TATA Interactive Systems

LCB Question of the month: December 2006

The Learning Circuits Blog’s question of the month for December 2006 was actually three questions (very soon they may well start sending questionnaires):

• What will you remember most about 2006?
• What are the biggest challenges for you/us as [we] head into 2007?
• What are your predictions for 2007?

Some of us had expressed our individual views through our personal blogs, but we wanted to put up a TATA Interactive response. We decided to have a panel discussion to articulate our views. We approached the questions from various lenses – design and business, our company and the overall industry, e-learning organizations and client organizations.

And here it is – a podcast of the panel discussion. Download the mp3 to listen to it in a player of your choice or simply use the player below.

It’s a bit on the longer side (~32 minutes / 12.4 MB), but considering the informal nature of it, it has not been edited – so what you hear is everything that was said in the discussion.

The panel comprised Albert Lewis, Head – Business Excellence & Technology Strategy; Geetha Krishnan, Corporate Mentor – Productization; Manisha Mohan, Head – Design & Innovation; Anand Subramanian, Head – Systems Design; and Anil Mammen, Head – Instructional Design.

We would love to receive feedback from industry experts and client organizations on our perspectives and predictions.

Training Goes On A Cruise: An Interview With Chris Volkle

What does it take to train 15,000 people, most of whom are on sea, sailing around the world? How would you make a learning management system work on a ship and link with the central system at headquarters? Christian Volkle should know. Chris is Manager – Fleet Training with Holland America Line (HAL) and was in India recently, visiting us at Tata Interactive Systems. Chris was a sailor for many many years before he moved on to his current managerial role. And surprisingly, for someone who has visited about 140 countries, this was his first visit to India.

We caught up with Chris for a brief chat on the training challenges at HAL and their plans around eLearning on their ships.

The entire chat is available as a podcast, ~10 minutes. Download the mp3 to listen to it in a player of your choice or simply use the player below.

Here are some of the key points Chris made.

•  The training audience of HAL includes more than 15,000 employees from 68 nationalities, with educational levels ranging from 3^rd grade to a PhD or even multiple PhDs.
• HAL is perhaps the first company in the world to link their Learning Management Systems in their ships to the main office through satellite communication systems.
• HAL took a strategic look at training and devised a training plan that focused on three long-term initiatives:

o Move as much of their training as possible to eLearning.

o Install and implement a Learning Management System.

o Have a specially built wired and connected training room in each ship.

•  Mobile Learning is an area that Chris would look at closely in the future.
•  HAL has a Kid’s Club on their ships, which addresses the entertainment requirements of kids on cruises with their parents. HAL is looking at computer-based educational entertainment products for Kid’s Club.

And here are some photographs, from (and one fantastic one of) the different ships that HAL operate. Please click on the thumbnails for an expanded view.