We are now in the third year of an intensive annual compliance-training program for employees of our company, which manufactures and distributes electric wheelchairs, mobility scooters, wheelchairs and motorized chairs. Most of the training has been online, and sometimes in the form of a game show using third-party software to make instructor-led delivery much more fun and engaging. An experienced Medicare compliance consultant labeled our online training the best he's ever seen. I think he was very generous, but, hey, we'll take the compliment!
We have faced several challenges, including quickly evaluating and mastering authoring systems and tools, meeting prescribed learner-contact times (three hours per year), and tracking and reporting completion, just to name a few.
In our most recent round we used a more scenario-based approach, and as a result we have learned some lessons about scenario design, independent of the actual authoring system. Eventually we were able to devise a template to elicit scenario-worthy content from SMEs.
We are a company of about 2,500 employees with annual revenue expected to be $450 million in 2010. Geographically, our home office is located in south-central Texas where we have our sales call center and corporate offices – about two-thirds of our employees. The rest of our employees are spread around the country, operating out of their homes or local distribution centers or retail stores.
Many of our customers are of Medicare age (64+), so we are considered a Medicare provider. Thus, Medicare compliance has always been an integral part of our policies and training, including a Compliance Department that conducts continual internal audits and review boards. In 2007 our compliance program was enhanced significantly, as was the associated training.
Year 1: Approach
The initial requirement was to design, develop, and deliver compliance training to all employees within 120 days due to the newly enhanced compliance program. Employees were required to take two to four hours of training depending on their job. We chose online training as the prudent way to reach all employees nationwide in a relatively short time.
Tools
Before this requirement arose, I had been disenchanted with the authoring system we were using at the time. It was robust and had lots of flexibility, but it was difficult to learn and took a lot of effort to build engaging interactions. So I had been keeping a continuous watch for an authoring tool that would do more of the heavy lifting, enabling us to focus on design while it provided more out-of-the box interactions. Enter Articulate Presenter.
We had just purchased the Articulate Presenter suite when this concerted compliance-training project began, and it was just the tool I needed! (I was an e-Learning shop of one at the time.) Articulate was based on PowerPoint so I could build screens quickly. It had just enough built-in in…
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