Listeria Awareness - e-learning course

Overview

As the busy Christmas season approaches, the company experiences a significant increase in new hires, making it impractical to provide traditional, in-person training sessions to all new employees on time. This type of training (Listeria awareness) is essential due to the high risk of cross-contamination in the production department. Without proper training, new staff may accidentally contribute to food safety hazards, causing severe health risks to consumers and damaging the company's reputation. To ensure that all new employees receive this crucial training efficiently, the learning and development team proposed an e-learning module on listeria awareness focussed on performance, not information, that can be accessed via mobile devices and completed by new hires before their first day of work. Integrating the training module into the online onboarding process ensures compliance and readiness from day one.

Analysis

For this course, we implemented a well-known design approach, "Action Mapping." So we had a few sessions with the project team (SMEs, some on-the-job trainers, and me) where we identified "what learners need to do" instead of "what they need to know".

Design and Development

During this process, we brainstormed some practice activities that included some common mistakes new (and old) staff made in the past Christmas seasons and also some less common but still dangerous for customers. The core sections of the module include handling contaminated items and cleaning equipment. Once we had all these examples, I used PowerPoint (PPT) to develop a prototype to show the design to the SMEs. Then I used Storyline to create the course, we tested it with some current staff members who gave us feedback and also suggested other examples that challenged them in their daily tasks.

Course Features and Highlights

Scenario-Based Learning: The real-world scenarios included helped new staff understand the implications of their actions and make better decisions in the workplace. Also, the interactive Practice Activities engaged learners and allowed them to practice. This hands-on approach reinforced their critical behaviour.

Challenges

One of the key challenges was effectively communicating complex procedures in a clear and engaging manner, while also maintaining learner interest. To address this, we incorporated some information in the feedback message and a button to access more information if they needed help.

Feedback and Outcomes

The e-learning module significantly improved food safety practices within the company and received positive feedback from both SMEs and learners. Production supervisors have observed a noticeable reduction in incidents related to handling contaminated items and responding to cross-contamination situations. These improvements have directly contributed to a lower risk of listeria contamination, demonstrating the module's effectiveness in achieving its intended outcomes.