Adapt Authoring Tool Training

Adapt Authoring Tool Training

What is Adapt?

Adapt is a free and extremely user-friendly program that makes creating stimulating eLearning content simple. Courses created using Adapt are fully responsive, which means they can be accessed on any internet device, and are developed using HTML5 (the fifth and most up-to-date HTML standard).

The training is focused on the Adapt authoring tool which can be used to create and edit content.

What can delegates expect to learn?

During this hands-on training session, delegates will learn:

  • How to create and edit bespoke eLearning content
  • How to create assessments, surveys, and tests and how to set pass rates
  • How to export new course content to their preferred LMS
  • How to get the best from Adapt for their learners

Who is this course aimed at?

This is a practical workshop-style training session aimed at delegates who would like to design their own eLearning courses and/or learn how to edit existing course content.

No programming or development experience is necessary, however delegates will be required to have an Adapt licence and are asked to come prepared with some content they’d like to develop into a course.

By Royal Decree: GDPR is still a Priority Confirms Queen’s Speech

By Royal Decree: GDPR is still a Priority Confirms Queen’s Speech

So important even Her Majesty the Queen focussed her attention to it the 2017 Queen’s Speech, interest in the GDPR legislation shows no signs of slowing down.

The Queen’s speech confirmed that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will still come into force in the UK on 25th May 2018 and will replace the Data Protection Act, which has governed data handling directives in the UK since 1998. The new GDPR legislation is designed to streamline data handling across the European Union, making it easier for members of the EU to share data safely and also introducing more stringent data protection regulations to suit an increasingly digital age.

So, why would the UK implement EU-wide legislation following the beginning of Brexit negotiations? Firstly, it’s important to understand that the UK was (and still is) a major influence behind the new European legislation, so it’s natural that it would still adopt the GDPR even with Brexit going ahead. Secondly, with UK/EU legislation lining-up following May 2018, the UK will maintain its ability to share data with other members of the EU – for example, police forces and other international authorities. Conserving this ability is imperative in the fight against terrorism and other cross-border crimes.

The GDPR will affect organisations across all industry sectors, and all must ensure they’re up to speed by its implementation next year. Whilst the new legislation will bring with it some welcome consistency for multi-national organisations and employees working across Europe, the legislative burden of new rights for individuals and fines of 2 – 4% global annual revenue for breaches are likely to take a toll.

For this reason, it is important that organisations avoid accidental breaches by ensuring that all employees are prepared and understand what they need to do to remain compliant with the GDPR. Human error (undoubtedly in the form of lack of understanding and knowledge) has proven to be the main cause of data breaches in years past, and so-thought ‘harmless’ mistakes still make-up a large percentage of security law violations and consequent fines.

Organisations need to act quickly to ensure they’re not caught out next May and can take advantage of VinciWorks GDPR eLearning courses to ensure they’re up to speed. We offer three GDPR training courses which together form a comprehensive package covering your preparation for the GDPR, what your organisation’s accountability under new GDPR legislation will be, and a microlearning course created to clarify the new legislation’s ‘right to be forgotten’ regulation.

The courses outline the UK’s Key Priorities for the GDPR, which are:

  1. Ensuring data protection rules are suitable for the digital age.
  2. Empowering individuals to have more control over their personal data.
  3. Giving people the right to be forgotten when they no longer wanted a company to process their data.
  4. Modernising data processing procedures for law enforcement agencies.
  5. Allowing police and the authorities to “continue to exchange information quickly and easily with international partners

Failing to prepare for the GDPR could have disastrous consequences for organisations; with punishments for non-compliance including fines of up to €20m or 4% of annual turnover, whichever is greater. It is not just the fine however that could be potentially damaging to organisations but the reputational damage suffered and adverse publicity.

Our GDPR training will help you to prepare for the GDPR in the correct manner and we will be adding to our portfolio of courses as more details come to light about exactly how the GDPR will affect organisations.

General Data Protection Regulation 2018 – a primer

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new EU-wide law that comes into force from 25 May 2016. As this is a piece of EU legislation, there is now uncertainty about whether the regulation will be adopted in the UK, or whether the UK government will produce its own version.

But even if the regulation is ignored by UK authorities, all British companies that trade with EU countries must abide by the legislation. So what is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – and what impact will it have on UK organisations?

GDPR in a nutshell

The GDPR has been created by the European Commission to strengthen data protection for individuals within the EU. A key aim is to give citizens control of their personal data and to simplify the regulations for international businesses. The new regulation replaces the data protection directive (95/46/EC) and was adopted on 27 April 2016, entering application on 25 May 2018.

The GDPR applies to both controllers and processors of data. Controllers are organisations that determine how and why personal data is processed; the processor acts under the controller’s guidance.

