Prudential has a long history of supporting Service Members and Veterans. The company is proud of its history of support, and wanted to do more to provide awareness of the need to reintegrate our Veterans into the civilian work environment. Prudential’s CEO is leading an initiative that includes an eLearning component targeted to Prudential managers and employees, which could also be leveraged by other corporations and academic institutions. The focus of the program is on issues that relate to Veterans and their transition to civilian life.

In this case-study session, you will explore the process Prudential’s learning organization went through to create the manager’s eLearning program. Through a highly collaborative effort, they addressed the requirements of stakeholders throughout the organization: from the CEO to HR functions, corporate law compliance, and business ethics. You’ll learn some of the challenges faced along the way, discuss the marketing and rollout tactics, and look at the Flash-built final program.

In this session, you will learn:

• The challenges and strategies needed when creating an eLearning program at a large corporation
• How Prudential approached the design and development process
• How internal corporate teams and a vendor shared responsibilities
• How to market and roll out an eLearning program
• Why supporting Veterans is the right thing to do, and the right thing for your business

Audience: Novice to Intermediate participants. This program has no prerequisites – just an interest in gaining more insight and understanding into creating eLearning at a large organization.

Innovation and growth in social media, mobile devices, cloud computing, and other technologies is resulting in the Learning Explosion — the perpetual creation and global distribution of ideas, innovation, and learning. Accessing and applying this knowledge without becoming overwhelmed is essential to personal learning and development. You and your colleagues need to become “Mutant Learners” — rapidly adapting, evolving, and changing to effectively harness today's Learning Explosion.

In this session you will learn how to create a Personal Learning Lab™ — a controlled learning environment where you continuously discover new knowledge, experiment with it, apply it, and organize it into salient concepts that you can easily access on your chosen devices.

In this session, you will learn:

• How you can effectively evolve into a Mutant Learner. (Someone able to thrive in these ever-changing times.)
• The necessary steps to build a Personal Learning Lab
• Tools, tips, and tricks on how to utilize social media and other technology for ongoing learning
• How to organize knowledge into salient concepts that you can easily access on your chosen devices

Audience: This session is for participants at all knowledge and skill levels; however, those who want to harness and effectively apply the onslaught of information now available will be most interested.

The challenge for PETCO is training a global employee base, with a wide range of roles and responsibilities, to embrace a large process and cultural change combined with using a new industry-standard [merchandising and financial planning] system as it relates to their particular role. In sum, PETCO’s challenge involves how to embrace change and transform their daily workflows.

This session presents an approach to solving the training/change implementation dilemma through the exploration of key components of the emBark Initiative: creating a new common language among associates, developing role-based instruction, designing humorous yet effective application training, and refining processes in day-to-day work situations. Participants will leave this session inspired and armed with concrete solutions plus ready-made templates for system implementations and change training.

In this session, you will learn:

• Processes for creating an internal brand for the change/training implementation 
• Methods to develop role-based instruction for processes, systems, and business acumen
• How to identify repeatable patterns in your content development
• When and how to use learning agents, humor, online planners, and interactive PDFs
• About tools such as online planners and interactive communication and performance support PDFs

Audience: Intermediate participants interested in training rollouts on system implementations and/or corporate change management programs. You should be familiar with Adobe Flash and PDFs, instructional design, and eLearning development.

Northeastern collaborated with a Fortune 100 client to deliver a large-scale online training program that focuses on business opportunities for professionals who must understand the language and mindset of the business and C-Suite executives who control corporate IT budgets. This successful online program helped the participants think strategically about enterprise growth and improved productivity. The original ILT program was too costly and lacked the necessary scalability for a worldwide workforce. The new program was delivered entirely online using synchronous and asynchronous technologies. It provided a scalable, cost-efficient means to deliver high quality and effective training to large numbers of participants in over 30 countries. It supported the client's needs by teaching business-centric solutions for selling across industries, and it engaged participants in a just-in-time, highly accessible, and successful training fitting into the client's learning roadmaps.

Participants in this case-study session will learn how to successfully migrate costly and time-consuming face-to-face training to an online environment to improve access and flexibility and reduce costs.

In this session, you will learn:

• The advantages of delivering professional development in an online format
• The steps to migrate existing F2F training to an online delivery format
• Common tools and technologies used to deliver synchronous and asynchronous online professional development
• Considerations for delivering synchronous online professional development worldwide
• The survey data on the effectiveness of online delivery of professional development

Audience: Those interested in learning how to create a scalable program to replace ILT with online approaches.

Stakeholders often come to us asking for courses, but the courses are either overkill or aren’t what is needed. And sometimes they do need “courses,” but only to check off a box. But in either case, developing courses ties up resources (including learners’ time) that they could use for better purposes. When we are asked to build courses, we have a responsibility to challenge and validate that creating a course is the most effective and efficient approach.

