The ELearning Fieldbook [Electronic resources] : Implementation Lessons and Case Studies from Companies that are Making eLearning Work نسخه متنی

Case 1: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Company Facts and Figures

Industry: Professional Services

Scope of Services and Products: Provides assurance and advisory, tax, and consulting services

Estimated Number of Employees: 119,000

Year e-Learning Introduced: 1996

Offices and Locations: 140 worldwide

Estimated 2002 Revenues: US$12.4 billion

Website: www.deloitte.com

Number of e-Learning Programs in Entire Curriculum: More than 3,000

Introduction

Why e-Learning?

DTT’s Management Solutions group selected an e-learning approach to:

Consistently deliver training on a core methodology to all practitioners globally at a lower cost

Provide any time, any place access to the learning content

Reduce the time-to-train to minimize time spent away from clients

When you think about using e-learning to launch a new product or service, you may visualize a course about a physical product with information on how to use the product and how to support the product among other product specifics. In the case of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s (DTT’s) Express Methodology e-learning program, the product is a proven approach or methodology for performing a key group of consulting services.

The mission of DTT’s Management Solutions (Solutions) group is to provide consulting services to rapidly growing mid-sized enterprises and larger organizations to help them improve their businesses results through process changes enabled by technology. One of their core consulting methodologies is called Express, which outlines Solutions approach for performing Information Technology (IT) Strategy, Package Selection, and Package and Technology Implementation projects. Solutions consultants use the methodology at every step in the consulting process to make their projects more productive and efficient. Therefore, providing effective training on this method is critical to ensuring the delivery of consistent and high quality services to their clients.

In 2001, Solutions launched a development project to create an e-learning approach for delivering learning on the Express Methodology. Moving from their seven-day, instructor-led classroom program, Solutions converted the learning experience to a blended e-learning program—titled The Express Virtual Team Challenge—containing 18 hours of self-paced and live e-learning, and a two day classroom component.

How Was the Program Aligned with the Business?

Conducting IT Strategy, Selection, and Implementation projects for their clients is a major component of Solutions business. All consultants in all of the Solutions practices globally who provide these consulting services must be able to demonstrate proficiency in applying the Express Methodology on their projects.

Before the Express Virtual Team Challenge, only a small percentage of Solutions consultants were able to attend the seven-day, instructor-led training program due to the expense and the geographic challenges involved in program deployment, as well as the volume of the potential audience. Solutions identified e-learning as their answer to bridging the gaps of cost, volume, and geography in delivering this critical learning program to their consultants worldwide.

Using e-learning, they made the course available to all 8,000 consultants around the world. Solutions estimated that previously the learning was only available to a small percentage of their consultants. In addition, using an e-learning format alleviated inconsistencies and varying quality levels in delivering an instructor-led course.

Key Business Drivers

The Express Methodology is one of Solutions’ primary methodologies.

Previously, Express Methodology training was only being delivered to a small percentage of the targeted learners through the instructor-led approach.

Using an e-learning approach consistently provides access to key content for all practitioners globally.

How Was the Program Designed?

The Express Virtual Team Challenge is a blended e-learning program with self-paced e-learning, live e-learning, and classroom components. The design contains highly interactive elements including skill application through case studies, the opportunity to discuss project experiences, and group interactions for team exercises.

Self-Paced e-Learning

The self-paced e-learning course (see Figure 10-1), created in Macromedia Flash, contains five modules:

Express: An Introduction

Express: IT Strategy

Express: Selection

Express: Implementation

Express: Case Studies

Each self-paced module has an assessment to measure the learning, and the results are tracked. Other interactive elements include: pre-concept quizzes with feedback that help the learner determine how much they know about the next topic; practice assignments such as drag and drop exercises; example scenarios where the learner makes decisions and receives feedback on their choices to reinforce key concepts; and links to the Express Methodology.

The Case Studies module presents exercises for the learner to apply the skills gained to a sample project. There are resources available to help the learners complete the interactive exercises, including client interviews, relevant industry data, and opportunities to ask an expert for information. In the case study exercises, the learners make decisions and receive feedback on their choices. They also create sample deliverables and compare their work to sample solutions.

Figure 10-1: Express Methodology e-Learning Home Page

Live e-Learning

Once the self-paced modules were available online, Solutions created a live e-learning component to complement the self-paced course. They use live e-learning to:

Actively manage participation in the course

Add local project examples and additional case study exercises conducted in a virtual team environment

Provide an opportunity for the consultants to interact with their peers and partners and senior managers focusing on these services

Added a team challenge element to the Express Virtual Team Challenge program

Classroom

The new course design also retained a two-day, instructor-led component for extended learning on the Express Implementation module. In the two-day course, participants continue to apply the skills gained in the self-study modules by participating in a case study in a typical project environment. This component is delivered in a variety of flexible options for each location including a choice of live e-learning, a series of mini-sessions delivered over several days, or other approaches best suited to the needs of the local office.

Focused Development for a Global Team

To accomplish the goal of rapid design and development, while incorporating a global view of the content, the projects executive sponsor brought the designers, developers, subject matter experts, and prior course experts from various locations around the world to a central development site in Brussels, Belgium for four weeks.

Having the team together during initial development provided a highly iterative environment where the team members worked together on scope and design, broke into sub-teams to build the components, and regrouped for review sessions. This helped streamline development and decision-making, and provided an effective environment to prototype and incorporate feedback throughout the design process.

Solutions converted the instructor-led courses into storyboards for 18 hours of e-learning in four weeks with a team of 5.5 full-time resources. The Solutions’ team views the approach as a significant time saver in the overall project, estimating that the storyboard process may have taken as many as seven months using another approach. Flash development for the project took an estimated 2,400 hours, and 100additional hours were consumed in the testing, review, and approval process.

