Bringing remote access, mobile-friendly e learning to Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, so firefighters can spend more of their time keeping the community safe.
The Challenge
Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service works to keep people safe by educating citizens about accident and injury prevention, as well as responding to emergencies.
Its firefighters already benefited from high quality training developed by in-house experts, but its training team wanted to change the way it delivered learning packages in order to increase engagement. The aim was to attract learners to the e-learning platform rather than having to force them to undertake training.
To do this, the organisation needed:
- A modern, attractive platform that was easy-to-access.
- A simple learner journey with quick access to key e-learning modules.
- To be able to deliver training remotely without needing firefighters to attend a training centre.
- Better tracking of training progress and completion.
The rollout of new breathing apparatus, which would require all firefighters to undertake urgent training, was used as an opportunity to develop a new e-learning platform to deliver the mandatory training.
The Solution: Providing confidence in competence
Working with NFRS to meet the tight deadline for the new breathing apparatus training, Synergy Learning delivered the new platform in just six weeks.
They created the NFRSLearn e-learning platform to host all existing and future e-learning modules. Built on the Totara Learn platform, it gave immediate access to all 800 users, so they could undertake the safety critical training for the new breathing apparatus, as well as other courses.
Senior management and the training delivery team had access to training completion information and mandatory knowledge checks to give confidence that all firefighters had a complete understanding of the new equipment and would be able to use it safely. We integrated the learning platform with NFRS’s other IT systems to ensure compatibility and easy sharing of information.
We also shortened the steps needed to access e-learning modules so that it’s easier for firefighters to find the training they need on any device.
“What impressed us about Synergy Learning was a can-do attitude from the start. The design team worked hard to understand our requirements and went the extra mile to be as proud of the site as we are. The site functions well, the users have adopted it and are getting actively involved in the development, which is a great direction to be heading in. Since go-live, we have not had any software failures with the platform and the Totara product has proven to be very robust. Not having to carry out remedial work on the platform has meant that we have been able to fully concentrate on delivering quality e-learning material through NFRSLearn. The new platform has done what we wanted it to do from day one.” – Richard Heffer, Training Delivery Manager, Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service
The Results
- More than 30,000 courses have been completed by 800 users in just 2 years.
- Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service has added an additional 100 days to frontline services every year due to less time needed for training.
- 100% completion for all safety critical and mandatory training
“We were impressed with the flexibility and the level of consultancy that Synergy Learning was able to provide. They were able to understand our requirements and create a user friendly learning portal for staff, and one that we can amend and be comfortable using without having to go back for minor changes.” – Steve Wass, eLearning Team, Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service