ESHRE adapts and scales its mission with Totara Learn

The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) was founded by Robert G Edwards, physiologist and Nobel Prize Winner who pioneered the conception through IVF of the world’s first “test-tube baby” in 1985. The Society set out to understand, promote and educate on all topics related to reproductive biology and medicine.

Today, ESHRE spearheads medical research and raises treatment standards through education. The society guides, trains and accredits medical professionals around the globe. It also organises meetings for specialists in the field of reproductive medicine and fertility and maintains important data registries.

The Challenge: Pivoting to An Effective E-Learning Strategy

Annual meetings – attracting an international attendance of around 10,000 delegates – play an important role in ESHRE’s ultimate mission of driving improvements in the field of medically assisted reproduction and embryology. In addition, smaller and more topic focused workshops and courses are also being organised throughout the year.

These in-person meetings help host relevant discussions, spread expertise, stimulate publications in ESHRE’s highly cited medical journals and fuel the content on ESHRE’s eCampus, an online learning platform.

Unfortunately, ESHRE’s in-person events were put on an indefinite pause due to COVID-19 and the limited travel options caused by the global lockdown. To continue educating medical professionals around the world, the organisation turned to its learning platform, which was already undergoing an overhaul since September 2018.This brought the limitations of the old platform to light:

• The platform wasn’t user-friendly; learners struggled to find the content they needed
• Admins (who could only upload videos and structure content in a basic way) found the platform inflexible and restrictive.

As a result, the L&D team couldn’t cater to the spiked demand for more advanced e-learning content.

“Everything was behind a wall, I couldn’t change or structure differently. It was hard to change anything.”

The Solution: Upgrading to Powerfully Flexible Learning Management System

In search of a new learning platform, and to keep pace with a changing educational landscape, the organisation turned to Totara Partner, Deloitte.

With Deloitte’s help, they mapped out the new e-learning platform from start to finish.

This started with an initial workshop that tested the platform on an external (non-admin) test group. After the workshop, Deloitte suggested Totara’s Learning Management System, Totara Learn, to launch the new platform.

Empowered by a host of new features and potential offered by Totara Learn, ESHRE’s L&D team worked with Deloitte to brainstorm:

• Predefined learning homepage filters for a smoother learner experience
• Catalogs and filters for special interest learning groups
• Personas based on target learners

This was followed by multiple homepage prototypes, sprints, reviews, and tests to tailor the platform to ESHRE’s unique needs.

ESHRE praised Deloitte for how hands-on and “agile” they were throughout the entire project. This attention to detail is evident in the results generated by the new e-learning platform.

“Deloitte is great to work with. Not only are they fast and attentive, but they also execute extremely well!”

The Results: An All-purpose eCampus That Empowers ESHRE’s Missio

Inflexibility, lack of control and poor user experience plagued ESHRE’s previous learning platform. But thanks to Totara Learn’s transformational features and Deloitte’s excellent execution, the organisation has adapted its learning platform to scale post-pandemic operations and further its mission.

ESHRE also added gamification to its platform to motivate learners with tangible rewards. Embryologists who score 100% on a quiz after taking an exam, for instance, are awarded CPD credits (from ESHRE) that evidence the fact that they are developing even further with, among other things, the eCampus platform.

Learners also can collect CME (Continuous Medical Education) credits with the Campus Workshops. (In some countries, these CME credits are required to show that professionals continue to learn and educate themselves.)

Other key results include:

• Improved and diverse learning content in the form of videos, courses, quizzes, live webinars and more
• Access to (previously unavailable) reporting capabilities
• Dedicated pages to host live conferences streamed from Youtube/Vimeo.
• Custom-built chat functions on live stream pages to provoke discussions and questions – just like an actual in-person event

“The thing I like the most about our new learning platform is that it’s very flexible and I can work independently. I have control over the courses, the admin and I can add and edit whatever I want.”