Discover how COILLTE provided INNOVATIVE FORESTRY DIGITAL TRAINING
AWARD WINNING DIGITAL SOLUTION FOR COILLTE
Coillte is a commercial forestry business in Ireland, owned by the state, which manages approximately 7% of the country’s land.
Over the last 30 years, they have cared for and developed their estate and businesses while being firmly focused on maximising the financial and social potential of these natural resources in a sustainable way.
“Cobblestone helped us translate our vision from paper to an award winning eLearning experience.”
THE PROBLEM
Coillte partners with contractors in addition to staff to carry out some of its operations. Once such operation is the harvesting of timber. Contractors need to take Health and Safety training before being able to start work onsite. Currently the training is delivered on site by a health and safety instructor and may need to travel to remote sites across Ireland to deliver this training.
A new site may require training for one or two individuals who cannot start work until the training has been successfully implemented. This can cause delays for contractors starting work and can be inefficient and costly for trainers to travel and provide onsite training.
The scheduling, resource management and reporting of training participation is currently a manual paper-based system where it is time consuming for administrators to enter administer and report on participation.
AN INNOVATIVE DIGITAL SOLUTION
THE LEARNING GOAL
Coillte has identified the need for a new contractor/staff online development programme within their Establishment, Engineering and Harvesting operations. The goal of this programme was to:
- Gain potential efficiencies and realise potential cost savings on contracted operations;
- Improve compliance with Environmental and Health & Safety standards and reduce Environmental and Health & Safety risk across contracted operations;
- Reduce operational staff workload through reduced contractor management & monitoring requirements
THE LEARNING NEEDS
The Learning needs Analysis included a review of best practice and engagement with staff, customers and contractors, to explore possible approaches to contractor development and to understand how Coillte could implement and fund a new contractor development programme.
A learning needs matrix identifying the proposed learning modules for inclusion in the Contractor Development Programme was created. within Coillte. The learning needs were grouped into four key learning categories: Health & Safety, Environment, Advanced Operational Skills & Knowledge and Business Development.
Stakeholder feedback suggested that there would always be a requirement for a degree of on-site learning in order to contextualise certain learning material within the real working environment, whilst eLearning modules would verify and validate proper engagement across all contractors. Therefore, a blended approach was recommended for the delivery of the Contractor Development Programme, incorporating a combination of e-Learning Modules and forest -based mentoring by Coillte field staff.
exceptional elements within the learning experience
There was a number of exceptional elements that included:
- A video-based first-person branching scenario where users get to choose next steps and experience the benefits or consequences of their choices during a working alone simulation.
- The use of aerial drone footage with motion graphic overlays to visualise parts of the forestry sites and explain concepts with a real-life visualisation. It also allowed for close-up shots of harvesting machinery in operation that has never been seen in Coillte before.
- Extensive use of video for documentary style interviews and demonstration. Cobblestone and Coillte filmed over a 3-month period, to capture the various stages of a Harvesting operation. A time-lapse view of harvesting in proximity to powerlines was created to show the correct tree markings and safe operation at each stage.
- Use of animated explainer video at the start of each course to provides an overview of the topics and fosters early engagement with the learner.
- Dynamic layout design of the course content provides optimal display for the learner, whether they are taking the course on a mobile phone, tablet or computer.
WHAT MADE IT SO INNOVATIVE
eLearning of this standard has not been attempted previously by the Forest Industry and a number of innovative approaches were implemented at each stage of the analysis, design and development stages of this project.
A robust analysis was conducted combining a range of research techniques to connect the business goals to competence gaps. It was identified that dedicated Powerlines training for the forestry Industry had not been created before, and where it was critical to implement this for this a high-risk area.
At the design stage Coillte used a learning experience toolkit, a system developed by Cobblestone Learning to help shape the discussion and best practices for using different learning experiences to implement specific learning objectives. The toolkit uses cards to describe various learning experiences (scenarios, case studies, activities .etc) which can then be mapped to implementation methods (interactive, video, animation .etc) and learning objectives using a wall planner.
Coillte worked closely with Cobblestone suggesting ideas for inclusion in each of the courses e.g. clear idea of what was required for Working alone scenario. Each interaction was chosen to allow the learning objective to be described, visualised or practiced in the most visual and memorable way possible. This approach is innovative in the forestry industry and beyond the level that can be seen in most industries.
SOME FEATURES OF THE COURSES INCLUDE:
VIDEO SCENARIOS
INTERACTIVE CONTENT
INSIGHTS AND REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE
ANIMATED VIDEO AND SCREENCASTS
LOADING TO THEIR LMS
DRAMATISATION SCENARIOS
FILMING - BEHIND THE SCENES
How CAN you engage with us?
Start by contacting us via email or phone. We are more then happy to take a 30min discovery call with any potential new customers to discuss your ideas and needs. We can point you in the right direction, give you a better understanding of how to implement your project or provide some ideas based on our experience. If you want to engage with us on a project, we offer fixed price project as well as ongoing support.