Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2012 - (Page 42)

“with this platform, we are addressing business problems, but we are also seeking to address a business opportunity.” — andrew cole, colorado department of state ness. The broad idea is that as we move forward into new technology there’s both a requirement and an opportunity to put a good deal of our knowledge online as a service to the people of Colorado.” designing a Learning portal The Colorado Secretary of State’s office is primarily split into two divisions: elections and voting, as well as business and licensing. The office is charged with many areas of focus including the regulation of bingo and raffle across the state, notary public, registration of charities that want to solicit donations, training on how to run a voter registration drive, and business registration, just to name a few. To gain a better perspective on the capacity of customers served, the state of Colorado has roughly half a million business entities active/inactive registered in the state, 10,000 charities required to register by law, 80,000 notaries, and 1,200 games managers, who run bingo and raffle games. Designing a robust learning portal to serve these large business functions was imperative. Over recent years, the Secretary of State’s office has made great strides to ensure that training for elections and voting staff is as convenient and effective as possible. E-learning has been a part of the curriculum for several years now, but prior to online training the Secretary of State’s office conducted classroom training twice a year in various locations around the state. Proving quite time consuming and costly, 42 county clerks — who administer elections at the local level — and their staff were not always able to travel to these training programs, ultimately concluding that a change in delivery method was needed. Training for voter registration drives (or VRDs—third-party groups that run drives to register voters) has also been enhanced in recent years. The participating individuals were also required to travel to the Secretary of State’s office to attend training classes or join via conference call. To alleviate travel and ensure convenience, this practice soon changed. A recorded webinar is now available on the website that VRDs can watch on their own time, and can take a test upon completion. With a notion of developing a learner community platform that would not only serve to train internal staff, but also the Colorado community at large, the Secretary of State’s office turned to LearnSomething to make this idea a reality. The office selected roughly five SMEs on staff with a vast amount of knowledge across the field to identify necessary courses. The SMEs worked with the e-learning team who acted as a resource for instructional design as well as course development. These two groups worked together to identify courses, gather the appropriate content, and then proceed to design and develop the courses. The courses vary in length from a two-minute tutorial to more in-depth programs, presenting a large range of offerings for customers. “Recognizing that our customers often have to work with us, which is where we differ from a traditional business, we want to provide the most convenient services possible,” said Andrew Cole, spokesman for the Colorado Department of State. “A robust e-learning platform helps us meet this objective.” developing Coursework The learner community platform will be utilized broadly by the people of Colorado — essentially anyone who would come into contact with the office. On the business and licensing side this would include anyone from business owners to members of non-profit groups that run bingo games. On the elections side, the audience would include county clerks and their staff, as well as groups that run VRDs. With a training team in place, a long list of coursework has emerged with roughly 30 courses in the pipeline. The two divisions of the Secretary of State’s office will be reaching different audiences through the platform. The elections and voting side is primarily focused on internally training the county clerks and recorders who administer elections throughout Colorado’s 64 counties, as well as their staff. The platform will host coursework on topics such as rules and laws surrounding the proper security for handling of ballots, and how to navigate and use the electronic statewide voter registration system. In a move to reduce the cost of compliance and add value to customers, the development of learning content for the business and licensing side is a new initiative for the office. Programs fall into two general categories: courses that help Training Industry Quarterly, Fall 2012 / A Training Industry, Inc. magazine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2012

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2012
From Where I Sit: Learning Technology Market Segments
Table of Contents
Ad Index
Guest Editor: Supporting the Business of Learning
The Coherent Enterprise
Tracking Informal Learning with Tin Can
Can Your People Trust You?
5 Critical Skills to Survive Tomorrow
Expert Education: Training, Technology & SMEs
Cloud Transition: More to Consider Than Just Security
My Training Dashboard? Which One?
5 Gaming Elements for Effective e-Learning
Let's Get Multi-Platform Training Right
Casebook: Colorado Secretary of State's Office
Tracking Trends: Technology: Supporting Key Initiatives
Tweet Suite
Company News
Closing Arguments: Must-See Technology

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2012