technology
S
ir Moses Montefiore Jewish Home, in Sydney, has changed
the way it delivers mandatory staff training, in an effort to
avoid what it calls Death by PowerPoint.
Montefiore wanted to move away from traditional,
classroom-style learning and towards an interactive and visual
training model, so it created iTraining, an in-house eLearning
program that delivers lessons using games, videos and challenges.
Dr Alasdair MacDonald, Montefiore’s general manager of
business innovation and quality, showcased the program at this
year’s LASA National Congress. The provider said the model
focuses on participation, not transmission of information, and
includes scenarios to add context and pictures to clarify words.
Aged Care Insite sits down with MacDonald to discuss the
changes iTraining has brought about for Montefiore and how staff
are supported when using the program.
“
Cheaper,
better
training
online
AM: Our traditional setting for mandatory
training is eight hours in a classroom. It’s
For all the modules, a full day for all employees every year,
and we have about 1000 employees.
we use scenarios
It’s
a lot of time and a lot of money to
specific to
train people every year. We looked at the
residential aged
system, and we realised that eLearning is
care
the way to do this that’s cost effective, as
well as more engaging for staff. We also got
feedback from staff saying they were bored with the
traditional classroom model of training, or what is typically known
as ‘Death by PowerPoint’!
Rather than purchase some generic eLearning package, we
decided it was best to develop our own model, tailored to our
needs. iTraining has been the result, offering online [modules]
that are engaging, interactive and use games to keep things fun.
Information is delivered with video, music, voiceover and images,
which allow those staff who are not native English speakers equal
access and better opportunity to learn.
iTraining learning modules are a
cost-effective way to offer staff
career-development material
they can access on their own.
Alasdair MacDonald interviewed
by Dallas Bastian
34 agedcareinsite.com.au
ACI: Why di d Montefiore decide to move
away from traditional classroom-style
learning for mandatory staff education?
What do users work through in iTraining and what are some of
the key elements of this type of learning?
In order to make eLearning engaging, it’s important to tell a story
around what the user is learning. This is accomplished using
pictures, videos, audio, music, voiceover, quizzes and games or
what is called gamification. All of this offers the user interactivity
as well as keeping an element of enjoyment. This provides
participation not transmission of information.
For all the modules, we use scenarios specific to residential
aged care; for example, in-house scenes where staff from various
departments act the scenarios. As part of engaging the user, the
story is specific for each module; for example, in the infection
control iTraining, the user is the infection control officer and they
are ‘responsible’ for infection control.
The training is adaptive to different roles. Catering staff receive
examples from their workplace and clinical staff work on examples
they would see within a clinical setting. This, again, makes the
training more engaging to the end user. It is also great to have
various quizzes included in the training, as this tests the user on
what they are learning. They cannot proceed in the training without
passing the quizzes. When we surveyed staff on the effectiveness of
quizzes, more than 90 per cent of those who responded indicated
that the [tests] clearly reflected their workplace.