San Diego, CA May 20, 2003

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) gave its 2002 Excellence in Workplace Learning and Performance award to a computer-based training program designed by Learning Designs Online. The award, presented at the ASTD’s annual conference in San Diego, California, recognizes ‘significant contributions’ in Workplace Learning and Development.

The winning entry was an interactive training CD ROM, Textile Manufacturing Basics, designed Dr. Lynette Gillis, president of Learning Designs. Textile Manufacturing Basics courseware is a crucial element of a national strategic initiative to strengthen the Canadian textile industry and promote global competitiveness. The training CD ROM, which has been sold in 26 countries around the world, is the product of a unique and productive industry partnership involving the Textiles Human Resources Council, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and more than 100 Canadian textile companies, unions and educational institutions.

Last year, Textile Manufacturing Basics also received one of Canada’s most prestigious elearning awards: the Conference Board of Canada 2002 National Award for Learning Technologies in the Workplace. The Conference Board award recognizes Canadian training initiatives that demonstrate “the most effective and innovative uses of technology-enhanced learning.”

The goal of Textile Manufacturing Basics is to help raise core competency knowledge and skills of Canada’s 60,000 textile workers and help them meet the challenges of rapid technological change and increasing offshore competition. An illustrated textbook that accompanies the CD-ROM provides workers with an additional learning option. The learning content was based on a successful classroom-training curriculum developed by Hafner Inc., a leading Canadian textile manufacturer located in Granby, Quebec.

Learning Designs created the instructional design and also conducted the Quality Assurance program for the courseware. The Learning Designs team, led by Lynette Gillis, maintained ongoing consultation with learners, supervisors, and industry experts at all critical stages. This QA program included content and design-integrity validation by over 30 Canadian textile manufacturing companies, unions, and educational institutions. Remarks Dr. Gillis; “I believe the success of the Textile Manufacturing Basics initiative is a result of the commitment by all partners to maintain the highest standards of quality throughout all phases of courseware development.”

Since 1998, Learning Designs Online has worked with the Textiles Council providing eLearning design and strategy to help the Canadian Textile industry meet its objectives of ensuring that workers at all levels have the skills and capabilities they need to meet future competitive demands.

Learning Designs Online extends congratulations to all partners in this successful learning initiative— Hafner Inc., the Textiles Human Resources Council, and Human Resources Development Canada.

Learning Designs Online is a recognized elearning industry leader in instructional design, quality assurance, and learning measurement and evaluation. The company designs and develops custom courseware—eLearning, CBT, high-quality print and classroom—for corporate, university and government clients. Under the leadership of Dr. Gillis, the company has excelled in the development and implementation of quality evaluation systems and quality standards for corporate training. Learning Designs Online is the exclusive Canadian partner of Dr. Jack Phillips and Dr. Patti Phillips, the world’s leading authorities in training impact measurement and ROI. LDO provides training impact measurement and benchmarking services used by organizations to measure their training impact and maximize their training ROI. These services also help firms select or develop best-in-class courseware and learning interventions. Dr. Gillis is author of Quality Standards for Evaluating Multimedia and Online Training (McGraw Hill 2000).

LDO is the authorized courseware quality assurance evaluator for Chicago-based CompTIA, the world’s foremost vendor-neutral certification body for IT professionals. (CompTIA has more than 15,000 corporate members in 89 countries and has certified more than 600,000 IT professionals globally.) Learning Designs is responsible for quality assurance for all elearning, print, and classroom-based training materials developed for CompTIA IT certification exams. Learning Designs is also authorized Quality evaluator for the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL US) computer skills certification program. The ICDL certification program for personal computer skills and desktop applications has certified more than 2 million people in 90 countries worldwide.