The impact of a legislative change.
The Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) is an independent statutory body established under the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991. The QHRC handles complaints and training on discrimination, vilification, victimisation and sexual harassment, under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld).
QHRC also support businesses, state and local government, the community sector and people throughout the state in understanding their rights and responsibilities under the legislation. This work includes
- Resolving discrimination complaints;
- Delivering training to business, government and the community on discrimination and human rights; and
- Promoting public discussion on human rights.
From 1 January 2020, the QHRC complaints process will include human rights complaints via the Human Rights Act 2019. The Act requires each arm of government to act compatibly with these human rights. This means that:
- Parliament must consider human rights when proposing and scrutinising new laws.
- Courts and tribunals, so far as is possible to do so, must interpret legislation in a way that is compatible with human rights.
- Public entities – such as state government departments, local councils, state schools, the police and non-government organisations and businesses performing a public function must act compatibly with human rights.
Going digital
As a result of the Act, there was an immediate need to provide training to a wide range of government employees as well as people and businesses on their responsibilities under the new act. While the QHRC had developed workshop materials for instructor-led training, this approach would not be time or cost efficient for either QHRC or those requiring training. It was quickly identified that a new approach would be required to quickly digitise paper training into an online training process.
The QHRC had spent significant time creating training assets for its facilitator-led training. These materials comprised a 38-page workbook and 34-page slide deck and were specifically designed to capture and explain the QHRC’s expert knowledge on the new Human Rights Act.
It was understood that to get this information to all relevant parties, face-to-face training would not suffice. QHRC enlisted Tribal Habits to create online versions of its training, providing an infinitely scalable solution.
Up and running in 2 weeks
To accelerate the creation of the first draft of the training modules, Tribal Habits was engaged to transform these paper-based training materials into interactive online learning. This solution allowed the first drafts of the online modules to be completed within just two weeks.
At this point, the QHRC training team were able to start reviewing content as well as making direct edits to the content themselves. The ‘building block’ content creation process in Tribal Habits allowed for rapid edits and restructuring of content and interactions, with all changes instantly available for review and testing.
A quick pivot
A final draft of the training module was completed within three weeks of the process starting, including narrated videos, quizzes, interactive images, assessments and more. QHRC were then able to conduct initial testing and feedback.
The result of this feedback suggested that instead of one online module, it would be more appropriate to have two online modules – a shorter introductory module for easy access to key information, and a longer detailed module for staff more directly involved in human rights areas.
In Tribal Habits, the existing module was used as a template to instantly create two copies for editing. Each of the copied topics could be quickly edited and restructured to create the two required modules within just 24 hours.
“Quick training delivery was one of our major outcomes. We needed to get something up and running straight-away and we didn’t need to be in development for six months. With Tribal Habits we were able to turn around our materials extremely quickly and get it out to the people who needed it.”
Mackayla Jeffries, Director, Engagement & Corporate Services, Queensland Human Rights Commission
Immediate results
After just four weeks, QHRC had two fully interactive, branded and reviewed online training modules, complete with images, videos and interactions. Critically, QHRC could directly edit and manage the modules on an on-going basis without any further costs or delays.
The online modules launched in early July 2019, with Tribal Habits also provided QHRC with a branded online store to manage topic purchases and enrolments from the general public.
“Tribal Habits gives us more control over our content in terms of developing and editing it. It’s much more responsive than other learning platforms we have used before, where you request changes and it takes a long time to be done. We can just make changes instantly now.”
Mackayla Jeffries, Director, Engagement & Corporate Services, Queensland Human Rights Commission
In the first eight weeks, over 1,000 people were enrolled in the two Human Rights topics (with another 600 enrolled in a third topic on Discrimination). Within their Tribal Habits portal, QHRC were able to;
- Directly update the content in their modules with any changes
- Publish new versions of their modules and manage version control
- Enable automated email reminders to encourage completion
- Upload large groups of users (such as local councils) via spreadsheet
- Automatically provide users with unique branded completion certificates
Previously QHRC had relied on the older SCORM format for online modules, with content created by external elearning consultants. This meant that QHRC could not directly edit or update their content.
“We had a lot of information to give people. These modules are great as they give people the information they needed in a really accessible way – and quickly – so they can make decisions about what further information or training they may need.”
Mackayla Jeffries, Director, Engagement & Corporate Services, Queensland Human Rights Commission
Uncovering new training requirements
In addition, because the Tribal Habits platform integrates both content creation and content distribution, QHRC were able to incorporate more engaging user interactions and capture far more user feedback than ever before. QHRC staff can review individual and aggregated user data on quizzes and assessments, as well as open-ended questions in responses to scenarios. QHRC are capturing poll results from participants on additional training needs or follow-up activities. From the first 1,000 participants, QHRC captured;
- Over 3,500 responses to polls and quizzes
- Over 2,300 written answers to open-ended questions
Utilising Tribal Habits built-in analytics, QHRC uncovered that 65% of users had no previous training on this content while other 20% of users were largely self-taught. 80% of users had no or little previous experience with the content, showing the critical importance of quickly capturing and sharing knowledge on this new legislation.
In combination, this data allows QHRC to continue improving the quality of their online modules, respond to frequently asked questions, adjust quizzes and assessments, record trends in existing knowledge around human rights and capture next steps with users.
“It’s been such a pleasure working with Tribal Habits. They have been really responsive to our needs. We have been really happy with the support team and platform and the product which we have developed”.
Mackayla Jeffries, Director, Engagement & Corporate Services, Queensland Human Rights Commission