Building a Professional Development Program with Lynda.com Administrative Manual St. Olaf Human Resources Department

Building a Professional Development Program with Lynda.com Administrative Manual St. Olaf Human Resources Department

Professional Development at St. Olaf College Employees facilitate the growth of our college. They keep every facet of the institution functioning smoothly so that all departments can work together as a cohesive unit. They are an essential asset, but a costly one too. Rather than taking on a strategy focused recruiting, this plan offers an alternative idea in which St. Olaf focuses on developing, empowering, and retaining its current employees through Professional Development. Professional Development is not to be confused with training. Training is the process through which knowledge and skills of employees are enhanced for an immediate job role. It contributes to only about 10% of learning within an organization, and is outdated within 30-60 months. Conversely, Development is the process through which knowledge and skills of employees are enhanced, but for which there is no immediate use. Development is an ongoing process. In a business or academic sense, Professional Development is a term used to reference a wide variety of specialized learning intended to improve Technological skills Interpersonal skills Affective well-being Professional knowledge It s goal is to shape more effective employees, who enjoy greater job satisfaction, through increasing self-efficacy.

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) Professional Development occurs through learning, the process by which changes in knowledge or skills are acquired through education or experience. What Helps People Learn Supportive Supervisors Follow-up activities and assessments Learner input and choice (goal alignment) One professional development approach that addresses all three of these concepts is the Individual Development Plan (IDP). An IDP is a vehicle in which supervisors can support their employees through coaching, monitoring, and evaluation. Employees first assess their strengths, and consider what skills they want to develop. In doing so, create their own personalized road map of learning. Once employees have established a plan, they meet with a supervisor to agree upon deadlines and specific dates in which they can receive feedback and recognition for the work they ve accomplished. A copy of each employee s IDP should be stored in his/her employee file to be reevaluated at a later time.

Supervisors will be able to: Engage in productive conversations with employees that foster develop mental success Provide a path in which employees can follow on their own time Easily monitor employee progress and motivation Reward skill development Build Trust Employees will be able to: Evaluate their current strengths and weaknesses Identify ways to develop themselves to enhance their productivity Create their own personalized action plan Receive helpful feedback and recognition from their supervisor

How to Create Effective Goals Through an IDP SMART Goals S- pecific (clear and well-defined) M- easurable (precise dates, amounts, metrics, etc.) A- ttainable (realistic, yet challenging) R- elevant (align with values and objectives) T- ime Bound (deadlines)

Professional Development and Lynda.com What is Lynda.com? Lynda.com is an online library including 2,500+ courses taught by industry experts in software, creativity, and business skills. The company was created in 1995 by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, and is designed as a tool to advance your career. It is accessible 24/7 to all faculty, staff and students, and is available on smartphones, tablets, and computers. How do I use Lynda.com? Users have personal profiles where they can create playlists relating to specific skills sets they want to develop (i.e. communication, presentation, software skills). These playlists are compilations of courses, which users can browse on the Lynda library. After the completion of each course, users receive certificates which can be stored, printed, or published directly to a LinkedIn profile.

Why Should St. Olaf use Lynda.com for Professional Development? St. Olaf is already paying $22,000 a year for unlimited access for all of its faculty, staff, and students. This means there is no extra up-front costs to implementing the program. Employees will have the freedom to complete their training anywhere at any time. It is available on smartphones, tablets, and computers. Yet, employees will also have the option to use on campus resources such as DiSCO (Digital Scholarship Center at St. Olaf), where they have access to software tools and help. Lynda.com consists of videos from industry experts who are passionate about teaching the material they are covering. Employees will be learning from the best, and current campus employees won t have to take as much time out of their day training others. Using Lynda.com for professional development has proven successful at the University of Denver in their 14ers people development program. The workplace is rapidly changing in terms of technology. Rather than spend more on recruiting and hiring younger individuals, St. Olaf can keep its more experienced employees by simply having them get up to date on the latest skill sets.