Data protection rights for individuals

Individuals’ rights have been expanded under the GDPR. Key rights for individuals include:

  • Right to be informed – of how their data will be processed and used
  • Right of access – to their personal data
  • Right of rectification – if data is incomplete or incorrect
  • Right to erasure – also known as the right to be forgotten
  • Right to restrict processing – gives people to the right to block processing of their data
  • Right to data portability – people can move, copy or transfer the data
  • Right to object – to their personal data being processed
  • Rights related to automated decision making and profiling – gives people the right to not be subject to a decision based on automated decision making (i.e. not involving human intervention)

Obligations for data controllers and processors

GDPR also expands protections for individuals by increasing the requirements for organisations that control and process personal data:

Accountability and governance – “You are expected to put into place comprehensive but proportionate governance measures. Good practice tools that the ICO has championed for a long time such as privacy impact assessments and privacy by design are now legally required in certain circumstances.” – Information Commissioner’s Office

Breach notification – under GDPR, organisations will be obliged to notify relevant authorities of certain types of data breaches.

Transfer of data – GDPR includes a restriction on the transfer of personal data to countries outside the EU. This ensures that the protection of the GDPR is not undermined.

Is your organisation prepared to meet the requirements of GDPR, and do your employees understand the implications of the new legislation? Will the new rules create new work for your organisation – or will you be able to meet the new standards with ease?

You can find out by taking our FREE GDPR online training course. This GDPR eLearning module provides answers to questions including:

  • What does the GDPR mean for you?
  • How does it apply to the UK post Brexit?
  • Will the DPA change?
  • What will you need to do differently?

Christmas and New Year opening hours

Christmas and New Year opening hours

Season’s Greetings from all at VinciWorks International!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you for your continued support throughout 2016

Christmas Opening Hours

We’ll be closing for Christmas from 5pm on 23rd December 2016 until 3rd January 2017 and will respond to any enquiries received during this period as soon as we return.

See you in 2017!

The VinciWorks International team

Compliance: the state of the industry in 2016

Compliance: the state of the industry in 2016

Compliance is one of the most fast-moving divisions in the corporate world. The rapidly-evolving demands on our function is driven by a whirlwind of ever-changing technology, risks and regulations. So where do we find ourselves in 2016? And what are the biggest challenges facing compliance professionals?

PwC recently released their State of Compliance Study 2016. Let’s explore their findings and see what we can learn from their global survey of 800 executives – including chief compliance officers, chief ethics and compliance officers (CECO), chief legal officers, general counsels and chief audit executives.

The report focuses on business strategy, and how well this is aligned with compliance management. Compliance success starts with the board, and how well senior leaders set the tone and focus attention on ethics and compliance.

Compliance is key, but not always prioritized

The report suggests that this, in general, is happening; 98% of respondents have senior leaders who are committed to ethics and compliance. But this commitment does not always translate into hands-on ownership: 55% claim that senior leaders provide only ad hoc oversight – or delegate many of their compliance and ethics oversight activities.

How to strengthen the ‘tone at the top’

PwC recommend a range of measures for clarifying the tone at the top, including regular communications about the importance of ethical and compliant behaviour, recognition of employees who embody these virtues, and disciplinary action against ethics and compliance violations. They also recommend that organisations aim for a 95% completion rate for compliance and ethics training within three months of deployment.

The report finds that compliance and ethics teams are aligning with other assurance functions, but greater coordination can be achieved: 54% conduct compliance and ethics-specific risk assessment activities beyond traditional risk management efforts. Organisations might be missing out on insights from people on the ground: only 21% use employee surveys to gather information on risk assessments.

The strain of regulation

While organisations recognise the importance of compliance, many CEOs view these demands as a burden. In PwC’s 19th Annual Global CEO Survey, 79% of CEOs cite over-regulation as a threat to their growth prospects. Could this frustration with regulation make life harder for compliance professionals? It could explain why so few compliance divisions (36%) claim to be ‘inherently integrated’ in their organisations’ strategic planning.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing compliance and ethics professionals is the puzzle of how to get greater participation from the C-suite, and to encourage them to set the ‘tone at the top’ – when those same professionals are growing to resent what they perceive as ‘over-regulation’.

Compliance training from VinciWorks

VinciWorks provides convenient, online training for compliance professionals. Browse our compliance training now.

Struggling to engage employees with eLearning? Time to harness the power of microlearning with Take 5

Struggling to engage employees with eLearning? Time to harness the power of microlearning with Take 5

Do you struggle to engage learners with your eLearning? Do your learners groan at the thought of annual training refreshers? Then it’s time to mix it up with our new range of Take 5 microlearning modules.

For the uninitiated, microlearning means short, highly specific bursts of information around a single learning objective. Keeping it short and to the point makes microlearning digestible and memorable. What’s not to love?

