As we have all seen, the dawn of COVID changed the way we learn, study, and work over the past year. Facing a yet uncertain working environment, in the near future at least, the Surplus Property area of the Distribution Center at CU Boulder decided to pursue an online training environment for staff who need access to the surplus property software used across campus as they dispose of university property. A decision was made in May, 2021 to pursue a self-paced online course that will also become one section of the three part series that staff can pursue to obtain Property Manager Certification.
Disposing of certain types of Surplus Property requires submission and approval of a disposal form!
We settled on the use of Canvas to house the training as this is the LMS used by students and staff on campus, it is accessible to all staff both via computer and mobile device, and use of Canvas provided the added benefit of introducing staff to the LMS they will see if they choose to use their tuition benefit.
Flexibility to complete training either via a few short, focused sessions or through completion of short learning modules will be accomplished by chunking information into smaller targeted bites of information broken into modules that average about ten minutes each. The ability to access Canvas on a mobile device contributes to the accessibility and flexibility piece as well.
Engagement is a more difficult question as most of our adult learners are used to a classroom setting, which for technical training is not always the most effective path. In addition, some departments on campus have surplus property to dispose of fairly regularly, whereas other departments may see one transfer every year or two. Expecting retention of the information over an extended period of time would be somewhat unreasonable. Adopting a format where by information is chunked into targeted topics facilitates self-paced learning within Canvas and also provides a tracking mechanism to ensure users understand the policy and use of software before we issue a logon, or a certification of completion of our portion of the property manager certification. The format used, of narrated screen cast recordings created in Camtasia, gives us the ability to also place learning bites on our website for access any time they are needed. Another added benefit lies in the fact that the learner also retains the ability to return to smaller portions of the training in Canvas even if there is a long period of time between use the software.
After discussing a flow that would offer flexibility for completion as well as an option for our seasoned users to skip the basic training we settled on the following:
- a module that includes a welcome and introduction to the training format
- a policy review module that all staff would be required to complete
- a knowledge test for experienced users to allow them to skip the next sections
- a heavier module that includes software training and a look at the policy, previously covered, in action
- an optional module we call a Deep Dive into processing surplus property
- and a module that would point users to a place to sign up for a Q&A session if they wished to complete our portion of the three-part Property Manger Certification
