Fusion Productions - Integrating Meetings, Learning & Technology

Organization

The National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long-Term Care Administrators (NAB) is tasked to enhance the effectiveness of state boards that oversee long-term care administrators. The organization helps to ensure statutory and regulatory compliance and thus safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

NAB members are state licensing boards and agencies that license long-term care administrators.

Challenge

NAB's Fusion-developed, Web-based study guide supplement, released in May 2003, has enabled learners to explore in-depth information as they prepare for Long-Term Care Administrator licensing exams. Users receive access to the online supplement when they purchase the NAB Study Guide publication on the association's website. Access is password-protected. No unique authentication information is necessary. Practice test results are tracked through registration forms in the course itself.

“Because of the engaging instructional design, scope, and quality of content of the online supplement, we wanted to make this course available for purchase to already-licensed nursing home administrators and others for continuing education credit,” said Randy Lindner, Executive Director.

While the original online study guide supplement internally contains a pre and post test that users can take for practice as many times as desired, NAB imposed a new requirement for the certification version of the course that purchasers pay an upfront registration fee for each attempt to receive a passing grade on the post test to receive credit. NAB felt that this requirement would help ensure that learners would study the course content thoroughly before attempting the certification post test.

Solution

• Create a separate, re-titled version of the online supplement with internal pre and post tests removed.
• Develop an e-commerce “wrapper” that activates a unique user ID and password upon online purchase of the course.
• Create pre and post tests that are external to the course itself and include the registered user ID in reported test data.
• Present a printable certificate upon passage of the post test.
• Create easy navigation from the pre test to the course itself.

Results

Minimal development effort and cost allowed NAB to provide its clientele with a reasonably priced refresher course for nursing home administrators needing certification units of credit. Thus, one high-quality e-learning offering now satisfies two sets of learner needs, reaching the full spectrum of long-term care professionals.

Best Practices

What are the important concepts to glean from this case study?

• Applying low-cost but creative approaches to new requirements can result in product variations that serve different client needs and create new revenue streams.