TDS is a national communications provider that supplies local telecommunication services and leading-edge business technologies. The company employs workers with a wide range of skills and duties, from technicians who climb poles to desk-bound office workers. Each of these job types has many unique safety policies that need to be communicated to new employees and reinforced on a regular basis with existing employees. What TDS needed was an effective and entertaining method for delivering what previously had been some very dry material. To this end, we created this LAN-based Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver computer-based training to special computers installed in every TDS office throughout their regional territories.
On the surface, the TDS Safety CBT uses a bookstore motif to frame the various sections of training necessary at TDS. Each section of the bookstore represents a different section of the TDS Safety manual with associations that are memorable and humorous. For example, the Science Fiction section features courses on Confined Space Entry and the travel section covers vehicle safety courses.
Each employee coming to the CBT system is required to register using their unique employee code and watches a brief orientation starring an animated, talking bookmark who acts as host throughout the training by introducing each new section of the bookstore in various themed costumes.
Following the orientation is a profile questionnaire that asks the employee a series of yes or no questions about what tasks they perform during the work day. This profile enables the program to create a customized course list that displays only the required courses for that employee's job tasks. From their personal course list, the employee can launch the various training course modules, track completed courses, and view the number of days remaining until they need to retake a given course.
As a communications company, TDS had a robust network environment already in place for us to take advantage of. Their network allowed us to deliver high-quality, rich media assets such as animations, narration and video to offices all over the United States while returning user course tracking and completion information back to TDS' central headquarters.
These course completion information files are automatically imported into Registrar, TDS' existing corporate training and development management software. Administrators from the TDS Safety department can also use the bookstore LMS to view individual information across the network, track progress, and manage employee records.