Earl,
The Naval Research Laboratory has had an RM WBT online since 2002.
It predates the Navy's agency-wide WBT by about four years.
It was entirely an in-house effort after the costs of outsourcing
the job proved to be too steep. The training was adapted from a
classroom presentation featuring the usual collection of PowerPoints.
The records manager did all the work -- wrote the text and the script,
did the PowerPoints. The text of the PowerPoints was then converted to
webpages and formatted for a click-by-click presentation on a
departmental website by a colleague, a very excellent IT/web support
person whose work resulted in a site that is imaginative, intuitive, and
friendly.
The outcome was a fairly complex piece of work. The training
includes six modules, titled as follows:
"Statutes and Regs: It's the Law"
"Benefits: What's in it for Me?"
"Recordkeeping: The Tools of the Trade"
"Freedom of Information"
"Electronic Records: Workin' 9 to 5 Ain't What it Used to Be"
"Electronic Mail: I Know it's a Record but So What"
Each module includes a number of pages employees click through, with
a short four-question quiz at the end of each. The questions each have
four multiple choice answers. Three of the four choices are nonsensical
and the right answer is obvious. Emphasis is on the RM concept the
right answer represents, and the addition of a little humor helps to
maintain interest.
Each of the pages in the six modules includes an audio voice-over to
emphasize and explain. The audio text was written and recorded by the
records manager. Audio quality is a little spotty because the RM isn't
one of those announcer guys GEICO hires, the recording equipment and
setting used was not first-rate (again, costs for professional work were
too steep), and in the last two or three years some of the audio
portions have been re-recorded to update them.
However, the overall look, feel, and sound of the training is pretty
good. Surveys we've done indicate that most people who have taken it
thought it was effective and reacted positively to it.
It takes between 45 minutes and an hour to complete the training,
depending on how fast one reads the text and clicks the "next" button.
(it's not necessary to listen to the audio; one can simply turn down the
volume on the PC and move on. Nor is it necessary to complete the
entire training in a single session once one has entered the site.
Modules can be taken individually or two or three at a time. But the
quizzes can't be skipped.)
When the training was posted at the end of 2002, all employees were
required to take it and the RM department was able to monitor the
percentage of completions. In fact, about 60% of employees actually
took it. The records management department continues to track numbers
of employees who over the years have taken the training for the first
time or have re-taken all or portions of it. Figures obtained at the
end of 2006 showed that for CY 06, about 15% of employees re-took at
least some of it.
The training does not have "mandatory" status, meaning that it is
not included on the HR department's organization training website along
with WBTs dealing with safety, security, and other issues that employees
are required to know about. If it had this status, both its reach and
its stature would be enhanced. It is easily and readily accessible to
employees who wish to take it (three clicks launches it), and surveys
indicate that most employees know what it is and how to access it.
Dean Bundy, CRM
Naval Research Laboratory
"Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and
do not represent or reflect the official policies or programs of the
Naval Research Laboratory."
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