SyberWorks e-Learning Podcast Series
Episode 10: Interview with Debra Sawin
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Mary Kay Lofurno: Welcome to the next edition of the SyberWorks LMS e-Learning Implementation Podcast Series where we take a look at actual learning management systems, implementations, and e-Learning program rollouts.
My name is Mary Kay Lofurno, and I'm the Marketing Director here at SyberWorks and your host today. In this edition, we will be talking with Debra Sawin, Instructional Designer for Audatex North America, Inc., a Solera company, about their use of the SyberWorks Learning Management System to provide employee training.
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Mary Kay: And now we will begin our interview with Debra Sawin, Instructional Designer for Audatex.
Good afternoon Debra. Thanks for coming to talk with us today.
Debra Sawin: Hello, and thank you, Mary Kay, for inviting me to attend.
Mary Kay: We're really glad to have you. Debra, tell me about yourself?
Debra: Well, I've been an adult educator for nearly 20 years and a corporate trainer for over 14 years. And the last 10 of those years have been with Audatex. I started with them as a field service trainer teaching clients how to use our products. And then through the years, I've advanced to a senior and then staff level field service trainer. It was around that time that I became the website administrator for our LMS--Audatex University. And then three years ago after joining our Education and Web Services Team, I became a level one Instructional Designer. And I'm now working towards my level three status.
Mary Kay: Well, that sounds great. Tell me about Audatex.
Debra: Audatex is a division of Solera Inc. And Solera is a leading global provider of software and services to the automobile insurance claims processing industry. Solera's operating companies employ over 2, 000 associates in 49 countries.
Mary Kay: Wow.
Debra: Our customers include more than 900 automotive insurance companies, over 33,000 collision repair facilities, 7,000 independent appraisers, and 3,000 automotive recyclers.
Mary Kay: Wow.
Debra: And my team, Education and Web Services, creates all the client training related materials, including the design and development of all the CBT's, show me's, webinars, traditional instructor lead classes, virtual instructor lead classes, train the trainer sessions, and a wide range of printed materials and job aids and other resources. And additionally we maintain our external training website, which is available to clients 24/7. Less than five years ago we used primarily a traditional instructor lead training deployment method.
Mary Kay: Wow.
Debra: But today, our percentage of rapid e-Learning methods versus the more traditional style of training deliverables is about 80:20.
Mary Kay: Is it really?
Debra: Yes. Converting to an e-Learning platform has made a tremendous impact for us.
Mary Kay: It seems like it has. Can you give me a brief overview of who's using the SyberWorks Learning Management System at your company?
Debra: Currently it's our associates that are the primary users of Audatex University because it's set up to be one of our internal training and certification sites.
Mary Kay: OK. I get it. Can you tell me about the online course that you provide your customers and vendors through the SyberWorks Learning Management System?
Debra: Well, we use the site primarily as a certification tool at the moment, but it has been used for new hire and train the trainer course tracking in recent times. Our needs for how we use the LMS vary just as the needs of our clients vary. Currently we have over 36 different courses on Audatex University.
Mary Kay: Wow.
Debra: And it's utilized by several different teams within our organization, such as Field Service, Sales, and Client Services just to name a few.
Mary Kay: OK, that sounds good. Can you tell me about the instructional design and planning process you went through to develop these online training courses?
Debra: Well, we do complete a formal training and needs analysis for each project that we undertake. And this becomes our guideline for the scope of the project from a design standpoint. So, based on the findings of the training needs analysis, we determine which medium or mediums are best suited for the particular training deliverable that we need to design. All of our courses are customized to the needs of the target learner.
So, as an example from the standpoint of Audatex University, this means we create different courses for the Sales Team staff than for the Field Service staff, because each group has training and certification needs that are unique to their area of expertise. However, because of the flexibility in how we can post a course in the SyberWorks LMS, we can offer cross-over training without incurring additional development costs.
So, a specific situation might be that we create a certification course for the Field Service staff, which would require advanced technical knowledge of a particular product. But the Sales staff may also wish to offer an advanced program on the same product to their staff. So, even though the course was originally created for the Field Service Team, I can provision it to the Sales Team. Additionally, each management team is able to track the results for their specific team.
So even though the two teams originally had very different areas of training needs, using our SyberWorks LMS, which is Audatex University, we could leverage the single program into a cross-training forum, thus maximizing our training ROI for that particular project.
Mary Kay: That sounds great. What course development tools are you using right now to construct your online courses in various online medium?
Debra: Well, our primary computer based training, show me, and webinar creation tool is Captivate 2. We used to use Viewlet Builder, but we found it to be too limiting for our training deployment method. We're very happy with the additional features and flexibilities that Captivate two offers us.
Now for our internal certification courses on Audatex University, we use the SyberWorks Web Author tool. The new features to work web based is terrific for quick adjustments, but I personally still prefer to design a course from the Web Author tool because it gives me the source files, which I can adapt and use for the other courses.
Mary Kay: Well, that's true.
Debra: And it's a great boost to our ROI as well. So, it's a wonderful benefit.
We also have our own proprietary online training center, which we use as a repository for all of our client training documents and virtual classes. We have our SyberWorks LMS, Audatex University, linked to the online training center as well. So associates can login in to one site from the online training center and have immediate access to Audatex University.
And in the future we're looking to incorporate more of the Captivate components into our Audatex University LMS. But, as I said before, what's needed on that site fluctuates over time for us. But this is a really great thing because it keeps us on our toes. We're always looking for a new development tool or technique. We try to stay on the front edge of technology, because, after all, we are a technology focused company.
Mary Kay: That sounds like it would be really good for you and your company. Can you tell me about your customer experience with SyberWorks?
Debra: Oh, yes. Mary, Lorinda, Julie, Bob, and Dave have all been terrific about supporting our needs. Because we schedule our training development projects several months out and our needs for the LMS fluctuates, Mary and Lorinda have been wonderful about advising me when it comes time to do my updates on the LMS.
And we also run a slightly different technology update cycle than SyberWorks does, so I'm not always available to do updates as soon as SyberWorks issues them. And Mary and Lorinda are great about answering my questions, advising me on the most efficient way to apply the latest updates given the timeframe that I have for that particular project.
Mary Kay: OK. Is there anything more you'd like to share in terms of working with SyberWorks to deliver your e-Learning programs?
Debra: Well, only that I really enjoy the monthly training tips that Mary sends out. I save all of them, because when I need to train someone else, I can direct them to those postings. And it saves me valuable time. In fact, I'd like to see more of them and in a more in-depth manner, but then that's probably the e-Learning side of me showing a bit.
Mary Kay: Yeah, those are great. Mary does a great job with those. Well, that sounds awesome. Debra, thank you so much. I know you're really busy, but thanks for joining us today.
Debra: Thank you, Mary Kay for inviting me to join you.
Mary Kay: This is Mary Kay Lofurno, Marketing Director at SyberWorks. I wish to thank you for listening to our interview with Debra Sawin, Instructional Designer at Audatex, on the SyberWorks LMS e-Learning Implementation Podcast Series. Talk with you next month.
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