A case study into technical eLearning: upskilling Excelitas’ workforce with SPIE partnership

Abstract

Electronic learning, or e-learning, is a vital educational format for the upskilling of the workforce, with promises to sustain accessibility to training in spite of travel restrictions brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, specialized online photonics courses are becoming increasingly available on the market, responding to needs of business employees to access on-demand technical teaching material to maintain competitive business advantages. It is in this context that Excelitas Technologies Inc. and the International Society for Optics and Photonics, SPIE, formed a partnership to deploy a platform to upskill scientists, engineers and project managers. Since June 2021, 60 employees across seven Excelitas sites worldwide have gained access to a library of technical courses offered by SPIE. The paper will present a case study into the instructional design, implementation strategies, and evaluation methods for this program. An evaluation framework based on the Kirkpatrick model is used to provide qualitative data to assess the quality of the learning delivery, the performance of the learners, and benefits to the organization. Preliminary evaluation results based on the analysis of pre-training and post-training surveys will be presented, along with lessons learned in organizational and learning development.