Media and Tools

Macromedia Flash to develop the self-paced e-learning modules and assessments

PlaceWare and Centra for the live e-learning components

Audio of quotes from business leaders included in the self-paced e-learning modules

How Was the Program Deployed?

The Virtual Express Team Challenge is deployed both as an independent self-study e-learning program and as a facilitated group study e-learning program through Solutions knowledge management portal.

As an independent self-study program, the five self-paced e-learning modules are available online at any time.

In the facilitated approach, Solutions couples the self-paced e-learning modules with a live e-learning component for up to 20 participants per course. The goals of this blended approach are to:

Facilitate the learning experience

Add additional real-life project examples to the learning

Include a networking and team dimension to the course

Raise completion rates

This is designed to be implemented at the country or office level so that local project experiences can be included.

To select learners for the structured approach, the team reviews professional development plans to identify individuals who plan to take the course. They are sent an invitation from the national service line leader to participate. The invitation contains a link to an introductory Web site with a welcome from the national practice leader explaining the strategic importance for developing expertise in this area and the importance of committing to learning.

The site includes a game, called Who Wants to Be a Partner?, which introduces the course and its importance to the participants. Correct answers move the learners up the career path, and participants receive T-shirts on completion. The site directs the participants to complete the one-hour awareness module as a pre-session exercise and includes logistics information for the scheduled live e-learning components.

Following the pre-session, there are four scheduled live e-learning sessions. In the first session, the facilitator welcomes the participants, reviews the schedule and objectives, and establishes the exercise teams. The three remaining sessions, scheduled at one-week intervals, focus on the three Express modules: IT Strategy, Selection, and Implementation. Participants are asked to budget five hours for learning each week and to complete the corresponding self-paced module and online case exercises. Also, they are assigned additional case exercises to be completed with their virtual teams. These exercises are based on local project examples.

The facilitation team provide ongoing e-mail support throughout each week, and there is an online discussion forum for participants to exchange thoughts and ideas. The virtual teams present their exercise results online during the final session.

Marketing Approach

Course posted on the knowledge management portal

Consultants contacted through a direct e-mail to promote the course

The executive sponsors promote the course with regional practice leaders

Regional practice leaders identify and directly invite participants

Course promoted through newsletter articles, news articles on the portal, and through presentations at various meetings

What Was the Business Impact of the Program?

Solutions estimates that the cost savings realized by conducting the Express Virtual Team Challenge through e-learning paid for development of the e-learning program within one year. In addition to cost savings, they reduced the time required to train from 56 hours to 34, effectively reducing the amount of time spent away from clients for both consultants and their instructors.

Converting the program to an e-learning format also benefits the learners as the program is now available online, any time to all learners—an important benefit for consultants, especially those who may not have had access to the instructor-led course.

The learner feedback for the facilitated approach combining the self-paced e-learning modules, the live e-learning sessions, and the expanded local case studies illustrates the impact and value that the program delivered to the learners:

88 percent prefer the structured approach to the entirely self-paced approach

88 percent value the team discussions

71 percent virtually met and learned from other Solutions professionals

In addition, the course completion rate was an estimated 84 percent using the facilitated approach.

Learner Perspectives

100 percent of participants said the course increased their interest in using the DTT Express Methodology.

100 percent said they gained knowledge they can use immediately on the job.

71 percent said they gained knowledge that could have a long term impact on their career.

Summary

Purpose: The Express Virtual Team Challenge e-learning course enables Solutions consultants to learn about one of the Firm’s primary consulting methodologies-Express for IT Strategy, Selection, and Implementation—and to practice application of the methodology to projects.

Program Structure: The Express Methodology Virtual Team Challenge is a blended e-learning program that contains:

Five self-paced e-learning modules

A facilitated live e-learning component

A two-day classroom component

Number of Learning Hours per Learner: 18 hours of e-learning and 16 hours of classroom learning

Total Number of Hours of Learning in the Program: 34 hours

Number of Learners:

3,000 primary learners worldwide—full course for consultants who deliver IT Strategy, Selection, and Implementation consulting services

5,000 secondary learners worldwide—opportunity for awareness- level learning by completing the Express: An Introduction module for those consultants interested in learning more about the services and service lines supported with the Express Methodology

Completion Requirements:

This course is intended for all consultants who deliver IT Strategy, Selection, and Implementation consulting services

Media and Tools:

Macromedia Flash

PlaceWare

Centra

Audio recordings

Deployment Mechanism: The Express Team Virtual Challenge is deployed online through the DTT Solutions knowledge management portal

Lessons Learned

The approach of bringing designers, developers, and subject matter experts together in a single location for focused development, streamlines the process and shortens development time. On The Express Virtual Team Challenge project, they used this approach for the design phase only. In a subsequent project, Solutions used the approach for both the design and testing phases. The development lifecycle for the second project was shortened further, and they plan to employ that technique for future projects.

Solutions found that a large majority of participants prefer the structured, facilitated approach over an entirely self-paced learning approach. In addition to user satisfaction, this approach has led to a high course completion rate in a defined period of time. One suggested area for improvement is to expand the course time and live e-learning sessions to allow for reflection and discussion of the group exercises.

From a technical perspective, Solutions worked with their IT organization early in their process to plan the development structure, deployment, and integration aspects. However, they did encounter an implementation challenge later in the process during installation of the development version of the course in the production environment. Although the issue was resolved, the lesson they learned is to not only consult with IT early, but also to consult with them on a detailed level throughout the development and testing processes.