Judicious Use of Quality e-Learning Greatly Improves a Blended Training Program

Through growth and acquisition, a specific Biotech company was hiring large numbers of new staff in the area of manufacturing.

Each of the four global sites had its own basic skills program, but these programs varied in regards to content, scope, and delivery methods. The company needed to develop a method of consistent training that also had a global reach. In addition, this program needed to be scaleable in regard to audience size. And it needed to promote a foundational level of knowledge, terminology, and culture that could help the company achieve business flexibility and staff mobility.

A blended learning program was designed to train new hires at each of this Biotech company’s five global manufacturing sites. This curriculum is the first phase of an integrated approach to career planning and training for Manufacturing staff.

The curriculum contains 38 modules and is delivered over a 20-day span. All of the modules feature a fully blended approach to learning and delivery. Lecture, labs, group activities, e-Learning, video, and assessments all combine to enable initial content delivery and subsequent reinforcement and practice. e-Learning is prominent, as the curriculum features 13 Web-Based Training (WBT) courses and six Simulations. WBTs were chosen to present conceptual material, particularly content that benefits from a visual treatment. The WBTs allowed for practice and the opportunity to drill down to multiple layers of information while enabling learners to move at their own pace. The WBTs were structured into 3-5 minute lessons with a linear sequence but open architecture. Interactive exercises and progress checks gauged learning and enabled reinforcement. Simulations were chosen for content suited to kinesthetic learning, enabling hands-on reinforcement and creating an environment to explore when real-life mistakes would have been dangerous or costly. Highly interactive and exploratory, the simulations were designed less to model reality than to highlight key concepts. They accomplished this with their unique ability to expand or compress time and to simultaneously provide both microscopic detail and macroscopic overview. The e-Learning, which has been enthusiastically embraced by program participants, was valuable not only instructionally, but also at satisfying the Biotech company’s need for scalability and consistent delivery.

The most telling evidence of the impact of the program may be this: In the highly demanding world of biomanufacturing, where staff time is so precious, company management across three different functions has elected to require that their staff attend this curriuclum program. This decision was based in part on the obvious, anecdotal response from class participants. The other impetus for the requirement is testified to by the following organizational metrics:

A sampling of Level 1 data compiled from program participants over the last 18 months shows that:

• 95% of all participants Agree or Strongly Agree that the blended curriculum met its instructional objectives.
• 95% of all participants Agree or Strongly Agree that the WBTs and Simulations were effective.
• 96% of all participants Agree or Strongly Agree that the program improved their knowledge.
• 95% of all participants Agree or Strongly Agree that they were satisfied with the curriculum.

Moreover, data comparing the results of pre- and post-assessments indicate a significant increase in knowledge. Overall, the post-assessment pass rate is 28% higher than the pre-test level. Comparisons of participant scores on individual modules indicate that some of the more difficult and complicated modules register a remarkable 40% improvement in assessment scores.

This Biotech company also instituted a Level 3 evaluation of the curriculum. A baseline survey was administered prior to program rollout and each company site has been monitored post-rollout to identify changes in staff knowledge, skills, and confidence. The post-rollout results are striking. Prior to the program, Supervisors indicated that 73% of their new hires had a “Beginner” level of task knowledge. Following program rollout, Supervisors rated only 18% of their new hires as “Beginners.” Pre-program, Supervisors stated that only 15% of their new hires were “Ready to Perform” certain key tasks without additional training. Post-program, Supervisors indicated that 27% of new hires were now ready to tackle these key tasks without further training. And finally, in the important area of employee confidence, Supervisors said that before the global Basic Skills for Manufacturing program rolled out, only 26% of their new hires returned from their basic training “confident in their ability to perform assigned tasks.” Post-program, Supervisors stated that 67% of their new hires returned from their Basic Skills for Manufacturing training “confident in their ability to perform assigned tasks.” That’s eloquent testimony to the real-world impact of the curriculum.