Courses can be completed in sub-sections, resulting in better retention of the concepts. Having more people able to operate software tools means that they will be able accomplish more on their own, without having to ask for the assistance of others. Employees can start a skill at any level. Lynda offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses. Not only does Lynda offer courses in technology, art, and business, but it also provides courses in meditation, jazz piano, photography, film scoring, etc. By introducing employees to this resource, they may also make use of it outside or work. Everyone completing different playlists tailored to their job and interests means that St. Olaf will have a diverse body of employees, all with different skill sets.

Getting to Know Lynda It s important to first get yourself acquainted with Lynda.com, so that you can be of help to your employees. While you can always find assistance in the DiSCO (Digital Scholarship Center at St. Olaf), here are some step by step instructions for how to log on and navigate the online library. Visit the St. Olaf homepage and type in Human Resources into the search box. Once your reach the HR homepage, look to the right of the page to find subsections. At the bottom, there should be a section labeled Professional Development & Lynda.com. Click on this. On this page, there are a couple of sections discussing professional development and Lynda.com. Scroll all the way to the bottom and look for the Getting Started section with the Log In link. All students, faculty, and staff should be able to log in with their St. Olaf ID. Note: For a comprehensive tutorial on how to navigate Lynda.com, check out the course How to use Lynda.com, an hour and half long video put together by the Lynda.com staff.

Once you reach the Lynda.com homepage, there will be a person icon with your name, indicating that you are logged in (i.e. Hi Erin). Hovering over your name will reveal a drop down menu with 7 other pages relating to you and your account. My Profile Playlists History Recommended Certificates Bookmarks Log out

My profile: Your profile consists of 3 tabs. The first tab, My Profile, consists of contact information such as your name and email address. The second tab, My Interests, is made up of categories within the library. By selecting certain categories, Lynda.com with recommend courses for you. You can update these interests at any time. The third tab, News + Email Options, allows you to update you email address and subscribe to email notifications. For the most part, you will not need to tamper with this tab. Playlists: The playlists tab is where you can store courses from the library into specialized playlists. You can access courses, observe their duration, and monitor your progress. History: The history tab shows you which courses you have started, and which ones you have completed, in the order of when they were last accessed. Recommended: You will find courses in the recommended tab if you have updated your interests within your profile. If you have not elaborated on your interests, the page does not have enough data to calculate individualized courses for you. Certificates: In the certificates section, you will see a list of all of the courses you have completed, as well as the date that you completed them. You have the option to view them, print them out, or share them. Bookmarks: The bookmark tab saves courses that you have marked. Log out: Clicking Log out simply brings you back to the Lynda homepage.

Lynda.com provides a wide variety of course topics ranging from 3D + Animation, to Marketing, all the way through business and even photography. By hovering over the Library icon next to the search box, a list will drop down with sections labeled Topics, Software, and Learning Paths. These learning paths consist of Become a Python Developer Become an SEO Expert Become a Digital Marketer While these are all options open to your employees, there are already pre-selected pathways compiled by St. Olaf that focus on skill sets necessary for running a successful higher education institution. Within the Professional Development & Lynda.com web page, you can find all of the pathways. Simply click one (i.e. General Pathways) and read about it. If you want to explore the pathway, you can click on the link that says Access Pathway Courses Here. Doing so will bring you to Lynda.com where you can further explore specific courses and add them to a playlist.

Once you find a course you want to watch, click the plus sign below the course to add it to your playlist. It will give you the option to create a new playlist, or add the course to one of your existing playlists. If it s your first time adding a course, go ahead and click New Playlist. Give the playlist a name (i.e. Professional Development Fall 2018). Add a description for the playlist, if you d like. Under each video, there is an overview tab which includes a description of the course and a short biography of the author. It will also indicate the skill level, duration, and number of views the course has received. To the left of the video screen you will find a contents tab. This will allow you to see the video you are watching within each chapter, as well as if you ve previously viewed the video. If you ve already viewed the video, a blue eye will appear next to it.

