A SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
A Case Study on Our Project for an Agrotechnology Major
Rapid eLearning Solutions to Fast-Track Employee Learning
Train your learners anytime, anywhere, in any format, on any device!
THE SUMMARY
The Challenge: Develop training on Sustainability to introduce employees to Sustainable Agriculture and assess its development process and user acceptance. The main challenge was educating client stakeholders on the effectiveness of interactive eLearning.
CommLab India’s Solution: A highly interactive eLearning module with:
- Discovery interactions
- Concept-process animations
- Demos of applicable best practices
- Opportunities for practice and feedback
- Interactivities and assessments
The Result: Increased awareness of Sustainable Agriculture in employees and readiness to adopt such initiatives.
THE CLIENT
Our client is a leading science-based agriculture company, helping millions of farmers around the world to grow safe and nutritious food, while taking care of the planet by fighting climate change. With 30,000 employees in more than 90 countries, they help improve crop productivity and make farming more efficient by helping farmers provide healthy high-quality food, safely and sustainably.
Their mission is to bring positive change to people’s lives – from healthy soil to better vegetables on the shelf, from farmers’ incomes to fair labor practices. They also invest in researching into more sustainable agriculture for the benefit of farmers, society, and the environment.
THE RELATIONSHIP
The client first approached CommLab India through Elearning Industry, back in 2017. They chose to try us out as we are one of the very few eLearning vendors offering multiple services under one roof – classroom to eLearning conversion, Flash to HTML5 conversion, eLearning translations, and LMS services.
Our first project with the client involved rapid development. It required CommLab India to develop an eLearning course and a video from the storyboard and Storyline template provided by them. They appreciated the quality and speed of our work and continued to partner with us over the years on projects that included translations, PPT visualization and enhancements, classroom to eLearning conversions, rapid eLearning development, microlearning modules, software simulations, and custom video creation.
It was Commlab India’s quality, responsiveness, speed of execution, 24/7 availability, and expertise in most of the popular eLearning authoring tools (Articulate, Lectora, Captivate, iSpring, dominKnow, etc.) that helped us to be numbered among the client’s approved development partners.
We had started with one stakeholder and one small rapid development project in 2017. Today, we work with around 24 stakeholders, having partnered with them on 75 projects.
THE REQUIREMENT
The client was working with well-known universities and academic experts to develop content on Sustainable Agriculture. When it was time to train their employees, they were exploring online learning modalities and approached CommLab India.
They wanted to develop a full academy on “Sustainable Agriculture” that included around 13 topics.
How does a leading science-based agtech company introduce their learners to sustainable agriculture?
Through an eLearning ‘Sustainability Overview’ module! This initial introductory digital module will be used to assess the development process and user acceptance.
These courses were to be hosted on their LMS and other possible platforms and were to be accessed through their new LXP – Learning Edge.
The development of the topics in the academy was to be spread across a few years, starting 2021.
THE SOLUTION
The team that worked on the project included a dedicated project manager, a senior instructional designer, a visual designer, and an eLearning developer, all of them guided by the Director, Learning Solutions at CommLab India.
We used a high-energy splash entry to capture the learner’s attention and provided a fun and colorful “journey map” that allowed them to explore different topics within the course. Text and/or icons on the map were used to represent different elements in the content as went on their journey. A visual indicator helped them keep track their progress (and also increased motivation).
The core content was presented in a highly interactive manner with the help of:
- Discovery interactions
- Concept-process animations
- Demonstration/role modeling of applicable best practices
- Context-based, interactive practice with coaching and feedback
- Knowledge activities/assessments based on the objectives and content
The authoring tool Articulate Storyline 360 was used for course development.
The Challenges & Solutions
The team that was formed from the client’s side for this project comprised members from different divisions within the company. Most of them were new to eLearning, and the few who had some knowledge about it understood it to be a ‘video’. The biggest challenge we faced was making them understand what eLearning is and how an interactive module is way better than passively watching a 20-30-minute video without any interactivities. We had to take the team through different instructional strategies and develop multiple prototypes (both non-functional and functional) to bring everyone on the same page.
The review process was also challenging with teams spread across the globe and everyone having a different opinion and feedback! The point of contact at the client’s end found it very difficult to coordinate all this and provide a consolidated feedback. So, we changed the review approach and mode of communication.
A group was created in MS Teams for each training topic with members from both the client’s side and our development team. Content was discussed and finalized through stand-up calls, weekly calls, content review meetings etc.
Storyboards were reviewed in real-time by all users – with developers posting a few slides daily in the shared drive. The client reviewers left comments and feedback which was either accepted or rejected by the final authority. Feedback was implemented based on the final authority. All users were instantly notified about the feedback and its implementation. A similar process was followed for course reviews also with the online Storyline Review link.
This helped smoothen the otherwise rough execution path and bring the project to a smooth close.
THE RESULTS
Increased awareness of Sustainable Agriculture in employees and readiness to adopt such initiatives.
Rapid eLearning Solutions to Fast-Track Employee Learning
Train your learners anytime, anywhere, in any format, on any device!