Competition Generates Custom Online Learning Resources for International NGOs

Coaching for Results and Consumer Protection & Financial Education in Microfinance Courses Win in 2^nd eLearning Global Giveback Competition

March 23 (Orlando, FL)

Eric Berg, Executive Director of LINGOs (Learning in NGOs) thanked all volunteer developers and announced the eight finalists and two winners of the second eLearning Global Giveback Competition today at the eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference and Expo.

Through the first two eLearning Global Giveback competitions, instructional designers and eLearning developers have created over 50 online courses as volunteers for international non-profit organizations. These courses will help the global staff of the non-profits, all members of LINGOs, do their good work in the fields of humanitarian relief, development, conservation and social justice even better.

“eLearning is a cost-effective way for these organizations to provide world-class learning to their personnel around the world,” said Berg, “whether the staff are based in relatively remote areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America or working in organizational headquarters in the US, UK or Europe.” 

The winner in the individual developer category is Amanda Warner, who created the course “Consumer Protection and Financial Education in Microfinance” for ACCION, a microfinance organization based in Boston. The course launched publically late last month as part of the SMART Campaign. In its first weeks online, the flash-authored course hosted almost 500 views.

The winning course in the corporate developer category is “Coaching for Results,” created by Illumina Interactive, Inc. and EnVision Performance Solutions, Inc. for LINGOs member Management Sciences for Health, based in Cambridge, MA.  

 View the courses:

The winning and finalist courses are available for viewing at http://lingosglobalgiveback.org/

Volunteer and Agency Perspective 

This is winner Amanda Warner’s second time participating in the eLearning Global Giveback and her second time partnering with microfinance not-for-profit ACCION, whose mission is to give people the financial tools they need to work their way out of poverty. Her first course, “Build, Manage and Improve Credit” is available online not just to the global staff of ACCION, but to the general public. “It’s so motivating to see the course in action,” said Warner, who estimates she spent between 180 and 210 hours developing this year’s winning course.

“It was great to play with different ideas, and work on a totally different type of content from my day job,” she said. Warner took reams of ACCION’s existing face-to-face course materials, spread sheets, word documents, published guides and other resources and developed a proposal for an engaging, interactive simulation.

ACCION Representative Amy Stewart worked with Warner on this year’s individual winning entry as well as with corporate entry Finalist WITS Interactive, who created a custom-course for ACCION “A Values Driven Workplace - Living Our Values at ACCION.” Stewart is grateful to both developers, and to LINGOs and the eLearning Guild for organizing the competition.  “There is no question that these courses add value to ACCION,” she said.

Jude Griffin of Management Sciences for Health (MSH), the health organization benefitting from the corporate category first place course agreed. “The experience of working with Illumina Interactive and EnVision Performance Solutions was fantastic,” she said. “They took the moodle platform and pulled in other tools. They showed it’s a viable way to use multiple software elements and make a really interactive learning.

This course will help people understand what’s possible.” Michael Getz, of Illumina Interactive noted “the course was a springboard opportunity to push the envelope in terms of learning experience,” he said. “We used a creative approach to the blended learning environment: adding value and content to the core content that MSH provided.” The course is built in moodle, and includes quizzes and engaging interactions through Articulate, surveys and polls via survey monkey.

Irene Stern Frielich, founder and president of EnVision Performance Solutions, Inc., worked with MSH and Illumina Interactive to develop the instructional design for the course. Speaking for both companies, Frielich said, “we both believe in giving back. This was a great opportunity to demonstrate for MSH some new and interesting ways to create learning.” Getz and Frielich estimate that they and their colleagues spent 475 hours developing the interactive coaching course.

Judging

Agencies entered the courses into the competition and provided a first round of judging on ten criteria. The top courses in each category were then sent to an international panel of seven elearning experts based in four countries. The international panel of judges reviewed each of the top courses on eight criteria and selected the top courses from each of the two entry categories. The eLearning Guild and LINGOs are enormously grateful to this year’s panel of judges.

Jane Bozarth, Columnist Learning Solutions Magazine; Greg Davis, Precision eLearning;  Linda English, eLearning for Kids; Jane Hart, Center for Learning & Performance Technologies; Jim Klaas, DevEd International; Patti Shank, Learning Peaks; and

Roger Steele, LINGOs.

Quality and impact for NGOs

Habitat for Humanity Instructional Designer Susan O’Connell worked with volunteers Aparna Jadhav and Suzanne Davies on the course “Habitat for Humanity International Values in Action.” She noted that volunteers are essential to Habitat’s global mission of eliminating poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. The work of Jadhav and Davies is different from that of the more usual Habitat volunteer, but just as important if not more so, as this course about how Habitat values volunteerism, and how volunteers are integrally tied into Habitat’s mission, is already in use. “I was so impressed with the commitment of these volunteers,” she said. “I’m the only instructional designer here, so the fact that they were so focused and committed allowed me to focus on other work and get twice as much done.”

The eLearning Global Giveback Competition and the value of the great work that eLearning experts have contributed to the member agencies of LINGOs is incalculable. “By ensuring that staff members in our field offices, in geographically remote areas, are able to learn about priority topics for our organization is critical,” said PSI’s Learning and Performance Manager Marie-Laure Curie.  PSI maximized participation in both the first and second Global Giveback competitions, assigning subject matter experts to multiple volunteers to submit nine courses in the second competition. “Global Giveback volunteers have enabled us to provide quality learning on the right topics ant the right time, improving performance of our global team,” said Curie, who also serves on LINGOs’ board of directors.

Gearing Up for the 2011 eLearning Global Giveback3

LINGOs encourages all its member agencies to participate in the third eLearning Global Giveback.  “It’s a fantastic opportunity for our member agencies to leverage existing content and resources into a format from which global staff can benefit many times over,” said LINGOs’ Berg.  Agencies and volunteers will match through the eLearning Global Giveback Group on LinkedIn.  Any course developed for a LINGOs member agency in partnership with a volunteer and submitted by December 16, 2011 is eligible for the third eLearning Global Giveback.

For more information about the eLearning Global Giveback, see: http://ngolearning.org/gg3 or send an email to globalgiveback(at)LINGOs.org.

For information about joining LINGOs, see: http://ngolearning.org/aboutlingos/membership/default.aspx

eLearning Global Giveback Finalists Named

The eLearning Guild and LINGOs, co-sponsors of the second annual eLearning Global Giveback competition announced the ten finalists in two competition categories: individual or team of developers and corporate developer.

Instructional designers, e-Learning Developers and other e-Learning experts came together in the Global Giveback to make a real difference in the world by volunteering their expertise in developing state-of-the-art e-Learning to help build the capacity of LINGOs member organizations such as ACCION, ACDI-VOCA, Habitat for Humanity, PSI, Save the Children,  and The Nature Conservancy.

The eLearning Guild and LINGOs are enormously grateful to the many eLearning communitiy members who volunteered their time, energy and enthusiasm to help change the world by registering to participate in this second eLearning Global Giveback. They are helping LINGOs member agencies to build their global capacity through this second eLearning Global Giveback and provide learning where it really makes a difference.