This session provides participants with ways to think about being more efficient when allocating course development resources. You’ll learn what questions to ask to get at whether a course is really needed, and whether more efficient options such as Twitter, discussion forums, PDFs, or other lower-tech options would more efficiently (and more effectively) meet learners’ and stakeholders’ real needs. Participants in this session will learn how training is not always the best option for improving performance, and it introduces some other alternatives along with the scenarios that can be most successfully implemented.

In this session, you will learn:

• The questions that you should ask and answer before beginning any learning program
• How to determine if a higher- or lower-tech option is more appropriate
• When a course or non-course is more appropriate
• How to steer stakeholders to more “efficient” options

Audience: Novice-to-intermediate participants should have basic or foundational level of training experience and knowledge.

Many national or international organizations experience communication issues when they distribute key functions across departments, locations, shifts, and time zones. The Tim Hortons Supply Chain faced this issue — teams were working in silos, without a clear understanding of how their decisions and actions could affect other parts of the Supply Chain. Further, when problems arose, individuals were not always aware of who they could contact from other teams to resolve the issues.

This case-study session will describe how Tim Hortons Supply Chain has encouraged communication, collaboration, and teamwork through the Supply Chain Passport program. Launched in February 2010, this program brings together team members from different departments of the Supply Chain for a combination of classroom training, on-the-job experiences, and cross-functional projects. You’ll get a candid look at the process of designing and launching the Supply Chain Passport Program. You will also look at the results, and the ongoing work to improve the program.

In this session, you will learn:

• Techniques for engaging subject matter experts as facilitators
• Strategies for facilitating learning among cross-functional groups
• Sustainment strategies for continuous informal learning on the job
• The benefits of having a highly involved executive as project champion
• The importance of leveraging existing programs in the organization

Audience: Intermediate level. This session can apply to all levels, but participants will gain most value if they have experience in working with large organizations that need to encourage communication across teams.

New leaders in eleven different states come to Almost Family with high levels of technical and clinical skills, however feedback from surveys and the leaders themselves identified the need to provide learning opportunities focused on leadership skills and business-specific acumen.

Session participants will be introduced to a hybrid model highlighting a 12-month program that integrates custom and off-the-shelf eLearning, Web-based synchronous learning, and face-to-face sessions all designed to provide support and employee success. You’ll get a visual model and process map that you and others can use.

In this session, you will learn:

• What a hybrid program could look like
• The rationale for building a 12-month leadership program
• The design process used to craft three tiers, from technical to executive
• How to integrate Web conferencing into this model

Audience: Intermediate participants should have a solid foundation in instructional design, with leadership development a plus.

This case study will review how Operation Lifesaver was able to create an engaging simulated experience for drivers of various types of trucks – from over-the-road semis to local delivery trucks. The end solution provided the experience for truck drivers to take three different trips and encounter various crossing types along the way. The end goal: making it safely to your destination, with the ultimate goal of getting into the “Haul of Fame.”

This case-study session addresses issues including creating engaging learning on a nonprofit budget, driving for behavior change, application vs. knowledge, and increased focus on great design principles and less focus on the tool or the budget. You’ll experience the course yourself, and you’ll learn how a non-profit was able to create such a great experiential learning program. It’s not about the investment or the tool used to create it – it’s about great design principles. Join us and spread the word – together we can help save lives.

In this session, you will learn:

• It doesn't take a huge budget to create an engaging simulation
• Some great design principles to drive performance outcomes
• The meaning of application vs. knowledge
• How to save lives at railway crossings

Audience: No previous knowledge needed.

How do you train busy learners whose performance evaluation is not incumbent upon taking the training? The training must be fast, relevant, effective, and explicitly designed and delivered to generate income for the learner.

This case study session will allow for easy application to multiple situations in which you must design and deliver self-study training. Participants will learn how to analyze and specifically state the WIIFM (what’s in it for me?), which for sales professionals, is income-generation directly related to taking this training. Additionally, the issue of designing training that people will actually use is a key, and you’ll learn the tactical steps to take to obtain management buy-in to ensure that will happen. In a distraction-filled work environment, it’s easy to let training slip, and you’ll walk through the process for creating memorable training.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to define the learner audience and the WIIFM principle
• How to design training to meet the needs of participants who have a range of experience
• How to engage the learner as an active, decision-making participant
• How to assess the blended learning style that will teach the skills best
• How to test training for usability and effective design

Audience: Participants should be familiar with self-study training, have some familiarity with basic instructional design principles, and want to learn about scenario building and creating interactive online training.

Question: How do you improve Customer Service and increase sales when you have 60,000 products, a distributed and seasonal sales team of over 3,500 associates, and very little budget or time to execute an ever-changing list of learning outcomes and priorities? Answer: By empowering the SMEs with the FREE tools, paid services, and supplemental support that lets them create the material for you because they desire to get their information to your employees in order to fund distribution, tracking, and reporting (LMS) costs. So sales associates get unprecedented amounts of product training and information in an easily accessed, digested, and maintained fashion … when and where it is most convenient for them.

This case-study session will describe the opportunity West Marine and its vendors faced. You will learn the solutions and processes they established in order to address those opportunities, and the lessons learned – what worked better than expected and what didn't work.

