Tata Interactive Systems provides interactive induction at the University of Sheffield
When one of Europe's leading universities - the University of Sheffield - decided that it needed to provide a consistent, easily accessible induction programme for new staff, it turned to global e-learning pioneer Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) to provide it.
Currently, the university has some 5,500 staff - including over 1,100 full-time academic staff - working within a campus that extends over much of Sheffield. In addition, it has over 24,000 students, drawn from 116 countries, and its annual income is some £261m.
According to Carol Cockayne, of the University' Department of Human Resources, Staff Development: "e commissioned the induction programme from TIS in May 2004. Being a huge organisation we saw enormous value in offering an easily accessible induction package that ensures that all new staff receive a consistent level of initial support from the University. That support is then complemented and supplemented by a range of activities and procedures at University, departmental, and team level."
Alan Samuel, of TIS, commented: "TIS acted as a 'consultant' to the University of Sheffield throughout the overall development process and, importantly, in the development of the e-learning programme."
The TIS-produced e-learning induction programme is intended for all staff - academic, academic-related, ancillary, clerical, secretarial and technical. The programme enables new staff to:
learn more about the University they have joined;
gain an overview of the University's activities, and
get their bearings around the University.
It was TIS's task - with subject matter guidance from Carol Cockayne and her team - to present this information in an 'interactive' way that would appeal to the programme's users and motivate them to use the programme to learn what they needed to learn.
"Developing the programme was very much a collaborative effort between TIS and the University - with staff in the Department of Human Resources being the main point of contact," explained Carol Cockayne. "We had never undertaken a project of this kind before.
"So, we didn't have any experience of collaborating in the production of such a visually rich product with a partner organisation whose headquarters were in Mumbai, India - many thousands of miles away. Moreover, each organisation involved in the project had its own unique culture.
"In reality, none of this proved to be an obstacle," she added. "That was mainly because of the excellent communication processes that we - and TIS - put in place.
"For example, both organisations established a dedicated project team and team management; we held regular conference calls; communicated extensively by emails to help define exactly what we wanted from the final programme, as well as agreeing the use of screen shots in the programme and using the potential of the web to enhance the final product."
One of the key features of the programme is a specially developed interactive 'map' of the university which users can explore in order to help orientate themselves. The programme also features a section on famous alumni of the university - a list which includes David Blunkett MP; Jack Rosenthal, the playwright; Helen Sharman, Britain's first astronaut; former England cricketers Frank Hayes and Tim Robinson, as well as football manager Howard Wilkinson.
"While we were researching what was technologically possible for us to do and which was the right developer to produce this induction programme for us, we had meetings with a number of providers," said Carol. "In the end, we decided on Tata for four key reasons.
"We were already using a suite of online, open learning packages produced by Tata - and these had been well received and had proved themselves to be successful in consistently achieving their learning objectives.
"Secondly, Tata were able to guarantee delivery of the final product within the timescale that we required.
"Thirdly, Tata were able to deliver an innovative, visually and intellectually attractive online package within the available budget.
"And, finally, we knew that Tata had developed other successful induction packages for the commercial and educational sectors around the world."
The programme went 'live' early in 2005 - after an extensive pilot exercise. Carol commented: "The comments we've received about the programme have been highly favourable. We have now launched the package university-wide and will continue to closely monitor our staff's responses to it.
"Initial responses are that the programme is proving both useful and popular. Indeed, it seems that the Tata-produced programme is achieving all that we had hoped it would: providing high quality, accurate content in a memorable way that involves and motivates the user."