Case Study: Enterprise Learning Management Project
Case study: Enterprise learning management project
Janet Elms-Smith, Manager,Business Line
Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management
Northern Sydney Institute
Interviewed December 2008
Drivers of change
The Enterprise Learning Management Project was a change management project that looked at moving our teachers out of a strictly college-based delivery model, particularly for apprentices and particularly apprentice cooks in the hospitality area. It focused on profiling enterprises and actually delivering some of the competencies in the workplace as well as in the college.
Certainly government priorities are to be more involved in industry. Our Training Packages are very workplace focused. Also our feedback from industry was that we weren't as current as we could be, so it was really focused on engaging more with enterprises and employers.
There was also a project that was done by TAFE South Australia which was very successful, and a number of our staff heard about that at conferences and they were very interested in it. So it was also driven by some of our teachers as well. They were more interested in getting into the workplace and having more involvement there.
The objective of the project was really to implement customised training programs for individuals, whether they were apprentices or people working in industry — which included a mix of both college-based, workplace delivery and assessment, using some flexible resources. It was about enhancing the experience and activities that were really happening in the workplace and matching those to the competencies that the students needed to achieve.
Project approach
I think the main challenges were actually getting teachers out of the classroom and engaging with industry. They really wanted to do it, but how do you go about approaching an organisation? Do you cold call them, or do you do it through the apprentice and what do you say, what are they interested in? So it was really about how do you actually have a professional conversation with industry to make sure that what you are offering them is what they need? So that was probably the biggest challenge.
First of all we went through a fairly involved training program, which was really workshop-based with using a TAFE South Australian strategy and also Sydney Institute, they had implemented a similar program. So it was really a program where best practice was actually promoted, and how other people had dealt with it was discussed, so there were lots of questions and so forth. People actually gained good relationships with people across other Institutes in South Australia, so they had people they could contact; they learned about their experiences.
The other thing was actually going out and doing it. So there was a bit of a gap between the learning and the doing. We went out as a group to a restaurant called Garfish at Manly, they were very supportive of the program, and we worked through that as a group, so we actually got to understand what their particular needs were. They were really interested in what was in it, mostly for the apprentice and how it would enhance their learning.
After we had done the training, we had a small team of people who worked collaboratively and they did,like, trials. They went out and selected a few people who were in industry and met with their employers. They talked to people they knew. Some people were very open and amenable to the project, others really didn't want to know about it, because they were too busy and thought there would be additional work for them. So they really did spend a lot of time actually engaging with employers and getting a few knockbacks, which was demoralising I guess but also helped in trying to understand what does industry want.
Project challenges
There were a few challenges, first of all getting our staff engaged. We actually had 12 people in the initial team and the workshops and actually allocating five days of training and getting them together at the same time was not only challenging, but it was also, there were significant costs involved in that. In terms of funding the project, we worked through the Institute’s business planning process, so on an annual basis we put in for funding for projects, and this was a high priority, so we did manage to get some funding to start with.
And then organising trainers was a challenge as well, but we worked closely with TAFE South Australia and Sydney Institute to arrange that. So it was all pulled together really at the end of last year, and getting staff engaged as well was another thing — there were a lot of questions and getting the information out. There were a lot of unknowns, but in the end it worked really well getting the staff together, and making that commitment. Then the ongoing project, once again, those similar challenges is getting people together at the same time, or communication’s always a challenge. We are actually working with SharePoint technology to do that.
There are significant barriers to change; there are staff who weren't engaged and perhaps a little cynical and concerned about change — change from traditional delivery — and I think getting over that was once again through their colleagues who were actually engaged and invigorated through doing something different, and they are the best advocates, so that’s one of them.
I guess engaging with senior management as well, in actually communicating what you are doing is a challenge. You’ve really got to get everybody's buy in — so that is really important, you need to be, I guess, a little bit political there.
Really I guess one of the critical challenges is that we have a great program and we know that industry want us to be more engaged, but actually getting their buy-in sometimes is difficult. So you’ve actually got to pick people and pick businesses who will work with you rather than trying to engage everybody.
