I was lucky enough to come across Trainer Bubble recently and be given the chance to review a number of their courses, which we will come onto in a moment.
Trainer Bubble is an interesting training and elearning development company here in the UK, and I was quite intrigued to learn more about them.
eLearning is just one part of Trainer Bubble, and the element we have looked at in more detail, but there is a host of learning resources such as videos and training course materials available on their website.
There are also a number of free resources including the ADDIE model used in training design and in particular in designing elearning, which made me smile.
Others include 70 20 10 and the GROW model, all available as free downloads, mainly in PowerPoint.
So, let’s take a look at some of the elearning courses available from Trainer Bubble.
We looked at 4 specific elearning courses: Delegation, The Virtual Leader, Unconscious Bias, and Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
These courses are off the shelf and therefore suitable for any organisation to use. There’s even the option of adapting them to suit specific requirements. Let’s be clear, while they do use video and animation very effectively, they are not micro-learning courses.
Instead, they are compelling courses divided up into chapters with very good learning design to deliver engagement and maintain interest.
These can be used in our opinion as online courses, resources or part of a blended learning provision.
Delegation
Delegation is a very good course, as it designed to be purposeful and practical. A learner is given a very useful set of tools and techniques meaning they can put into practice what they have learnt quickly and easily.
The delegation course is designed to build as you progress, and illustrates the approaches needed and how to use them in the workplace. The menu is effective. While initially I anticipate the learner would approach this course in a linear learning approach, the nice, clean menu allows this course to become a resource or toolkit (this is made particularly pertinent due to the unlimited licence model from Trainer Bubble).
The course offers a certificate and is CPD verified. Useful, but it is much more useful than just as a course to complete and move on. This course really acts as a resource and something to go back to time and time again to refine the art of delegation. Ideal for new managers and not so new managers.
The production values are good, navigation fine, with no distractions and needless animations or misguided attempts at overproduction. Clear and purposeful, just like delegation should be.
The Virtual Leader
This is a hot topic and Trainer Bubble have clearly put a lot of thought into developing this course. There is compelling use of video that has been very well scripted and professionally acted to bring realism to this very interesting topic that many organisations and their employees wrestle with.
The learning designer and subject matter expert appeared to have worked together exceptionally well on The Virtual Leader course.
There is a backbone video thread of a newly created virtual team coming together with their manager and the manager’s boss / coach working through the issues faced with the team as it gets to grips with working virtually and working for a virtual manager.
The narrative is nicely done, the video well made and tools and techniques presented are practical and purposeful (that seems to me to be the Trainer Bubble approach).
The learner can use downloads/workbooks to start evaluating situations they face making – (as I keep saying) this learning is very practical and part of the day to day. This is not simple watch and walk away when finished learning, as it’s much more participatory than that and does well as a generic piece of elearning to feel so personalised to the learner.
The workbook approach is well integrated, and tips and techniques have clearly been very well researched.
Video production values are excellent, language is clear, tonality is good and therefore clarity of message is achieved. I felt the learner was being taken by the hand through this course in a supportive tutored way.
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
This was a little bit of a tough watch in parts and obviously deliberately so, as this learning is designed to raise awareness and make people notice what is going on in our society. The case study narratives of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking certainly did that.
I feel this is a difficult subject to address in the 21st century, but in their Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking course, Trainer Bubble does well to put into context and highlight individual and organisational responsibilities now in place due to the legislation passed in 2015.
The learning has a strong call to action theme and it is therefore more than click through and complete elearning. Another well designed piece, with good use of video and interactivity throughout the learning this is pretty well tested by the multiple choice questions.
Again, as in all the Trainer Bubble courses we looked at the production values are excellent and the learning designer working with the subject matter expert appears to be working well.
Unconscious Bias
This is a tough topic to address as it is full of nuances and possible pitfalls for any organisation or individual.
The use of video in this unconscious bias course is exemplary in how the nuances are put forward and the learner made to think about difficult situations and circumstances.
Underlying this is a layer of practicality to give learners a toolkit and reference points on which they can build their understanding up from, and then modify their behaviour and others (through calling out) as their confidence grows.
The trainer notes are a key addition to this course and serve a hugely useful purpose. Indeed, this course could be used as a self-directed course, but would benefit with learners submitting materials or it could form the backbone of a blended learning course in which it would be hugely effective.
The chapter model would work exceptionally well in this course in a learning lab or training room environment.
This is without doubt a tough topic to get over, and this course from Training Bubble is effective as it is multi-dimensional in showing the domain from multiple perspectives, explaining both causal factors and correlations of data that can lead to false assumptions.
Accordingly, learners are required to ponder and consider circumstances that are difficult and consider how they will go about changing their biases that have been surfaced in this course.
However, this course from Trainer Bubble, while challenging and questioning at first, follows through strongly with the toolkit and approaches to help learners put the learning into practice. It does that very well indeed, with good pace and strong production values.
To sum up
Here at Learning Light we look at a lot of content on behalf of our clients who are selecting libraries of learning for their organisation, but it is always nice to have the chance to simply share our views on some effective elearning from a nice company with our website readers.
This is good, well-made elearning that is purposeful and practical and will help any organisation build the skills of its workforce effectively.
Learn more about Trainer Bubble on their website at www.trainerbubble.com