In this session, you will learn:

• Ways to remove the barriers that may be preventing you from pursuing your eLearning opportunities
• How to leverage partners and other stakeholders to make your eLearning come together
• How to reduce the initial and ongoing costs of your eLearning
• How to improve sales and margins for retailers and/or franchises through eLearning
• How “Guerrilla eLearning” changes behaviors on the fly by not overcomplicating eLearning strategies or projects

Audience: Those who see a training opportunity in their organization and want to learn how they can distribute the load, costs, and complexities that they may be facing.

Beforetheboycott.com hosts a civil rights eLearning developed by Best Buy on behalf of the National Civil Rights Museum. “Before the Boycott: Riding the Bus” allows learners to witness and report on the conditions on segregated Montgomery Alabama buses prior to the 1955-56 Bus Boycott. This session uses this course as a case study to illustrate practical solutions to building experiential eLearning on an extremely small budget.

Participants in this case-study session will learn numerous budget-saving techniques, including using the free version of Sketchup to build a three-dimensional bus environment. This bus model helped determine the eventual interface design through a series of early concept designs. You will also hear how The Library of Congress American Memory Website served as a rich source of pertinent historical and copyright-free images; how they used Adobe Photoshop to integrate the passengers into the bus interior photo, and how they embedded Google Analytics to gather visitor data. Virtually every training department needs to do more with less. The money-saving techniques uncovered during this project can be applied to almost any eLearning solution.

In this session, you will learn:

• How Google Sketchup can speed up prototyping topics that involve specific outdoor or indoor environments
• Ways to alter assets that you have into assets that you need
• How Google Analytics can provide insight into the effectiveness of your content
• “Old school” instructional techniques inspired by text-narrative programs like the Oregon Trail and Hammurabi

Audience: Intermediate participants. Some understanding of Adobe Creative Suite will help, but is not required.

Getting leadership to buy into the idea of using social media tools, or even beginning an online learning program can be challenging. They often believe the learner: 1) Doesn't have the technology, 2) does not know how to use the technology, or 3) is of a generation that doesn't like technology. Even though performance-based evaluations tell us that face-to-face training, in the traditional sense, doesn't “stick” and is expensive, leadership still gravitates to this familiar learning delivery system.

Participants in this session will get solutions to addressing this challenge. Connecting with leaders by using a blended-learning solution to business strategies and goals will help increase senior leadership buy-in. You’ll also learn how to use the survey data to engage leaders as business partners in order to gain support.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create leadership buy-in of blended learning solutions
• How to engage leadership as business partners
• How to dispel the myths about front-line workers and their fear of technology
• Ways to implement blended solutions within the organization

Audience: Participants should have working knowledge of blended learning techniques and social media tools. They should come prepared to think creatively and differently about learning in the 20th century.

Orientation and onboarding requirements can vary greatly, depending on your business. A hospital must provide caregivers with very specific education before they can care for patients. Orientation is a long process that can require weeks or months before the caregiver is fully comfortable in his or her role.

Participants in this case-study session will learn how dedicated online resources were set up to assist new clinical hires and existing staff in referencing the information needed for patient care and education. You’ll learn how the hospital set up a Nursing Portal SharePoint-site as a performance support and eLearning tool, as well as a comprehensive information and resource repository allowing the staff to learn and professionally develop at their own pace. Time spent in lecture was reduced, allowing more time to focus on the essentials.

In this session, you will learn:

• Why utilizing in-house resources provides a better, safer healthcare environment
• How to structure online resources so your new hires and staff can optimize them
• How utilizing an online environment in addition to live sessions provides a richer, more comprehensive orientation
• How you can use a portal as a tool for supporting orientation as well as a resource for experienced staff

Audience: Novice participants should have a basic knowledge of instructional design; a healthcare focus is helpful but not required.

How can you create an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that generates enthusiasm and engagement on a very small budget, using technologies readily available to anyone? In this session, you will see an ARG called Operation Ethics Infiltration used at the 18th National Government Ethics Conference. The main purpose of the game was to encourage engaged conference behavior by rewarding conference attendees for participating in sessions, asking questions, immediately applying knowledge learned, and networking with fellow attendees. You’ll learn about the game's framework, a zero-budget marketing plan, and a simple model that any organization can use to enhance conferences and similar events.

Participants in this case-study session will get a transferrable model for an ARG that you can use in your organizations to create high-impact engagement and enthusiasm using readily available technologies on a tiny budget (Google SMS, conference calls, cell phone video, basic HTML, etc.). You will walk through the game design process, game play considerations, technological options, marketing, how to manage audience limitations, and the lessons learned.

In this session, you will learn:

• That ARGs are an effective way to create high-impact engagement and enthusiasm
• That cost need not be prohibitive to running an effective ARG
• That you already have access to the tools and technologies to create a successful ARG
• How to market and manage an ARG for a large or small audience
• What you need to consider when designing an ARG

Audience: This session is for all potential game designers, regardless of skill level or familiarity with the subject matter.