Kibble, one of the oldest charities in Scotland, won the Charity Learning Award 2016 for Best eLearning module design for creating a simple but engaging virtual tour of their campus, mainly using resources they already had to hand. We caught up with Marie Duncan, Kibble’s Learning and Development Manager, to find out the secrets to her team’s success.
Congratulations! Tell us what challenge was the virtual tour solving?
The idea for the virtual tour came from feedback from new staff, about how much time it takes to get to know the physical layout of the Kibble campus and our services. It was created as part of a brand new online induction pack for new starters.
Kibble has grown substantially in the last few years, so it can be a bit confusing for new staff to instantly understand the different types of services we have and what they aim to achieve. While our website and leaflets are very informative, there was no single comprehensive, easily accessible place to find out everything you need to know. Some of our services can also be quite isolated, and it could take time for new people to find their way around.
The virtual tour only takes about ten minutes to complete – we specifically didn’t want it to be overwhelming with too much detail. Keeping it simple works, and it provides a broad overview of every key service area of the organisation with both visual prompts and verbal descriptions. And it’s a good physical orientation as well, highlighting small but important details such as the staff canteen and the smoking policy.
Staff can access it anytime they want, including from home – and that’s true of the entire new induction programme. New members of staff can log on before they start working for us, and can also revisit it at any point.
How was it created? Who put in the hard work?
Jonna Fraser, Learning & Development Coordinator, undertook the bulk of the work using a combination of Storyline 2, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Adobe Audition – she’s done a fantastic job! She based the concept and the design of the virtual tour on a city scene graphic that was originally created for an annual review.
She used existing resources to write the script for the voice over, including information already available on the Kibble website. We worked with a member of the Funding, Marketing and Media team to record the voice over and Jonna then edited and embedded this into the tour herself. We had access to some stock photographs, but Jonna also got busy with her camera and took photos of the campus and some of our newer locations.
We liaised with, quite literally, all areas of the organisation to ensure the information was entirely accurate. It was actually really straightforward to engage the various stakeholders, partly because we had Senior Management support, but it was also a unique and exciting project that caught everyone’s attention.
Initial testing was carried out by the learning and development team and then a wider group of 10 staff who had volunteered.
What has been the response from staff?
The module has only been live since mid-August and numbers of new staff haven’t been large enough to conduct a formal survey yet. However, so far it has had a really positive response. Some of the comments we’ve had include:
“Overall very informative and enjoyable and easy to navigate”
“I like the look of the tour, the font and artwork is great!”
“The information flows well”
“Held my attention, gave me the right amount of information that was not only necessary but interesting”
What difference has it made?
We’re immensely proud of the whole new online induction pack but feel the virtual tour is particularly good. It provides an effective solution to orientating new staff in an interesting and engaging way. Up until now our eLearning courses have followed a traditional format, so this breaks the mould for us. It’s inspired further pieces of creative work as part of our digital learning agenda.
What three things have you learnt developing the virtual tour that you could pass on to others?
- Be realistic about timescales: The testing period, corrections and final editing of our project took longer than expected. The time we’d scheduled for this was a little too short and therefore created extra stress and pressure at the end of the project to get it finished by the deadline.
- Gather all the materials that you’ll need upfront, if you can: We had to look for additional materials and take more photographs whilst building the module. Next time we’ll try and establish in advance what materials are ready and available for use i.e. stock photos. This would have made for a smoother build and reduced delays.
- Use false deadlines! With future projects I’d set more generous deadlines for gathering information from others, well in advance from the actual project publishing deadline. Having to wait for information and confirm accuracy of content can cause delays.
About Kibble
Kibble is one of Scotland’s oldest charities, and today a leading social enterprise. It works with young people from age five to 25, offering a uniquely integrated array of services. By providing a place of safety, structure and stability, Kibble aims to open up new possibilities for young people to play a useful part in society and prepare them for a happy and fulfilled adult life.