But that’s just scratching the surface of why we’re backing microlearning in our mission to engage learners with compliance / health and safety training. Take 5 and read on to find out what to expect from our microlearning modules.

Precision content

Whether it’s down to reduced attention spans, changing habits, or growing demands on our time, asking learners to focus on an eLearning course for even half an hour uninterrupted is a tall order.

That’s why Take 5 modules take a maximum of five minutes to complete – just like a coffee break. After all, who can’t make time for a coffee? If you’re thinking, “30 minutes into 5 doesn’t go…” Of course, you’re right, and you’ve identified the beauty of microlearning!

Rather than attempt to address every learning objective under the sun in one sitting, microlearning crystallises content around a single learning objective. This minimises bloat, keeps content relevant, and sends a clear message to learners: you value their time.

Bespoke curriculum

Early eLearning had much in common with books, right down to the page turning, but often lacked a key feature of books: the ability to skip irrelevant chapters. So, whatever the learner’s expertise, entire courses had to be completed from start to finish in a linear fashion.

Today, we’ve done away with page turning, embraced deep scrolling, and split courses into sections that can be completed any order – but to pass a course, learners must still complete every section. This either forces learners to sit through irrelevant training or forces you to develop bespoke courses.

Instead of that, why not pick and mix Take 5 modules to create a bespoke curriculum based on each learner’s capabilities, covering only the learning outcomes they need? Better yet, use a tool like Astute’s Performance Manager to identify those objectives and enrol learners for you.

Flexible format

Building standalone, 5 minute microlearning modules based around a single learning objective allows for far more flexibility than the complexity of creating cohesive, 30-minute-plus eLearning courses covering a variety of topics.

This frees us to get creative on and come up with the most engaging way to convey a single learning objective. We’ve already identified a variety of distinct formats for our Take 5 modules, each designed to appeal to different learning styles, including:

  • Challenge – gamified scenarios based around desirable behaviours.
  • Short Study – investigations subjects at a ‘need to know’ level for every day competence.
  • Presentation – video-based topic overviews, typically with case studies for extra emotional impact and engagement.
  • Toolbox Talk – designed to assist managers or trainers in facilitating face to face training sessions.

Of course, there’s no reason to stop there, and no need to limit a single learning objective to a single style. So if game-based learning works for some of your staff, but others love to just read the information, you’ll have a Take 5 module available to meet their needs.

Try Take 5 Today

We have over 65 Take 5 modules in development covering a variety of essential compliance / health and safety topics and plan to release 3-4 each month, but our first two are already available:

  • Money Laundering Challenge: puts learners in the role of fraud investigator – but will they be able to confiscate all of the money?
  • Gifts and Hospitality Challenge: asks learners to identify which gifts can be accepted and which are actually bribes.

Contact us now to arrange a demo or find out more.

Extended Astute eLearning Platform with 360-degree performance reviews, social notifications, and more

Extended Astute eLearning Platform with 360-degree performance reviews, social notifications, and more

We’ve been hard at work on product innovations and are excited to share details of the latest enhancements to Astute, our eLearning Platform.

Social Notifications

Users and teams can now enjoy in-platform messaging with social media-style notifications, further extending Astute’s capabilities as a social knowledge sharing platform, while administrators can create organisation-wide notifications.

Like emails, notifications can be triggered by activities like passing a course or logging in for the first time, making them a powerful, flexible communication tool that minimises needless email.

My Team / My Progress

Astute’s new My Progress feature gives learners an overview of their progress through courses and assessments they’re enrolled on. For managers, My Team provides an overview of progress, total time spent, and number of attempts for each individual in their team without the need to delve into reports or spreadsheets.

Performance Manager Extension

Astute’s latest extension, Performance Manager, gives organisations the power to identify employees’ individual development requirements and deliver tailored training – all through one central platform.

With customisable job profiles, capability frameworks and assessments, you’ll be able to gather multi-source feedback, benchmark capabilities and identify untapped potential within your organisation. Where capability gaps are identified, learners are presented with development opportunities which can be links to online resources, files, or Astute courses.

Contact us today to find out more about Astute and Performance Manager.

Learning on demand: is it time your business followed TV’s lead?

Learning on demand: is it time your business followed TV’s lead?

Technology is integral to the way we live and work, but it’s never felt more important for businesses to keep up with technological advances than it feels today.

From enabling staff to work flexibly wherever it’s convenient for them, to cutting down on physical meetings with the help of video conferencing, to using services like Basecamp and Slack to do away with email, businesses aren’t just using technology to improve their products: they’re improving the workplace itself.

But what does this have to do with eLearning?

You might use eLearning for continuing employee development, or to simply fulfil mandatory training requirements, but if the experience doesn’t deliver on what learners expect from modern technology, it will only lead to frustration – and frustrated employees are demotivated employees.

