Identifying Learning Gaps in Government training

The General Services Administration sought to enhance its training offerings for government-wide federal agency employees and contractors. In this project, the focus was on Mail and Transportation policies. While the GSA understood that it would need to provide training to meet compliance and decrease incidents, it obtained my assistance in conducting a government-wide, multiagency Learning Needs Analysis to identify the best training methodology, technology, and delivery for participation and retention.

Approach: Mail and Transportation training needs and policies differed drastically. I customized my research approach to meet my clients' needs in each sector.

Primary Research: For Mail, I conducted primary research through interviews (virtually hosted on Zoom) with key stakeholders in each applicable agency. Working closely with my client, we developed a questionnaire that focused on five areas of interest. We asked each agency the same questions, with the option to include impromptu follow-up questions and allow interviewees to go off topic or pivot.

We recorded each session with the participants’ permission. Notes and audio were transcribed and coded as part of a qualitative analysis approach. The results were broken down into categories and trends that helped determine the gaps, delivery, and approach for development.

Secondary Research: Transportation Management had several outdated, passive style learning modules. The primary research approached proved to be difficult to implement for this sector. For sale of efficiency and differing goals, a secondary approach was instead applied.

An accumulation of emails, meeting notes, and client feedback from various sources was gathered and assessed for trends and insights. Old course content was audited, and a new learning path was proposed to streamline the information and meet current regulations.

Outcome: Based on qualitative coding results and content audit, two separate pathways were created for mail and transportation. Data supported the creation of eLearning modules, accessible on government's individual LMS. For mail, simulations and robust interactive training were developed and for transportation, new learning pathways for certification was developed that included three base fundamental courses and supplemental microtrainings.