Home > Case studies > DWP — Customer Care Training
What we achieved:
Through the delivery of a flexible blended solution, consolidated by face-to-face training, the aims of this project were to:
The project involved a three-way partnership between Walkgrove, a project group comprising senior DWP managers and experts and DWP's in-house learning and development team.
Timescales were challenging. The go-live date for the new, high profile benefit was fixed and had been publically announced. Timely delivery of the training was therefore critical to ensure successful implementation.
Having worked closely with the client to develop a high level structure and define the blend, Walkgrove's principal role was to design and deliver all the e-learning components and also some of the paper-based trainer resource materials.
Working together as an integrated team comprising, at project peak, 50 designers and developers, we produced over 200 hours' of e-learning for a wide range of target audiences including:
Initially, the training was delivered to around 12,000 learners with learner support being provided by local trainers who also had access to a central telephone hotline. The e-learning materials were then migrated to the DWP intranet to provide ongoing training and refresher training in the workplace.
Formal evaluation of the materials by our client’s evaluation team highlighted the success of this blended solution. Accuracy of processing rose from 87% to 93% and was directly attributable to the training. The evaluation also indicated positive feedback from learners in terms of their experience with the e-learning element – which was a relatively new concept to many learners. Extracts from the evaluation report:
PCFE is regarded by Agents as by far the best e-learning product they have used.
Overall accuracy has risen from 87.2% in September to 92.2% in January.
Kirkpatrick level four advocates that training has the desired results from within the organisation.
92% of agents felt confident after the training and felt they had adequate skills and knowledge to perform the activities outlined in the objectives.
E-learning is great as it allows you to work at your own pace.
E-learning was a good way of getting used to the system. It allowed us to actively participate in the learning process.
I enjoyed the e-learning. It gave an opportunity to practise and get familiar with various screens and situations.
E-learning was an ideal way to build confidence before being let loose on the real thing.
The e-learning has given me more confidence with a computer which is very much needed. I am discovering something new with the computer every day.
The best aspect was the e-learning – it gave at least some experience of what real processing involved.
Walkgrove has enabled us to bring our training into the 21st century by adding a previously untried method of training to our blended approach. The solution was required for three main training events; New Entrant training, MIG to Pension Credit training and Pension Credit Application Line training.
In all cases Walkgrove provided a functional e-learning application that enables trainees to practise processing Pension Credit applications in a safe environment. It also provided trainees with immediate feedback and prompts to help them understand where they were making mistakes.
The legacy system that will support Pension Credit is made up of a number of complex screens and navigation paths. Walkgrove were able to capture these complexities and transform them into an e-learning package that emulated the live screens.
Also included in the package were a number on consolidation exercises and tests that enabled staff to see how much they had learned. The package also gave us a system of recording scores from the trainees’ tests to inform trainers where staff were having difficulties. We also used these scores in our formal training evaluation process.