So, where do you begin to make sure this isn’t the case with yours?

Looking at the technology habits of the generation that’s about to enter the workforce reveals some interesting insights into what the workers of the future will expect from their eLearning.

Changing habits

The BBC recently reported that young people between the ages of 5 and 16 now spend more time online than they do watching television, a change which can be attributed to the fact that 67% of young people today own tablets or mobile devices.

The prevalence of these devices has caused use of CDs, broadcast television and printed publications to decrease – all to be replaced by their digital mobile alternatives.

For employers, this means a new generation of employees is about to enter the workforce that’s used to having instant access to music, news, television – in short, whatever media they want – instantly, whenever it suits them.

Futureproofing eLearning

If you want to make sure your online training will be engaging to employees of the future, perhaps it’s time to follow TV’s lead and make it available on demand through mobiles, tablets, and PCs.

To do this, there are three main options: mobile compatible eLearning, mLearning and responsive eLearning, each with its own pros and cons:

Mobile compatible eLearning: sometimes described as mobile friendly, mobile compatible eLearning courses are usually designed with personal computers in mind, but built to scale down to fit mobile screens. Mobile compatible eLearning can be rapid to create as existing courses can be exported in a new format, but can result in text being too small to read, buttons being difficult to press, and a need to scroll from side to side to see the course.

mLearning: designed specifically for mobile devices, mLearning courses can work particularly well when you know in advance what kind of mobile learners will be using, for example in schools. Because they are designed for mobile, they are fairly quick to create, but may be equally quick to become outdated as the technology changes frequently. Due to bandwidth and memory issues, mLearning courses can often lack in depth, interactivity and multimedia.

Responsive eLearning: responsive eLearning courses are designed to work on mobiles, tablets and personal computers and dynamically adapt their design according to the device they’re being accessed on. Responsive design is the standard for modern web and app development, and enables a familiar learner experience no matter what device is being used. This type of course requires the most initial investment of the three approaches, but the result is a course that can be created and updated once, and accessed on all kinds of device.

VinciWorks

We believe responsive design is the best way to futureproof your eLearning and ensure it remains engaging, which is why we’ve invested in producing over 40 off-the-shelf responsive eLearning courses covering compliance and health and safety topics.

If you’re not sure about responsive eLearning, try out free instant online demos of our courses today. No need to fill in any forms, just browse through our courses and if you like what you see, get in touch for access to the full versions.

Introducing our new-look website

January’s that time of the year where we come back to work refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready to reinvent ourselves.

So, in the spirit of New Year, New You, we’re thrilled to launch our brand new website.

Throughout 2015 we redesigned our off-the-shelf health and safety and compliance eLearning modules with the Adapt Framework, and the feedback has been so positive we wanted our website to follow suit.

Key features of our new website:

  • Improved mobile experience – like our Adapt courses, our website displays beautifully on all devices
  • Rapid access to insights and eLearning modules from our specialist subject areas
  • Over 30 free demos of our responsive eLearning courses available instantly – no need to fill in any forms
  • Find the eLearning courses to meet your business needs more easily

Be sure to click around and see what our new site has to offer, have a look at demos of our latest compliance and health and safety courses, and try using a range of devices for the responsive user experience you could be offering your learners.

There’s also plenty more to come this year: we’ll soon be launching our new range of easy-to-digest Take 5 eLearning nuggets, perfect for keeping staff training up to date without getting in the way of their schedules; new risk assessment checklists; and performance-enhancing Astute extensions, so stay tuned!

VinciWorks helps rugby to tackle concussion with custom eLearning

VinciWorks helps rugby to tackle concussion with custom eLearning

As previously announced, VinciWorks has worked with the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby and Rugby Players’ Association to create a bespoke Concussion Awareness eLearning course for all players, coaches, and officials.

The launch of this campaign across rugby coincided with widespread media coverage and awareness of concussion in a number of sports.

As well as contact sports like rugby and football, sports like Formula 1 have received coverage around the risks of concussion, as the long-term effects of head injuries come under increased scrutiny in the media.

With concern growing, sporting bodies are taking steps to minimise the risks of concussion and VinciWorks are passionate about the use of eLearning in reaching this goal.

We create fully responsive eLearning courses which can be accessed through any internet-enabled device, with a rich variety of content which has been independently validated by experts in the field.

Our Concussion Awareness eLearning content is suitable for all sports and is the most effective way to raise awareness of the symptoms, risks, and management of concussion amongst sportspeople.

When VinciWorks’ Concussion Awareness course was announced by the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the RPA the news was widely reported in the media, reaching BBC Sport, the Guardian, and Sky Sports. The latter described the course as “a major advance in concussion education in professional sport.”