. The college has an impressive 95% completion rate for its online courses. The judges commended the project in extending the traditional academic institution model, providing study opportunities to people who might otherwise be excluded.
Hibernia College
Silver Winner - Best Use of Synchronous E-learning
e-Learning for Healthcare - e-Learning Anaesthesia
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The judges were bowled over by this joint initiative between the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Department of Health. The venture, e-Learning for Healthcare, created the eLearning Anaesthesia (e-LA) project to support the first two years of specialist training in anaesthesia leading to the College Fellowship Examination Part 1. The traditional method of accompanying consultant anaesthetists in their day-to-day work and self-directed reference to textbooks was clearly problematic, with difficulties of access to courses and little pre-exam feedback for students.
e-LA consists of interactive e-learning sessions, exam practice sessions, end-of-module self-assessments and an extensive archive of PDFs. Seven academic modules of related subjects, covering 1,000 20-minute e-sessions, are mapped to the academic requirements of clinical placements. It has been enthusiastically embraced by both trainees and trainers and exceeded all its objectives.
DH e-Learning for Healthcare – e-Learning Anaesthesia
Gold Winner - Best Online or Distance Learning Project
BBC World Service Trust - ZigZag Academy
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The judges felt this offered a fantastic collaboration in a difficult environment. With the Iranian media under strict state control, new media has been spectacularly embraced as a way to circumvent censorship. The BBC World Service Trust set up an online journalism training project for Iran called ZigZag to bring online learning modules into an interactive space that incorporates a blog, a forum, podcasts and social networking. The project promotes freedom of expression and widens the scope for media diversity in Iran through user participation. The first four months of online interaction produced 2,430 discussion threads, averaging 20 comments each.
BBC World Service Trust - ZigZag Academy
Silver Winner - Best Online or Distance Learning Project
Hibernia College – HDAPE
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Hibernia College’s Irish Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education (HDAPE) is a blended programme. Over 55% of the learning experience comes online, including induction, 13 e-learning modules, fortnightly workshops/seminars, graduation and final exams, and the programme also encompasses continuing professional development. It overcomes the serious problem of access to campus-based programmes for those living in remote or rural locations. The success of the programme is clear from the fact that it currently produces around half of Ireland’s qualified primary school teachers.
Hibernia College, Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education
Bronze Winner - Best Online or Distance Learning Project
Caspian Learning / UK Navy Maritime Warfare School
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Caspian produced a two-and-a-half-hour simulation for the Royal Navy for its new recruits. It is an authentic immersive learning environment hitting all the right buttons: innovative, engaging and at a price that can’t help but deliver value for money. The virtual environment gives new recruits a realistic preview of their future conditions and working environment, and helps them get to grips with life onboard a frigate, which can feel claustrophobic, loud and confusing. It does so through a game: on board the ship is a saboteur, and the learner must find and fix the equipment he has sabotaged, locate the saboteur, and disarm his bomb before time runs out. In doing so, the learner explores the frigate and its cramped noisy compartments.
Caspian Learning for the UK Navy Maritime Warfare School
Gold Winner - Best Learning Game, Simulation or Virtual Environment
Venture Simulations
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The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in SimVenture 4. The judges loved this authentic, challenging and engaging simulation that teaches students as young as 14 the basics of starting their own business. They run a business for up to three simulated years, and each month make decisions on how to spend time (theirs and their staff’s) and money on operations, organisation, finance, sales and marketing. The simulation shows the learner their business position and their levels of skill, efficiency, stress, finance and use of time. It appeals to a wide range of users, who learn to appreciate the key aspects of running a business in a risk-free environment. It has been adopted by 350 schools and colleges, and university MBA programmes.
