Blended Learning | Face To Face | Instructional Design | Remote Learning

Artificial Intelligence Project

How the Course was Created and Run – In Depth

To create the course, I used the following as a framework to address all of the challenges shown above.

Meeting 1 – Develop Clear and Concise Learning Objectives

With the project team, my first task was to identify the learning objectives and key knowledge required to ensure that the bank’s learners gain the correct knowledge.

Here are the pre-meeting notes I created from the project’s SharePoint folder.

• What does the system do?
• How is it different from what they have now?
• How will this affect their daily routine? (positive and negatives)
• Over time, will the system change?
• The standard instructional design questions for example amount of learners, attitude, education, responsibilities, etc.

In the meeting, I gained all the required knowledge to begin creating the materials.

Onboarding an Expert

As the demographic was specifically for business managers, a system subject matter expert would not be the most suitable person for the role of SME. The majority of the system worked behind user interface as a reporting tool. After reaching out to my network of contacts, I found a former business manager who freelanced for the bank as a trainer.

Meeting 2 – The former Business Manager

Myself and the business manager reviewed what we had from the project team and the current system. We then outlined a potential running order for the course and delivery method.

We were to propose a dual delivery in an interactive podcast style. Chris Moyles used an expert in the background of his radio shows whilst he facilitatates the listener.

At the time, Microsoft Teams did not exist so we proposed Cisco Webex as the delivery method.

Meeting 3 – The Project Team

The project team loved the proposal however there was one massive problem, the system could not be demonstrated as parts of it still did not work. The meeting ended with a potential solution. 

How to System Train Without a System

Based on the time of day, most of the system was accessible. The solution was to take a screen capture of every screen of the web-based interface and put this into Microsoft PowerPoint. Without access to eLearning software, this was the only option. I created hidden hyperlinks to the point where using the system in PowerPoint looked exactly the same when shared over Webex.

No outages, no reliability issues just a fast, reliable demonstration. 

My former Business manager colleague wrote an excellent script that followed the system created.

Meeting 4 – Project Sign-Off and Training Delivery

We co-delivered the training in an office in Birmingham to a great reception. The PowerPoint worked really well and the training being delivered from a former business manager worked much better causing less resistance, especially when answering queries logged by myself.   

The Result

The training recordings were used as mandatory training for business managers and the training materials we created were adapted to face-to-face training.

The international head office of the bank gave us an award, a 5* dining experience, and a cash reward for our work.

Addressing the Challenges:

International Audience:

Audience analysis showed that to be a business manager in this bank, English speaking was mandatory which negated the need for translation.

Overworked Staff

The delivery started with an introduction from my colleague who outlined the benefits of the system and ensured the learner saw him as one of their peer group. This massively improved acceptance of the training.

Resistance to Change:

A great deal of resistance to change was overcome in the first 5 minutes by not delivering the training script straight away. We stated the specific benefits of the system and covered what is “now” and what using the system will do to benefit them. We had a strict 5-minute rule and moved to the training. At two stages in the training, we would answer the questions in the podcast style.

The System was not Complete

As mentioned above, the system simulation created in PowerPoint worked a treat!

TESTIMONIAL