To the right of the Contents tab is a Notebook tab. To take notes while watching videos, simply type your thoughts into the box provided and hit Enter. Once you do so, the note will be saved along with the time in the video it was recorded. These notes can then be downloaded as a Word Document, PDF, or Text File by clicking on the down arrow next to the text box. Important: Employees do not have to watch an entire course in one sitting! Courses range anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 hours. Employees should be encouraged to take a break when they feel that they are no longer retaining information. Lynda will save all of their notes and remember where they left off.

Once a course is completed, you will receive a certificate. Either you can print it out, or you can have it published strait to your LinkedIn profile. If you choose to publish your certificate to LinkedIn, it will appear within your Accomplishments section under Certifications.

Getting your Employees Started with Lynda While you have been provided with specific instruction on how to use Lynda, other than being able to explain it to your employees, you will not need to be concerned with operating the library and creating playlists. The idea is that employees will put together their own playlist based on their Individual Development Plan. Employees will look for courses that match the skill they want to improve. When your employee has filled out their IDP, and found some courses, he or she will sit down with you and talk over a time frame to complete the courses (i.e. semester). When you first introduce the program, you can either agree upon a specific number of hours of learning, or a set number of courses. It s up to your discretion. You also need to set up check-ins, where you can talk to your employee about their progress and get some feedback about the program from them.

Keep all of an employee s certificates, as well as a copy of their IDP, in their personal file. That way both you and the employee can keep track of his/her progress. Additionally, encourage employees to publish some of their more technical certificates to their LinkedIn. If they do not have a LinkedIn profile, perhaps point them towards some resources that would assist them in creating one. At the end of each semester (or other agreed upon date), employees will need to provide you with certificates indicating that they have completed the learning they agreed to do. Certificates can be found in the Certificates tab on the drop down menu. On the next page are the pathways that employees have been provided with so far. Within each pathway there are multiple courses.

St. Olaf Course Playlists General Pathways Supervisor Pathways Communication Management Conflict Management Leadership Productivity Technology Pathways Team Player Google Apps Wellness Microsoft Word and Excel Professional Development Presentation Tools Specialized Skills Pathways Creative Tools Presentation Skills Social Media Customer Service Organizational Tools Diversity Analytical Tools Change Management Educational Tools Finance & Budgeting Project Management Networking & Mentoring

Evaluating the Lynda Professional Development Program St. Olaf can evaluate the program on 4 dimensions. Reactions judge effectiveness by looking at the reactions and feelings of employees who participated in the learning program. Feedback from employees can be collected both during the individual meetings that they set up wit you, as well as through an employee survey. Learning judge effectiveness by the amount of new knowledge and skills acquired through the learning courses. This can be quantified by the number of hours of video, or by the number of courses completed. This should be compared to the amount of training that occurred prior to the implementation of the Lynda Professional Development Program. However, it s also important to consider how much time during the prior training was actually spent learning, versus the amount of time blocked off. Behavior judge effectiveness by looking at changes in behavior exhibited on the job. This can be achieved through 360 degree feedback. 360 degree feedback entails evaluating employees from multiple rating sources. This usually includes feedback from Supervisor Peer Self

360 degree feedback is based on two assumptions: Awareness of rating discrepancies enhances self-awareness how far off is your view of your professional development vs. how others view your progress. Enhanced self-awareness is the key to maximum performance getting honest feedback will give employees a realistic view of where they stand in their professional development process. At the end of each semester, along with the general feedback survey, everyone who took part in the program should fill out a self evaluation form and a peer evaluation form. They will receive evaluations from their supervisor and a peer. The self evaluation, peer evaluation, and supervisor evaluation will all be stored with the employee s IDP and certificates of completion in a personal file. Results: judge effectiveness by looking at the economic value that accrues as a function of the new behavior exhibited on the job. This is the hardest dimension to measure, and needs to be done on a departmental basis.