Sun iForce services programme

The Brief

Sun were focusing on improving their Business Partners' services sales skills, and wanted to deliver a training programme to all Partners worldwide. A classroom-training programme had been developed, but the time and costs to rollout this training worldwide was prohibitive, so Sun was seeking alternative solutions.

eLearning4all were contacted to produce an eLearning solution to assist this process. In producing this we needed to observe the following limitations:

• Due to the globally dispersed nature of the Partner network, Internet access would be out of scope for some continents due to widely differing service levels; thus the client was keen on a CD-ROM format for the solution. There were several team/group activities within the classroom course. These needed to be replaced with a media based alternative that allowed Partners to fully explore the learning points and immerse themselves in the content.
  
  
• Language and grammar were of critical importance as this application was for worldwide distribution. The client wanted the voice over in English.

Re-engineering

Our key focus in re-engineering the classroom content for eLearning was bringing the content (particularly the group activities) to life on-screen.

The complete program was made up of 4 separate modules, the second of which was very 'data intensive'.

Classroom activities required considerable re-thinking as they seldom migrate to the eLearning environment easily. One of the key reasons for this is that the role of the trainer or facilitator can often pass as an advocate, utilising subtle yet powerful influencing skills. Clearly, these skills are not available in the on-line environment outside of virtual classrooms, so a new emphasis needed to be found. We achieved this by turning the tables on the scenario. We took the user out of the 'pupil' role and into a 'neutral' one by asking them to respond to questions from role-play activity. The user undertook the role of observer and had to react to the dialogue in the role-play and suggest responses that would bring about a successful outcome for the activity. This gave the user responsibility for driving the 'desirable' outcome.

Next, we built in interactions as early as possible. This would help the user get a feel for the environment and the 'rules of engagement'.

In this project there were several large activities, which had been delivered as team events, buzz groups and facilitation in the classroom version of the course. We wanted to maintain the high energy levels of these activities but needed to rethink how they were delivered. Our solution was to develop separate activities that were linked into a main theme and which built upon each other in levels.

We also wanted to make the activities stand out for the user. To achieve this we developed a photo-story approach using a voice-over that was embedded in the CD-ROM. This provided an engaging interaction that delivered a powerful learning experience but didn't require streaming.