Human Resources is offering NC State employees an innovative way to master new skills, boost job performance and push their careers to the next level.
The Compass online learning portal, administered by HR’s Training and Organizational Development (T&OD) unit, offers more than 3,300 online professional development courses in a wide variety of fields — including project management, communication, supervisor best practices, conflict resolution, strategic planning, IT and more — supported by 24/7 access to more than 33,000 books and videos.
In addition, you can use Compass to earn continuing education units, professional certifications and academic credit from professional organizations and accredited universities. Compass also offers seven professional certificates and the option to create your own custom-designed certificate.
Serving More Faculty and Staff
T&OD already offers a generous selection of training and education sessions led in person by professional instructors, but the addition of an online option makes sense as a way to extend professional development opportunities to a larger proportion of NC State’s 9,000 faculty and staff, says Kevin Rice, director of T&OD.
“In August of 2013, we did a survey of 2,200 NC State employees that asked people to evaluate the training and education services we offer,” says Rice, who holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership. “What came back from almost all the groups we surveyed — administrative staff, SPA employees, EPA employees, managers, nonmanagers — was a desire to have both instructor-led training and online training. People didn’t want us to stop offering the in-person training; they just wanted a blend of in-person and online, so they could have more options. So we decided to conduct a pilot program and try the concept out.”
The team chose Skillsoft as the provider of the pilot program’s online training content because the company has a proven track record of providing high-quality, easily usable content, says Makeba Jackson, program manager of Compass.
“I was familiar with Skillsoft’s education materials from a previous job at another college,” says Jackson. “People at that school who worked during the day and couldn’t attend a traditional instructor-led training found online education to be very useful. It also appealed to younger people who didn’t want to be led by hand; they wanted to be given the information they needed to figure things out for themselves.”
For the Compass pilot program, T&OD bought 100 Skillsoft user licenses and made them available at no charge to users who agreed to provide feedback on the program, which lasted one year. At the end of the pilot program, user feedback made clear that the program was a success, so T&OD rolled out Compass to the rest of campus last year.
A one-week pass granting unlimited access to all Compass content costs $25; a one-year pass costs $150. Discounted pricing is available for groups of 10 or more users.
Supporting a Culture of Excellence
“One of our objectives is to promote a culture of organizational excellence that’s based on employees setting professional development goals with their managers,” Rice says. “We hope that Compass offerings become part of the discussion during performance reviews, as one more option for an employee’s professional development. For instance, if you’re interested in earning a project management certificate through Compass, you should be discussing that with your manager, and your completion of that certificate should align with your career development goals.”
“We’ve suggested some areas of focus via our seven certificate options,” Jackson says, “but if you get a Compass license, the whole catalog of 3,300 courses is open to you, so you can customize your own certificate — or you can just take whatever courses you want. And there’s a tremendous amount of valuable content, the latest business books and instructional videos, in the Books24x7 portion of the program.”
Since the Compass program was launched campuswide, enrollment has continued to grow and spread throughout sectors across the university. Hundreds of employees have purchased their own seat licenses, and the College of Textiles is purchasing licenses for all of the college’s staff who want to participate in the program.
In addition, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences bought year-long Compass licenses for all administrative staff in Cooperative Extension field offices, which are located in all 100 North Carolina counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Of those users, 70 percent have completed at least one Compass course since the licenses were purchased last December, and a number of users have completed certificate programs too.
To support Compass learners, T&OD offers an orientation for new users, a book club that discusses books from the Compass program’s Books24x7 site and a learning lab that meets in Administrative Building II, where users can work on Compass coursework and ask questions of Compass staff.
“If you choose to go this online route, we don’t want you to feel like you’re all alone,” Jackson says. “We’re here to help. We want people to feel welcome to contact us. No question is too small. If you want a Compass demo, give us a call. If you like it but you want tips for presenting it to your manager, give us a call.”
For more information about Compass, visit the program’s website.
- Categories:
