Elearning - April/May 2008 - (Page 42)

casestudyonlinetraining System for internal and external training. After careful development, the organization offered online courses using Blackboard products in 2006. The number of court professionals receiving NCSC training increased by 140 percent that first year. UNEXPECTED BENEFITS In addition to reaching more court professionals, the Blackboard platform also delivered surprising advantages internally and externally: >> New partners/grant opportunities – Several federal organizations, including the Bureau of Justice Affairs and the FBI needed online courses Challenge Provide high-quality, easily accessible training to administrative court professionals and judges throughout the U.S. and beyond. Solution Implements the Blackboard Learning System for online training, resulting in more training participants; new partners and grant opportunities; new audiences; and user cost savings. response from our constituents has been, ‘Thank you!’” RETHINKING COURSE DEVELOPMENT With monitoring and tracking capabilities incorporated into the Blackboard platform, ICM developers can now answer questions such as: How long are users spending this multitude of metrics actually prompted a re-examination of how course content is developed. “At first, we were very concerned with keeping the levels of our online courses the same as our face-to-face classes and being careful not to put in too many features or too much content just because we could,” Foster explains. “Now we’re having very different conversations: ‘Maybe we should be demanding something more and something different.’” QUICKLY SUCCESSFUL Due to the speed and enthusiasm with which users respond once they experience the new online training environment, NCSC is making changes to accommodate its successes. For example, now states are being offered block subscriptions for courses for multiple users, and NCSC is charging a fee for online courses via PayPal. “I thought we’d have to add many more products to our training catalog before we’d reach this point,” says Foster. —To learn more about Blackboard’s Professional Education Solutions, visit www.blackboard.com/ProEd. by a very different audience than the organization had expected. In addition to reaching users in urban areas, a large number of users were from tribal courts, a traditionally underrepresented population. “We thought tribal courts wouldn’t be able to access online courses,” Foster explains, “but the metrics from ‘The metrics helped us discover a new constituency and enabled us to get more input to develop material to reach this audience.’ —Ray Foster, NCSC developed and delivered quickly. Foster attributes NCSC’s ability to meet their scheduling demands to the easy-to-use features of the Blackboard Learning System. “The system provides very effective development tools, in particular those for embedding media files, which we see as key elements,” he says. “We can format those along with documents and survey questions, and accomplish it all within one package. It’s easy for us and seamless for our users.” >> New audiences – NCSC can now track various usage metrics, including who is using the system, and at what frequencies and durations. NCSC was surprised to find one of its online courses was being used 42 April / May 2008 Elearning! Blackboard technology actually helped us discover a whole new constituency for what we do and enabled us to get more input to develop material to reach this audience.” >> Cost savings for users – Because much of NCSC’s material is developed through grants and subsidies, the costs of traditional face-to-face classes primarily have impacted attendees in the form of travel, food and lodging expenses, and missed days at work. “The cost savings have been substantial for our customers using online courses,” says Foster. “The overwhelming with a particular item? Are they ignoring a different item because it is inappropriate to their job, or have we designed it poorly? Foster points out http://www.blackboard.com/ProEd

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - April/May 2008

Elearning - April/May 2008 Editor's Note Contents News Targeting Africa Locating Courseware People in the News Upcoming Events Deals Trendlines Web Services Building a Learning Culture Measuring the Learning Experience Making Learning Fun and Social LMS's 2008: What You Need To Know Learning Leader: CA Case Study: AVI Case Study: IBM Case Study: QualComm WBS Case Study: National Center for State Courts Case Study: Grundfos Pumps Case Study: Virginia Tech Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - April/May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.