Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
learning!100 Learn to Live at American Heart Association
than 300 custom-built offerings covering volunteerism, advocacy, specific causes, education, technology, and finance crafted to cover the needs of AHA's staff.
The American Heart Association's (AHA) mission, Learn to Live, is all about educa- tion. However, the AHA's education chap- ters were all regionally based. There was little cross-regional collaboration and none of their materials were online. In order to reduce costs while still training 3,000 full time employees around the country, the organization combined its resources to form the American Heart University (AHU).
CONSOLIDATING EXISTING RESOURCES "Each region was doing great stuff, but it was fragmented,
" said Derek Cunard,
Dean of American Heart University. "The staff realized the importance of education … the talent was already here.
"
IF YOU BUILD IT WILL THEY COME? The big challenge was getting the learners used to online learning. AHA staffers were used to going to a face-to-face class, attending an outside training event, or viewing a self-paced video tape course. "The biggest fear … of the dean of any
corporate university is if you build it no one comes,
" " said Cunard, wryly. Cunard's
team "really felt it would be best to create the university to look like a real university, give them something familiar.
They organized each curriculum into 19
schools of learning. They were consciously named to resemble schools in a traditional university. Staffers can attend the School of Fundraising, Advocacy, Finance, or Technology. "You name it, we've got it," said Cunard. The offerings in each School were
hand-picked by the head of each area, so learners could feel confident that the courses offered would be targeted to their job role. Employees are encouraged to take courses outside of their current area. "If they work in our Advocacy area and are interested in a future fundraising path, they are encouraged to visit our online career center, review job descriptions, and expand their knowledge with targeted development courses and activities… it's all connected and very innovative,
" said Cunard.
Derek Cunard, Dean of American Heart University, pictured with Catherine Upton (left) and Joe DiDonato (right) Elearning! Media Group (EMG)
Cunard's team identified AHA's key
competencies and selected the best train- ings that its regional offices had already created. Whatever they did not already have, they purchased or created and put them all online. AHU now has hundreds of courses available 24/7, including more
18 May / June 2012 Elearning! It worked. By early 2012, 100 percent of
the AHA staff was enrolled in at least four classes, with a completion rate of about 85 percent. Cunard said that this testifies to widespread enthusiasm for the system. "Everyone at our organization is driven by the mission. They have a lot to do. To have them slow down and complete a course is actually remarkable."
EXPANDING BEYOND THE STAFF AHU recently made a limited number of
"One hundred percent of the AHA staff was enrolled in at
least four classes, with a comple-
tion rate of about 85 percent.
"
—Derek Cunard, Dean, American Heart University, American Heart Association
courses available to a pilot group of AHA volunteers. The program includes a diverse group of executives, cardiologists, national and affiliate board members, and the leaders of their top 100 metro areas. The volunteers have access to 10 custom courses developed to teach volunteer engagement and the AHA vision for volunteerism. AHA plans to expand the pilot program in fall 2012. "We're going to continue to grow our
catalog of custom courses for our volun- teers, and slowly push our courses out to all levels of our volunteer leadership,
" said
Cunard. "Everyone from an elementary school coach who does a Jump Rope for Heart event, to an executive at a Fortune 500 company who might speak at an event to raise money for the AHA … anyone can take a course."
Learn More:
Experience the American Heart Association: http://youtu.be/yZxgcV5D0Fw