On 18 October 2010, new guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) will be published by the American Heart Association (AHA). The latest CPR and ECC Guidelines came out in 2005, so over 4 years of research has gone in to the updated guidelines.

According to AHA documentation the ’2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC are based strictly on the science consensus reached by physicians, nurses, scientists, researchers and EMS professionals from around the world.’ The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR)  – a body of seven international resuscitation organizations – AHA, ERC, IAHF, HSFC, ANZCOR, RCSA, RCA – consider ‘conflict of interest of the utmost importance in maintaining the integrity of the evidence evaluation process.’

What do the changes mean?
Lately I’ve spoken to many health professionals in the compliance industry, who have been gearing up for these changes all year. Many indicate this is an opportunity to shift some of the classroom learning to online using a learning management system and feel it would be a mistake not to move online as many competitors are already making the switch.

No hints have been given as to exactly what the updates will be. However, as with the last update in 2005, they will inevitably involve practical change. For compliance purposes there may well be new techniques to learn and it will be necessary to acquire new training material. For more information it’s worth checking out the 6 August Press Release from AHA available here.

The document below also gives a very useful overview on why things are changing, who makes the changes and what you can expect from the new guidelines:

The major obstacle for those wanting to move their learning programs online is content. Classroom-based or Instructor Led Training could have been the norm in a company for years, but getting that content in to an online format and making it work is a whole different story.

We often have the ‘content discussion’ with clients, and content is not our area of expertise (ours is the upload, delivery and tracking of said content). But in order for people to get to the stage where they’re ready to decide on a Learning Management System (LMS), they first need to have their content sorted or there will be nothing to put in the LMS, which equates to paying money for something you cannot use. Not so smart.

Every so often I’ll have someone ask for a list of vendors who provide pre-built, plug and play compliance training modules to put in to courses. I spent a few days researching vendors and I was surprised at how difficult it was to find this type of content. There are of course lots of companies who custom build entire training courses for fairly large sums of money, but companies offering off-the-shelf videos, interactive content, audio and assessments that fit the bill when it comes to compliance training, are not so easy to find. [Hence, why I wrote the post Where is the Marketplace for eLearning Content? back in October.]

I’ve listed the websites that I have found and currently recommend. If you are a vendor of this type of content not mentioned on the list below, leave a message in the comments section and I promise to include you on all my client recommendations moving forward:

Australia

• Video Education Australasia (VEA) – https://www.vea.com.au/
• Training Point.net: http://www.trainingpoint.net
• Big Red Sky: http://www.bigredsky.com/index.php?page=training
• Training Video Store: http://www.trainingvideostore.com.au
• Change Factory – ‘Helping Customers Buy’: http://www.changefactory.com.au/training
• Australia Building Codes Board: https://www.abcb.gov.au/shop/
• Australian Flexible Learning Framework – www.flexiblelearning.net.au

UK

• Training Content for Trainers: http://www.trainingcontentfortrainers.co.uk
• Glasstap: https://www.trainerslibrary.com
• Video Arts: http://www.videoarts.co.uk

USA

• Business Training Media: http://www.businesstrainingmedia.com
• Silk Web Consulting: http://www.silkwebconsulting.com/trainingCourses.html
• Carlton’s Training: http://www.carltonstraining.com
• Skillsoft: http://www.skillsoft.com
• ManageTrainLearn: http://www.managetrainlearn.com/product-list/mtl-online-courses
• Open College: http://www.opencollege.com
• Syberworks Off the Shelf Content Library: http://www.syberworks.com/courses.htm
• Hybrid eLearning: http://www.courseavenue.com/hybrid-elearning.aspx

There is also more information to help US-based people with your search on the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) website.

eLearning Content Templates & Components

• e-Learning Templates: http://e-learningtemplates.com/
• e-learning Components: http://www.e-learningcomponents.com
• Blog post by Tony Karrer: eLearning Templates – 20 Resources: eLearning Technology

There’s bound to be more out there so please do add them to the comments and I will update this post periodically.

@Schnicker

With today’s economy not looking so hot, classroom-based (or face-to-face) training is not always the most cost-effective or feasible option for many companies. More recently it is compliance training that’s moved online for a number of reasons, one of the most persuasive being the ability to maintain an accurate record of employee training completion and results.

