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January / February 2010
Volume 22, Number 1

News you can use

TAC Launching E-Learning Initiative to
Help Support County Training Needs on a Budget

With economic woes reducing county coffers, education and training budgets are shrinking as well. In order to keep county employees on top of changing laws and best practices, TAC is spearheading e-learning education opportunities, from live webinars to on-demand, interactive courses.

TAC Information Support Specialist Lee Bell-Hovland, who is leading the e-learning endeavor in the field services department, said the intent was to help out counties that are unable to send all their employees to TAC’s regional human resources, safety and law enforcement workshops.

While TAC has been offering video resources for many years, the online program is developing because of recent belt-tightening by counties. TAC’s team of human resources specialists is hosting a human resources webinar focused on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in January and another webinar on the Military Family Leave in February. Both are targeted to supervisor-level county employees. In March, there will be a program on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) for county law enforcement personnel. “Our goal is to host at least six webinars over the course of next year,” Bell-Hovland said. “We do not have all the topics. But when we do we will market to the target audience through email and other means.”

Live webinars — which make use of live chat pods, video and more — are not the only learning tool TAC will be incorporating into its training. TAC is also developing e-learning courses that include interactive content taken directly from the Association’s regional workshops and county presentations, such as power point slides, pictures and videos.

Currently, TAC is developing an online course regarding strip searches that will be launched later this year. One of the objectives of the course is to show county law enforcement employees how to avoid class-action lawsuits by educating them on the many issues surrounding strip searches. The course includes video, audio, quizzes and other interactive features.

“We could just take our power points and add some audio to them. But that would be so boring,” said Bell-Hovland. “We want to make sure there is some interactivity and that we are engaging them. We want to make sure they are not just sitting and staring at a computer screen. We also want to make sure the content is applicable to what they are doing on the job.”

Field services is not the only department using e-learning tools. Healthy County, the wellness program available to members of TAC’s Health and Employee Benefits Pool, launched their own campaign last year, which will be expanded throughout 2010 to include six new webinars. Topics will include creating a healthy vending machine, a 5-A-Day Fruits and Vegetable Campaign and Medicine Match.

The Association is still generating other possible topics for its e-learning courses, webinars and video offerings. County officials who have ideas related to law enforcement, safety, human resources or another training topic can contact Hovland at (800) 456-5974 or leeb@county.org.