How are you delivering impactful learning during this pandemic?

The current coronavirus pandemic has thrown up all kinds of questions and challenges around learning delivery.

Questions such as, ‘Can we postpone until June? Is this available online? How is this delivered to the same standard? What platform do they use? How secure is it?’ have not been untypical.

To continue to deliver impactful but appropriate learning to our large police clients, we had to ensure we had everything in place, so we were ready and able to support and advise.

Myself and the team at Premier Partnership sought to understand how long face to face delivery would be impacted.   It was soon apparent that there would be significant uncertainty for some time to come and a need for change was a priority. It became clear that the main way we could initially support our law enforcement agency clients was helping them move to digital learning, to ensure continuity of development opportunities.  We already provided many online or virtual options via our police catalogue, so we could easily move some bookings to these methods of delivery.

Where there was no digital option readily available, we have worked in partnership with our supply chain to identify key subject matter areas, including police specialist subjects, in which learning can be offered digitally. This includes e-learning, webinars, virtual classrooms, online qualification based learning and bespoke digital learning.

As a result, we have been able to update our offering and share the digital catalogue with our clients. With additional communication we have enabled them to continue to procure their learning by moving their requirements to a digital option.

There are some topics that absolutely do not lend themselves to the change, so we looked to postpone and diary to pick up again later in the year. That diary remains active and rather full!

The first programme to be significantly affected was the Certificate in Knowledge of Policing (CKP) for one of my major police clients.

Amidst the Pandemic, the operation of this priority training course for the Police force may have been hindered. As reported on recently by Nick Bradley, MD from our trusted partner Enlighten, we were able to move over 300 recruits to a digital version of CKP, whilst being halfway through their learning!

They truly stepped up and supported a seamless shift to digital learning, which enabled this police force to continue with their PC uplift. We have now completed online delivery to over 300 students, using Zoom with additional videos and online content, with two more cohorts of similar numbers in progress.

It is this type of relationship that has proved to be invaluable in transitioning to digital learning. The relationships with our suppliers are equally important as the relationship with our clients.

Although the learning content can be adapted, it is important to note that the materials often require some changes to ensure learners engagement. Many of our providers have adapted well, some are thriving on this new challenge. Constant communication and collaboration ensure we have their latest products available.

My experience has enabled me to identify that delivery via this medium needs to be managed carefully and consideration given to the delegate, the technology, and the competency of the facilitator.

The digital age has been forced into full swing, and it may take some practice and persistence to adapt to virtual digital training as an alternative to classic classroom learning.

Where facilitators require upskilling, we have been able to offer products to support this development. Although at Premier, we already have many Associates who have the skills to help redesign content, and to deliver digital learning completely.

We have found that digital learning is becoming increasingly in demand; as many workers are taking the opportunity to progress learning and development, get ahead of their yearly plans and avoid the backlog and bottle necks when returning to classroom learning.

I, for one, have certainly learned much more about this method of delivery. The planning and preparation required is as important as the delivery itself.
For example, if you do not provide the support to the delegate to assist with managing their ’home classroom’, it can impact the session.

So, with that in mind we have decided to share our learnings and experiences and have scheduled a round table event.