Compliance training is put in place to educate employees about laws, regulations and general company standards. It will hopefully reduce the risk of legal issues resulting from wrong-doing by an employee. Evidence that your trainees have completed this training is often imperative to maintaining a defense against legal action and it can ensure that legal responsibility sits squarely on the shoulders of your employee, not the company.

A large percentage of Litmos customers use our online training platform to deliver compliance training messages to employees, as well as other more specialized courses. Compliance training can be anything from sexual harassment to Occupational Health and Safety, in the office, or on a construction site.

Required online training does not have to be synonymous with ‘boring’ either. Online training courses can always be made more exciting by incorporating varied media like videos, Flash, PowerPoint presentations, audio, surveys and assessments. There is a wealth of information on here to help you design interesting courses, create engaging training videos, and build PowerPoint presentations that won’t put your trainees to sleep. Take a little time to check out some of our blog topics listed on the right side of this page.

@Schnicker

In the last few days I’ve found some interesting articles that show the extent to which online training is now being used in different industries. I thought these two examples from the transportation industry were worthy of a mention as they demonstrate the scale and credibility that online training is achieving.

Firstly, Ohio Country Schools are now using online training to train their school bus drivers for their school bus operator certification, as well as re-certification. The purchase of 10 laptops has meant drivers can now do their training at their own pace and the company no longer needs to worry about finding facilities to hold training sessions for the 63 employees. Not only is this a cost-saving initiative, it also means training can be done at any time from the main office.

On a larger scale, Ireland’s national airline Aer Lingus, has recently implemented an online training system to manage the annual courses that their 500 pilots must take to comply with EU aviation regulations. The airline says the switch to an online system will “save money on trainers and related course fees”. Plus, as you can imagine there are huge benefits due to the fact that pilots can access the course from anywhere in the world and their progress is tracked and reported. Previously, these same people had to attend training in a classroom which is not only expensive, it is also very difficult to organize when considering the nature of their job.

These companies are just two examples of many online training success stories out there. By introducing these online initiatives they show that they are capable of being nimble in a down-economy and are successfully adapting as necessary. I don’t just mean to budget constraints either, but in response to busier employee schedules they are offering more flexible, self-paced learning alternatives that employees can do from the comfort of their own home.

I just read a great article from David Becker called “What’s Your E-Learning Strategy for Compliance Training?” which you can find on the eLearning Guild website. You’ll need to login to read it though, so I thought I’d post up the most important points I’ve extracted.

It’s a timely article about being cost-effective with compliance training based on a) relevant risks b) method of training delivery.

Becker says risk can be assessed in 3 ways:

1. Likelihood that a given risk will become a reality
2. How often this risk will occur
3. Impacts on the organization should it do so

He sites examples of companies that run in to specific industry-related problems such as sexual harassment, privacy, and health & safety. His message reads loud and clear that there is no blanket rule to cover all companies when it comes to compliance training. An extreme example would be a company that manages construction work sites does not need to offer staff water safety training. Although that seems obvious, Becker’s research reveals a lot of companies are unnecessarily spending money on compliance training that has no real relevance once a risk assessment is done.

The development of a compliance training program is a 3-part process:

1. Identify risks to be controlled
2. Establish training objectives and address them
3. Design and implement learning

Once you’ve established the risks specific to your environment and company (#1), Becker says these risks are then ‘subject to a hierarchy of controls, with the higher controls being better than the lower ones at managing the risk.’

You then need to look at each risk and decide which control applies. Do you want to:

• avoid or eliminate the risk
• reduce the likelihood of it occurring, and minimize its impacts should it occur
• transfer the risk by outsourcing the activity or insuring against it
• retain the risk, in which case you budget for the risk being realized

With low risks where the chance of occurrence is high but the impact on the organization is low, something simple and cost-effective like an online training module with a basic assessment where results are recorded, transfers compliance responsibility to the employee. With a high risk that could potentially cause brand damage, a blended learning solution may be needed.

It goes without saying the depth of training implemented will vary according to other factors such as the ‘organization’s commitment to good corporate citizenship, its environmental policies and its branding as an employer of choice’.

Finally, while compliance training is important for legal reasons, creating generic compliance training modules can become an additional source of revenue for a company, without much work involved. Think about product certification training, basic health and safety or industry-specific training modules you have developed – could they sell online? It’s just one more way to think outside the box during this recession and maybe even emerge the hero who found a way to make the company money, in the toughest of times.