Discuss the below:
Case Study 1 Second Life for SL Insurance?
SL Insurance (SLI) is a new company that sells a wide variety of insurance products at a discount. In a market filled with competitors, SLI has decided that its business model is to aim its products to a distinctive younger demographic group. The target population is in the 18 - 35 range, mainly urban, educated and computer savvy.
A few months ago, SLI commissioned a comprehensive marketing study to examine the needs and concerns of the targeted demographic. One of the main problems the study found was that when potential customers were asked about different insurance products, a large majority (82.4%) did not fully understand the difference between products, pricing and their features. A second, and equally important problem is that the media SLI has been using, mainly magazine and radio commercials, are scoring low in the retention and penetration studies undertaken by the marketing team.
Sales have been flat to down in the last six months and the SLI management team is worried. After a three day retreat, the idea was hatched to create a new, radical and innovative way to market the company and its products, unlike anything seen before. One of the executives suggested that the best approach to increase sales should be a combination of cool marketing combined with a simple education program to clearly explain SLI's products in a simple, straightforward way. The team agreed on this approach.
Another of the younger company executives gave an exciting demonstration of the web-based application called "Second Life" where people get to interact in a virtual world and where more and more companies are setting up virtual offices for people to visit them. The SLI executive team was deeply inspired by this demonstration and unanimously agreed that it would make sense for SLI to set up a virtual office in Second Life.
Other marketing initiatives were also approved.
After much searching, one of the best marketing and training teams in the business was assembled to tackle this new strategy. As the Team Learning Technologist, your role is to put together the SLI virtual presence in the Second Life environment. This presence must include a simple way and "fun" way for prospective SLI customers to get information on the 124 difference insurance products the company offers.
Because the company has never attempted this before, the finance team is unsure of how much finding to allocate to you for this project. You need to provide a plan on what resources (including headcount) you need and also a brief description of what this virtual space will look like and how it will help customers learn about SLI's product line.
You will need to present your strategy proposal to a Management Review Committee (MRC) who will have the ultimate approval authority for your project.
Case Study 2 Here comes the HD ATM!
Bank of the Future (BOTF) is a new banking institution that is known for its cutting-edge use of technology as applied to customer services. Its online presence and banking services are considered the most advanced in the industry.
BOTF's executive team is justifiably proud of the bank's reputation and they want to ensure that it remains intact. This means continually searching for new areas in which to innovate and provide services that no other banks provide.
Last week, Cash Systems Incorporated (CSI) gave the BOTF executive team a demonstration of their latest generation ATM generation. These ATMs not only dispense cash, they also allow customers to do things like apply for loans, increase credit limits and many other services not normally associated with ATMs. The BOTF was very excited by this demonstration and after much discussion, they have agreed to purchase 5 of these devices for a pilot program in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
The downside is that these new ATMs need to be programmed from scratch as CSI does not provide operating system services. They only provide the low-level software for security and other services. The top-level user interface needs to be provided by the appropriate bank that purchases the machine. This top level interface is usually a Linux-driven design and BOTF has an excellent team of programmers that can easily create the required screens for this.
The BOTF executive team is concerned however about the "user experience" and has decided to call you as one of the industry's most renowned Learning Technologists for your advice. Among their concerns is that users of these new machines will not know how to appropriately navigate through all the options and could even make costly mistakes by hitting the wrong keys and/or options. They want to know from you what kind of training (if any) users would need to ensure minimal to non-existent user errors.
What solution would you propose here? What do you think the cost of this solution would be? Could you guarantee zero user errors?
You will need to present your strategy proposal to a Management Review Committee (MRC) who will have the ultimate approval authority for your project.
Case Study 3 Explosives Disposal 101
Army personnel fighting in Iraq have been getting injured and also killed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for several years now. The training wing of the US Army in Fort Monroe VA, was commissioned a few years ago to develop the appropriate training for soldiers in the field that would teach them to identify the many types of IEDs, avoid them and if so required, disable them.
The training team at Ft. Monroe produced a well-made computer-based training class that was delivered via CD-ROM to the soldiers in the field. Although the soldiers taking the course provided good level 1 evaluation feedback, the number of IED-caused injuries continued to go up despite the deployment of the training. The command team on the field is concerned and has decided to pull you in to lead a task force to possibly redesign the training to decrease the number of injuries.
After interviewing many of the soldiers involved in IED incidents, the task force found the following:
- IEDs continue to change in shape, delivery type and power. The IED references in the current material are therefore no longer current
- Soldiers get to watch videos and animations on how to approach an IED in the field but these videos were made in Virginia, where the terrain is very different to Iraq
- Soldiers do not get a chance to practice with real props before having to go out on the field
- There are a handful of very skillful soldiers in the field who know more about Iraq-based IEDs than anyone else and many look to them for advice and guidance. Several of these soldiers have already stepped forward to say they would be willing to help with the design of a new, more effective IED disposal course
The command team is in urgent need of this new training package and would like to deploy it as soon as you can have it ready. They have the following questions for you:
- What kind of training would you recommend? CBT? Online? Face-to-face?
- How long will it take for you to get this training ready to deploy?
- What resources do you need to get it to the soldiers on the ground in 8-10 weeks?
o Headcount
o Equipment
o Other expenses?
- How will you measure the effectiveness of your training package?
- How will you deal with the problem of constantly changing IEDs that require different disposal techniques?
You will need to present your strategy proposal to a Management Review Committee (MRC) who will have the ultimate approval authority for your project.