eLearning at Golden Corral: Evolution or Intelligent Design? - By Lisa Schweickert & Tanya Hill, Golden Corrral Corporation

The dictionary definition of intelligent design is: 'The order and complexity seen in nature.' Our definition of eLearning intelligent design is: 'Where order and structured chaos can be the result of a great Learning Management System (LMS).'

Golden Corral opened its first standard restaurant in Fayetteville, NC in 1973, a 5,500 square foot operation with 225 seats. Today we have 483 units, 106 of them company owned, 377 of them franchised. Our average unit volume is $3,346,000 and we serve an average of 386,000 guests annual per unit system-wide. Serving this large number of guests gives us additional training challenges.
We decided to start an eLearning program in 1999 which we called the Star System. It was transmitted over a phone line and was not internet based. In 2003, the second generation of eLearning was introduced which was an internet-based system.

Our latest innovation, the third generation, is a more interactive system. It is both online and interactive and is connected to the Back Office Payroll System. It uses custom LMS and courseware and is a knowledge-based training for both co-workers and managers. The best part of the newest eLearning is that it tracks certification by individual Co-worker, front of the house and back of the house, by a total restaurant's participation and by district and franchise group.

Since the system is internet based, managers can look at a particular Co-worker's certification standing or produce a report that tracks percentage of certification by region and even by restaurant.

HOW WE DID IT

So, how did we roll out a program to 450 restaurants in 42 states with more than 150 different franchise entities? First, we had to get buy-in of senior management and the CEO, and also of franchisees. And we had to overcome the hurdle of rolling out the program system-wide. Our challenge was to create 22 courses in four months, with only one program designer.

Because we knew we didn't have the staff in house to manage the program and didn't want to implement an internal management system, we had to look at vendors who could do it for us. We chose DiscoverLink, one of CHART's partners, to be our eLearning company. They in turn, helped us find a company to develop our LMS and worked with us to develop course content.

One of the biggest issues that ended up taking a lot longer than we anticipated was getting the hardware and courseware. We set up an eLearning Help Desk and figured out how to handle the different layers of support. Our aim was to have one Help Desk to cover the all IT problems since there is often issue crossover when people call in for assistance.

We started by rolling out the new eLearning to certified training restaurants. We did it in a step-down process. We started with a select group, then eventually rolled the program out to everyone. We had a very structured plan.

BLENDED LEARNING

Good learning comes from good instruction design. We define that as the practice of developing and arranging both content and media to help a learner and instructors/teachers to transfer knowledge most effectively. We believe in blended learning which combines various media to provide the learner with the best type of instruction, an integrated learning method. This combines eLearning, especially for entry level employees, instructor lead classes, mostly for trainers and managers, and manuals that can be either simple or complex, depending on the subject matter.

One of the standard programs designs is Bloom's Taxonomy. Benjamin Bloom published what he called the 3 Domains of Learning in 1955. These include: 1. Affective or what we feel or our attitudes, 2. Psychomotor or what we do physically or the development of our physical skills, for example on-the-job training, and 3. Cognitive or what we know or think.

The cognitive domain is divided into six levels, classifying information in categories in increasing order of complexity:

1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation

The first two, knowledge and comprehension are where it's most effective to use eLearning.

Knowledge is the recall of data or specific facts that need to be memorized, defined or duplicated. For example: A Co-worker recalls the steps for brewing coffee as defined in the manual.

Comprehension is demonstrating the understanding of facts, the ability to explain, express, describe or classify information. For example: The Co-worker can explain in his or her own words how to brew coffee.
The next four levels: application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, are categories best learned in on-the-job training.

Application is applying what has been learned. We might use the terms: apply, choose, demonstrate, illustrate and operate in this category of learning. For example: The Co-worker can perform the task of brewing the coffee.

Analysis is identifying the cause and motive. Terms used in this category might be to: analyze, categorize, examine, distinguish or differentiate. For example: The Co-worker can look at the brewed coffee and determine that it was brewed correctly based on the amount of coffee it produced, the smell, how long it took to brew, etc.

Synthesis is putting the parts or data together to form a whole. The terms that define synthesis include: assemble, compose, create, design and develop. For example: The Co-worker is able to perform the steps of brewing coffee and while brewing the coffee he/she can explain the steps. They can teach someone else.

Evaluation is reviewing the data to process and making a judgment about the material based on values and opinions. This means appraising, judging, evaluating and predicting behavior. For Example: The manager is able to evaluate the performance by using the steps for brewing coffee as the measurement.

Bloom's cognitive domain classifies information in these categories in increasing order of complexity. Thus facts and understanding (i.e. knowledge and comprehension) lead to application of a skill which is then analyzed and synthesized until a level of expertise is achieved and then the skill can be evaluated.

Most development systems follow an approach to instruction design similar toADDIE:

Analyze the system in order to completely understand it and then describe the goals you wish to achieve in order to correct any shortcomings or faults within the system.

Design a method or model to achieve goals.

Develop the model into a product (in training this product is called courseware).Implement the courseware.

Evaluate the courseware and audit-trail throughout the four phases and in the field to ensure it is heading in the right direction and achieving the desired results.

The Instruction System Design (ISD) Process builds off of ADDIE and provides more details. It starts with a Needs Assessment and moves to Task Analysis, then to Learning Objectives and then Assessment, all of which are evaluated along the way. One then moves to development, and try out/revision and finally to implementation. Again, all steps are continuously evaluated.

The job task analysis is perhaps the most important part of this process. It is the process of defining the specific requirements of a job. One must identify knowledge skills and abilities required to effectively perform each job. Identifying these tasks will identify what you need in your training courseware.

Here are examples of questions used during the Job Task Analysis process:

Question #1: What characteristics do the intended learners have and what do they already know?

Question #2: What knowledge and skills are required to perform the job effectively?

It's then important to track your training. It let's you know if your training has achieved its goal, provides real time training data to the field and provides information to assist in determining your ROI.

THE RESULT

If we started this process today, what would we do differently? We would stay with eLearning and a blended learning approach. We would also involve the IT department from the very beginning. When we first started, our IT department wanted to stay independent. But since we are so interconnected, we learned that it is very helpful to work closely with them, integrating both equipment and connections.

Wewould also have started with a SCORM environment to allow for outside information to come in. And, we would lengthen the development and rollout timeline.

Our end result is that now eLearning is part of the Golden Corral jargon. It's standard operating procedure for all of our operations. Certification is now part of our CSQ reports. We get continual requests for additional content from managers and franchisees so we know it's now part of the environment. And, it is the access point for other programs and systems. Because it's connected to the internet, we now use is as a portal for online applications, for online screening and Co-workers can use it to access the prize site to order their awards. Managers are also now able to take the ServSafe course online.

What was our ROI? We have reduced Co-worker turnover by 60%, increased our certified percentage by more than double, so that now close to 95% of our Co-workers are certified. We now have a real time training reporting system. We have reduced training time per Co-worker and training statistics are part of the CSQ.

We found that the blended approach to training, which combines the best of both the evolution of technology with intelligent program design, is by far the best way to go. We now are getting requests for additional courses, we are the portal for other functionalities and we have requests for a second unit within the restaurant.


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