From a cultural prospective, the project was very challenging because we tend to be very hierarchical,we have our ways of doing things, very structured, and it really challenged that.
It involved very much thinking about things differently, but I think there was a great need for the change and the staff involved in the project recognised that, and that really kick-started their involvement and their commitment.It was also an opportunity to rekindle their passion and their connection with their counterparts — the people they were before they came into teaching — and to be back in that high pressure kitchen environment and to see first-hand what is happening in terms of new and exciting dishes and so forth. So it was a really good opportunity for them to move out of that hierarchical type of culture.
The sustainability of the project was critical. We were funded for a very short time, so really in terms of maintaining the project and continuing it on and making it part of the way that we do business, it was important to look at how it would be funded. Really that has to happen within our normal budget so it has to be cost-effective and we need to support that with the way that our section’s run.
Project stages
The stages of the project, well first of all the implementation and the achievement of the strategy is ongoing; it’s certainly not there, it’s continuing to evolve. But the way we worked, the way we staged the project, is by running workshops for staff — that was in late 2007 and that involved getting about 12 staff involved, engaging with TAFE South Australia and Sydney Institute.
Then we established a small team to work on the project and they were involved predominantly in the early stages of developing resources to support the delivery, coming up with ideas, engaging in the workplace and really starting to formulate a strategy.
A SharePoint site was established fairly early to share all of the resources and information. A brochure has been developed, so that we can actually walk into a workplace and have something that is succinct and visually represents what we are doing.
And then the focus in the last six months has been actually the implementation and being in the workplace with individuals. That has been a very customised learning approach on an individual basis.
And then the next stage is really coming up with a more formalised approach so we can provide services to larger groups of students and continue to work with our enterprises. Because once we’ve worked with one restaurant, for example, we understand what goes on in that restaurant; you don't have to go through the process again, so we can actually look at putting more students or more of their apprentices through the program. So that’s where we are really up to with the project now.
Professional learning needs
There was a review of the Training Package, so what the real requirements are of assessment in the Training Package, looking at employability skills, as well as the assessment of competency — how that can be achieved in the workplace as opposed to a TAFE kitchen or classroom.
The types of resources that you can actually use — we are using some flexible resources, print-based and CD Rom resources to support that learning.
There was training in actually assessing what can happen in the workplace, so rather than going out and assessing the physical competency being done at a particular point in time, there was a focus on collection of evidence, and also assessing what the workplace is capable of doing. So for example they reviewed the menus and the preparation lists and so forth, to say well if the apprentice goes through and does these three items then they’ve actually covered a component of a competency.
Evaluation and outcomes
The way that I guess I've evaluated the project at this point of time is the level of engagement of staff and what they are doing and how they are doing it, so I see that is a real success factor. I think there was the opportunity of actually just being together collectively and I think they are all very passionate about what they do, they are all very passionate about the industry that they’ve come from, and the very best for their apprentices and people in the workplace. I think that really brought everyone together. It was an opportunity to really flesh that out and develop strategies to work more closely with industry and not feel as though they were really just tied to the classroom.
We haven't really focused so much on quantity of students going through and ASH at this point and costs, but that will become an issue in the future — that we are actually doing things more effectively and more efficiently. The satisfaction of the people participating in the program is critical.
The greatest results that I believe we’ve achieved through the program is we had a hotel come to us about training and assessment of 100 existing worker trainees across Australia and we were able to adapt and use the model to take those people on and do it with confidence. So that’s, you don't necessarily plan to do that, but it happens. So that has been a great success and I guess winning new business is a success factor.
I actually put myself through the same program as the teachers and it was a real eye-opener for me. I was looking in more depth at the Training Package and the assessment requirements and so I am very focused on those. It’s been a great opportunity to force myself to engage more with industry; always ask the questions. I guess thebiggest learning, the greatest learning that I’ve hadis the power of staff engagement and their involvement, and I’ve been really able to step back more, so it's less of a control thing and more of a ‘enjoy the ride’ sort of thing, because the creativity, the joint creativity of the staff involved has been one of the greatest learning experiences for me.