Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
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Learning!100 American Heart Association: Volunteer to Learn Te mission of American Heart University (AHU) of the American Heart Association (AHA), when initially conceptualized in 2007, was to create a place for all staf and their family to have free, online access to world-class education. Additionally the university would support AHA's workforce strategy to attract, hire, develop and retain top talent capable of accelerating progress toward achieving the mission, by continuing to evolve the AHA as an even more compelling place to work. Te AHU combines hundreds of online courses with traditional in-person workshops. Te addition of a new initiative, "Summer Learning Challenge 2012" helped the organization repeat its Learning! 100 Top 10 fnish from last year. Recruiting Derek Cunard — an experienced corporate university dean — to build the AHU from the ground-up, plus overwhelming executive support for the new proposition, has resulted in unheard-of 100 percent staf participation in educational programs focused on building muscle around AHA's critical employee and leadership capabilities. AHU is the 24 August / September 2013 Elearning! perfect educational vehicle that drives the AHA forward toward its critical mission and bold 2020 impact goals. Te concept behind the Summer Learning Challenge was to re-engage and challenge AHA learners to participate in voluntary online courses at the AHU during the two summer months (which have proven to be slower for staf) just afer the organization's fscal year-end. Its goal was to encourage all staf to take a minumum of one online course during this period; however learning leaders suggested that any employee who completed fve courses would be eligible to win prizes as a "Summer Learning Super Star." Summer Learning resulted in a net fnancial beneft of more than $8.7 million for the American Heart Association. Te results exceeded everyone's wildest dreams. Learners were surveyed, and an impact analysis revealed an estimated $8.7 million net beneft in 2012 to the American Heart Association. How did AHU achieve such lofy results? Primarily, innovative promotions were created to excite the staf to the possibility of taking courses during the summer. Tis included several videos, mailers, desk drop fyers, posters, emails and a complete rebranding of the university website to refect the Summer Learning Challenge and suggested courses. "We built all the courses internally with a team of six people and used some of- the-shelf SkillSof courses," Cunard notes. In all, the organization invested $5,000 in promotions, which resulted in massive increases in participation: >> Total courses accessed: 14,095 (up 58% from 2011) >> Total courses completed: 12,153 (up 57% from 2011) >> Total percentage of courses fnished: 86 >> Total staf participating: 1974 (up 17% from 2011) Additionally, using a formal impact survey afer Summer Learning 2012 and an ROI scorecard, a study isolated and estimated AHU's measurable impact on the association. Tese results include: >> 6.5% increase in overall quality by its staf >> 91% rate of adoption of online learning in frst three weeks >> 5.1% increase in revenue by its staf >> 6.0% increase in employee engagement >> 7.8% improved staf efciency >> 6.1% ability to reach their AHA goals >> $8,750,353 net beneft to the AHA Te fndings also validated the use of AHU learning can reduce training costs and cycle time. "Executives from all areas were polled and asked which fve courses would truly make an impact on our ability to engage volunteers while developing and retaining our AHA talent in order to further the mission and become an even more compelling place to work," notes Cunard. "Tis helped create a list of courses that would be marketed in commercials to staf and inevitable became the most popular courses attended during the summer." AHA is a repeat winner in the Learning! 100 award. AREA OF CULTURE EXCELLENCE