By Lisa Gillespie, Projects and Engagement at the APS Academy
The APS Learning Bank was designed with Learning and Development (L&D) teams in mind. The need, identified from user research, was to make accessing learning experiences more straightforward, to reduce friction in the system, and ultimately to improve levels of APS capability. Those who work in L&D regularly refer to the duplication that occurs for course material from agency to agency. The Learning Bank has addressed this repetition which means we’ve reduced the number of agencies doing the same thing and wasting resources, which could be redirected to other projects, when accessing this material. Additionally, instead of an agency having to create their own training courses or resources, they can now share what they've already got with each other. Consider the Learning Bank as a large library where agencies can borrow and adapt content that's already been made, thereby saving effort and valuable L&D funds.
Here's what the APS Learning Bank does:
- Centralisation: A central place where all APS agencies can store and swap L&D courses or resources. Everyone benefits from each other's work and expertise.
- Encouraging Teamwork: Agencies actively share their courses. It's a way to help others in the APS and make sure everyone has access to quality training materials.
- Easy Access: Agencies can browse through a catalogue of courses already available. An agency’s L&D team don't have to start from beginning every time they need to train staff—just pick what fits best and tweak content as needed.
- Quality Control: Each agency decides what works best for them. The agency is in charge of their own destiny and can assess the suitability or applicability of material before using it.
- No Cost: This has to be the strongest feature of the Learning Bank. It's free for agencies to join and use. This means that whether you are a large portfolio level agency or a smaller agency, translates to every agency receiving the best available content which levels the playing field, especially for smaller agencies that might not have large budgets for creating training programs.
How to Get Involved:
If you work in L&D for a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, you can join the APS Learning Bank by completing an application. Once approved, your agency receives access to the resources and community platforms where you can view available resources and start sharing.
Benefits of joining the Learning Bank:
- Less Duplication: Don’t waste time duplicating what others have already done.
- Better Quality: With shared resources, everyone benefits from more consistent and better-quality training.
- Time Saver: Spend less time searching for or developing new training materials.
- Equal Opportunity: Smaller agencies can access a wider range of training resources they might not have been able to afford otherwise.
- Safer Sharing: By following the rules, agencies can share knowing strong governance is in place to protect from misuse or misunderstandings.
In a nutshell, the APS Learning Bank is a clever way to make training and development more efficient across the APS. It's all about working together, saving time and money, and making sure every agency gets the best training content possible. If you want to know more or get involved, contact us. It's a step towards a smarter, more collaborative future for learning in the APS.