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Last Monday I travelled to my spiritual home of Manchester to attend a Cake Camp run by CIPD Manchester to learn more about Using Tech well in L&D which is a key part of the strategy for L&D in the business I work in.

So, what’s a Cake Camp?

Well there is cake (and coffee too!) …but it is not the main part of the event. It is a series of facilitated discussions in which a series of facilitators switch tables and discuss a particular aspect of the topic. We were very lucky have the event expertly hosted by @BurnhamLandD and fab table facilitators in @DanielT_LnD @evaadam90 @fionaleteney @SallyRhodes97

There were lots of great conversations and I have included some of the key learning points from each session below

Daniel Taylor – University of Manchester @DanielT_LnD

For me on the most interesting aspects of what Daniel had to share was around the Managers Essentials website used at the University for HR Policy which was utilised by

• Empowering Managers to search out policies by making them accessible on a website using informal headings i.e. Time Off, Family
• Embedding this into the Induction for Managers by using a quiz to check existing knowledge and then demonstrating the website. In addition, this is embedded into training sessions for managers by referring people to it whenever HR Policy is mentioned.
• The policies are supported by 60 second videos known as lightning talks on different aspects of the policies – made using Smartphone technology

Other key learning points from the session included

• Using Yammer to share materials
• Ensuring that whatever you design that it is visually engaging
• Think about creating Choose Your Own Adventure videos which ask users to make choices and then shows the consequence of those choices
• Check your analytics to tell you what is working and not working i.e. What are people actually using?

Eva Adam – Cast UK @evaadam90

Eva shared with us lots of useful hints and tips including

• Technology is the tool not the solution – don’t start with the technology think about how appropriate it is to use for what you need
• Look at your stakeholder’s return on expectation – what would they like to see?
• Focus on making L&D metrics the metrics of the business and making sure that the metrics discussion becomes part of the culture
• Utilising Microsoft forms to gather information on performance – Google forms are very similar in nature as well
• Introducing a FAQ Chatbot to answer questions on frequently asked HR issues
• Using a flipped learning approach – where sessions in the classroom are supported by pre-learning to cover the theory and sessions then focused on learning transfer demonstrated within the classroom

Eva had also created a series of useful resources for new starters which included all the questions you want to ask before you start including

• Where can I eat lunch?
• What do I wear?
• Where do I park?

Fiona Leteny Forsway Group @fionaleteney

Fiona shared with us 5 top mistakes businesses make when buying a digital learning system which included

1. Don’t go it alone- Ask similar organisations what they are using, have a working party to discuss requirements
2. Don’t have an over inflated requirements list - Inevitably when we implement a new system, we tend to ask people what they would like to see which leads to a long list of needs. Instead Fiona suggests focusing on what you really need to have to make an impact – what are your must have’s
3. Data – Ensure whatever your system is that your data is right before it goes in to assist with implementation. Decide on what your single source of truth is and utilise this for maximum impact
4. Integrate your Systems – Make sure your systems can talk to each other – often in organisations there are a series of system who are unable to talk to each other which leads to a duplication of work
5. Misunderstanding the total cost of ownership of the system – We often assume that the total cost is limited to the fees charge but it can also include

• Upfront support to embed system
• Integration costs
• Training for the system administrator

Sally Rhodes Cap Gemini @SallyRhodes97

Sally shared with us some useful learning points particularly about Management Development (which is my special area of expertise!) around using Microsoft Teams with different cohorts by

• Creating a separate closed group chat for each cohort
• Posting links to resources and starting discussion on these to ensure continuous learning
• Embedding this into the Management Development activity by setting up in the Induction and making this part of the programme rather than a separate task

Other key points from Sally included

• Learning is not a discrete activity – it is not something we do separately away from the workplace it is something we can do in the workplace
• Utilise Streams in Office 365 to post resources

Final Thoughts

As you can see there were lots to think about and take away and for me what I am going to put into practice straightaway

• Meet with our Head of IT to discuss the potential of Streams
• Share the key learnings with the rest of the L&D team (already done!)
• Share with our HR team

Thanks to CIPD Manchester and Rachel Burnham for a great event and just for the record the cake was fabulous too!!!