Our recent webinar, ‘The life sciences revolution – how to deliver learning that works’ was hosted by LEO Learning’s Senior Account Director Sean Nugent and Mark Harbour, Director of Chrysalis Capability Ltd, an independent training consultancy and former Head of Learning and Development at Grünenthal Pharmaceuticals. The webinar explained the effect of digital technologies on the life sciences sector and how to ensure learning keeps up with the rapid changes.
There is a growing need for everyone working in the sector to be able to rapidly learn about new and increasingly complex products. Sean and Mark demonstrated how digital technology such as AR, VR and gaming can support patient journeys and HCP engagement, while learning technology is playing an increasingly vital role in life sciences.
Throughout the interactive webinar session, Sean and Mark answered questions that were submitted by the attendees, and we are sharing our full answers to the best ones below:
Q1) Regarding newcomers to pharma companies, how can I make the experience more digestible considering a new starter may have over 100 courses to complete when they start?
Sean: I think it comes back to the question of learning architecture. If you are going to make someone sit through 100 long elearning courses, then there might be better, more effective ways of doing it. Mapping out user journeys is very important. It’s important to understand that there are faster and more effective ways of delivering learning than people having to sit through lengthy elearning courses when it could be an engaging video or a short animation. Learning could also all be rolled into a slightly different structure. Learning architecture is the way that you get to a good elearning design – one that means people are engaged.
Mark: I would agree. It comes back down to having that overall plan. Nobody is going to learn well if they’re addressed with 100 PDFs to read. Whether that’s in hard copy or online, it’s certainly not going to give them a positive first experience of learning within an organisation. Be intentional about identifying the different media that you can use to develop the content, and what is the best medium for which part of it to give the learner several ways to interact with that information. This can transform what can be a mundane induction programme into something that can be quite motivating. It gives the learner the feeling that they’ve made the right choice in joining that company, and makes them feel equipped with the right information to be able to do their job.
Q2) Isn’t it very cost prohibitive and time-consuming when having to put these elearning courses through compliance systems?
Sean: It can be. I believe that we have found ways of making it more streamlined. It’s an ongoing process where we are finding ways we can do it more effectively. Some of the compliance systems we have worked with have not really been built for digital content, so we have been working towards ways that we can get learning out quicker. This avoids some of the complex and sometimes tortuous processes. Having the right people onboard in our team to do that is really important.
Q3) How do you approach the clinical research landscape, specifically in the instance of adaptive design trials where information changes frequently?
Mark: It’s having a modular view of the learning that we create. In instances where content is going to change frequently, we should compartmentalise that from the learning that won’t change. We should also try to design this learning in a modular way, and approve it separately. It’s also about engaging with the approvers to understand what is the best way to deal with that and how can we approve this in a format that allows for change in the data that is in there. My experience is that once you engage with approvers and help them understand, then we can come up with solutions.