The Best Digital Learning Transformation Programme implemented in response to COVID-19

Showcasing the Lumina Spark Qualification

Lumina Learning creates psychometrics to help organisations transform their people, one human at a time. We qualify Practitioners in our psychometrics, which involve a mix of theoretical content, experiential content, self-reflection, analysis, critical evaluation and self-reflection to ensure the tools are understood and can be interpreted by participants effectively.

The challenge

Before Covid-19, all over the world, we qualified Practitioners to use Lumina Spark with a robust three-day face-to-face programme. During 2019, we had been exploring options for taking a more modular blended-learning approach to our qualification process. However, when Covid-19 hit in March 2021, we realised that we had to speed up this transformation programme to enable us to deliver virtually.

We have always used a very collaborative approach to our learning solutions to ensure effective transfer of the learning between participants. It was important to us to retain this element in the design.

Figure 1 Lumina Spark’s three day roadmap

To meet our ongoing goal to credentialise our qualifications, we also wanted to achieve International Coaching Federation (ICF)-Continuous Coaching Education accreditation for our qualification once redesigned to meet the need of many of our Practitioners.

We had clear learning outcomes defined, but as we have added additional features to the qualification, it had become increasingly difficult to cover the entire curriculum in the three-day programme.

The solution

The digital learning transformation programme was designed to deliver effective and lasting improvement

To transform our qualification into a digital learning transformation programme to deliver effective and lasting improvement in the quality of our newly qualified Practitioners, we took a root and branch approach.

We started by reviewing the current content and the key elements to ensure Practitioners were competent and confident to deliver Lumina Spark to their clients, following the process below:

Figure 2 Design Approach

We designed the new virtual qualification to combine both synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Synchronous elements included: 

• Four virtual classrooms using Zoom as our preferred platform (although content can be delivered using MS-Teams, Gototraining or Adobe) packed full of interactive content such as breakout rooms, polls, annotation, whiteboards
• Using digital apps
• Teach back practice
• Self-reflection
• Editable workbook to capture learning and reflection

Figure 3 Integrated Learning Approach

Asynchronous elements included: 

• Online social learning using the Lumina Learning Experience Platform (LLXP) from Learning Pool-Stream utilising a combination of
• Video content
• Articulate learning objects
• Quizzes and Tests
• Activities to apply learning
• Social interaction between participants within most learning objects to share knowledge and experience
• Uploads from participants
• Moderation and feedback from facilitators on answers to questions about what had been learnt in the online learning objects
• Collaborative learning with fellow practitioners debriefing Lumina Spark
• Three on-the-job debrief practices with ‘real’ participants

Both synchronous and asynchronous elements included interactivity using the Learning Pool-Stream LXP(LLXP), enabling Practitioners to collaborate and apply their learning throughout the programme.

In terms of design, we used an integrated learning approach.  This approach ensured a comprehensive learning experience, with the right mix of content. Thus, allowing practitioners to absorb content, discuss, apply, embed and practise all they had learnt.  

We piloted the qualification design with our Partners and Strategic Alliances initially, then iterated based on feedback.

Over the last 15 months, we have continued to evolve the qualification based on feedback from participants to the following format.

Figure 4 Current Lumina Spark Qualification Design

Outcome evaluation

It was vital to gather feedback from participants, particularly in the early days of piloting the qualification to enable us to evolve the design and the content and ensure:

• Learners were supported effectively throughout the programme
• We were making appropriate use of the available tools and technologies
• The qualification was delivering effective and lasting learning and improvement

Our starting point was to ensure that the facilitators were confident to deliver the programme in this new format.  We knew they had sound knowledge of the subject matter, but virtual delivery needs a different skill-set to face-to-face delivery.

Figure 6 Feedback survey 2020 N=346

Figure 5 Feedback survey 2020 N=346

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The feedback on these two critical measures throughout 2020 was overwhelmingly positive.

We also analysed participants’ satisfaction with the structure and content and provided effective and lasting improvement in the capability of the learners to understand and use our products. Facilitator moderation ensured learning is applied correctly and the learner supported.

Figure 7 Feedback Survey 2020

Before 2020, we ran one public face-to-face qualification each month in the UK with an average of 15 participants per month.  As we rolled out these centralised virtual qualifications in April, we ran up to four qualifications per month with up to 12 participants per programme.   

As part of our response to the challenges faced by learning and development during the pandemic, we offered a discounted price to potential attendees as budgets were tight, but availability and interest were high.

What this meant for our revenue was that our qualification revenue remained steady all through 2020. On the other hand, our Psychometric Test revenue (Points), typically our bread and butter revenue, literally fell off a cliff in April 2020.

As these additional Practitioners became qualified in our product and delivering Lumina Spark virtually, we saw an excellent recovery in our points revenue over 2020, which has continued into 2021, thereby ensuring business continuity and organisational performance.

Figure 8 Number of Practitioners attending Public Qualifications

As we advertised our Lumina Spark Qualifications to our global audience, we increasingly had international participants on our qualifications, with our Partners worldwide replicating our qualifications in local languages.  Going Virtual has largely benefitted our global reach, opening our products and services to Practitioners who may not have collaborated with us otherwise. Virtual Lumina Spark qualifications are currently available in Dutch, French, Japanese, and German.  More translations are underway and were looking forward to rolling out Lumina Spark further across the world as demand increases.

For our Partners and Strategic Alliances for whom English qualifications are an option, putting forward participants to attend virtually on our centrally run qualifications has freed the Partners to focus on business development.

Key impacts

To summarise, the introduction of the Lumina Spark digital learning Blended Qualification has had a significant impact on our business continuity throughout 2020, our individual practitioner, partner and strategic alliance performance, and that of Lumina Learning Ltd.

The additional benefits to individual and organisational performance are:

1. Partners and Strategic Alliances in smaller geographies do not have to find a critical mass of participants to get new Practitioners qualified, freeing them up to do more business development and speeding up the time to get Practitioners qualified.
2. A key benefit identified by participants in the qualitative feedback received is the global nature of our qualifications, enabling the exchange of ideas, perspectives and improving the learning by sharing the experience with a more diverse group of participants than was possible face-to-face.
3. The average participation on our qualifications has increased, and we now have a global reach for our English qualifications.  This consistently high participation rate ensures we minimise our delivery costs per learner whilst maximising the quality by limiting courses to 12 participants at any one time.
4. Practitioners, in addition to becoming qualified in Lumina Spark, also become familiar with virtual and blended delivery enabling them to replicate our approach with their clients.
5. The development of the learning objects for the LLXP has opened up additional opportunities for our existing Practitioners who are reusing the learning objects in their client applications.

The virtual blended Lumina Spark Qualification has been submitted for numerous awards, collecting at least finalists positions in these 4 categories

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