Venture Simulations
Silver Winner - Best Learning Game, Simulation or Virtual Environment
essential.genius
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Goaded by a client who threatened to eat his own liver if he had to take another online multichoice assessment test, essential.genius has come up with a fine, innovative game, based on a 3D interactive pizza restaurant, to assess and teach knowledge on lean business systems. The game, 5S Challenge (the name refers to a organisational strategy of sort, straighten, shine, standardise and sustain), appeals to users’ competitive nature through real-life scenarios rather than abstract jigsaw puzzle-type games. Learners discover the restaurant is disorganised and its staff demotivated, and score points for decisions that improve the business.
essential.genius
Bronze Winner - Best Learning Game, Simulation or Virtual Environment
Aviva UK
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A very small team had to deliver an e-learning approach that would be fully adopted by a geographically diverse group. Its computer-based training course offers a high level of interaction and video narration by real trainers. It has proved highly effective with learners and dispelled the myth that CBT is just a book on screen, or cheap alternative to classroom delivery. The success of the project has enhanced the perceptions of e-learning in the company and the reputation of Aviva in its key partner relationships. It also created cost savings for Aviva and other business benefits. The judges praised the team for improving the way business operates.
Aviva UK
Winner - E-learning Internal Project Team of the Year
Brightwave
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In an extremely competitive category, Brightwave demonstrated a wide and varied portfolio of work of a very high standard. Clients and users gave very positive feedback and comments: the firm completed 60 bespoke projects for 34 clients over the year, with over 90% saying Brightwave had met or exceeded their expectations. Regular staff surveys consistently reveal a happy and motivated workforce. The judges especially liked the excellence in design and development, innovation, demonstrable results and high added value.
Brightwave
Gold Winner - E-learning Development Company of the Year
Nelson Croom
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Statistics are rarely as convincing as this: every single one of Nelson Croom’s customers would recommend the company to other businesses. With an extremely diverse client base, Nelson Croom dismisses the idea of trying to teach people online as a non-starter and looks instead to facilitate their learning. Each learner will have different things they want to learn and different preferences for how they want to learn it, and the company creates resources to suit their learning style. Nelson Croom’s strong results focus and a very high level of long-term customer retention make it an exceptional company.
Nelson Croom
Silver Winner - E-learning Development Company of the Year
Piers Lea - LINE Communications
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Having developed a vision for distance communications and e-learning, Piers Lea has overseen the growth of LINE into an organisation with more than 100 staff, and offices in London, Sheffield and Zurich. He is an outspoken campaigner for aligning the industry behind the key commercial messages of getting more for less, doing more with less and thinking differently. He has repeatedly demonstrated the impact that targeted e-learning and communications solutions can have on strategic business objectives. His clear and powerful vision of how technology-enabled learning and communications can genuinely transform organisations has been the key driver behind LINE’s success over the past 20 years.
Piers Lea - LINE Communications
Winner - E-learning Industry Award or Outstanding Achievment - Individual
Kishor Mistry - Peak Pacific
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Consultant Kishor Mistry has dedicated 25 years of his life to the e-learning world. Much of this time has been spent in the Far East, carving out a first-class reputation within the field of aviation e-learning. His career has tracked through the simulator industry, CBT and more recently e-learning at airline Cathay Pacific. An ardent believer in making things better, he focuses on improving processes, driving cost efficiency and spearheading innovation.
Kishor Mistry - Peak Pacific
Winner - E-learning Industry Award for Outstanding Achievment - Individual
Unicorn Training
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Unicorn Training Group has just celebrated 21 years of delivering quality e-learning to the financial services sector. Consistent revenue and profit growth have been the rewards of delivering engaging, effective and intuitive e-learning tailored to clients’ needs. Unicorn adopts a high level of specialist market focus that has been central to its continued success. Additionally, the strong and enduring relationships with key industry partners has enabled Unicorn to make a significant contribution to the growth of e-learning in their market sectors. Without betting the business on the early adoption of leading-edge technologies, the company has helped pioneer the use of simulation and serious games to produce innovative and engaging e-learning.
Unicorn Training
Winner - E-learning Industry Award for Outstanding Achievment - Corporate