Developing a Learning Strategy

for BIM

Gordon McGlatheryHead of Training, Cadassist Ltd

Profile.Gordon McGlathery, Head of Training – Cadassist Ltd

• 13 Years at Cadassist

• Responsible for all aspects of Cadassist's training business, including strategic planning, account management, trainer development, and training consultancy.

• Led Cadassist to the position of #1 Autodesk Authorised Training Centre site in the Northern Europe (2014/2015) in number of delegates trained, and #1 in the UK for "overall customer experience" out of the top 20 UK ATCs, based on Autodesk customer feedback.

• Works directly with both SMEs and major accounts, designing company-wide training programmes that deliver real business change.

• Previously President of The MicroCAD Institute, Cambridge, MA (16 years)

Why a Learning Strategy?

Process Technology

People

TrueBIM

?????????

EIR BEP PIM AIM CDE

PAS 1192 PAS 55

ISO 55000 DPoW

Component #1: Develop a multi-level approach

Understand your entire organisation needs to skill up

Not just the technical team!

Directors, partners and senior managers

Project managers and IT managersTechnical

Operational

Strategic

Component #2: Clearly define your outcomes

Different skills for different roles

• Develop a skills map

• Involve directors, senior managers, supervisors, lead users, HR

• Not just the design team – skills required for project managers, engineers, sales team

• Link ideal skills set to each job function

Skills for Becoming BIM Enabled

First draft:528 Separate Skills!

Now 32 capabilities

Definition of BIM from a learning perspective

http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/education-and-training/

Mind the Gap!

• The benefits of skills analysis

• Reduce risk – avoid hiring the wrong person or giving

the right person the wrong training

• Lower costs – just the right amount of training to get

the job done

• Higher quality – focused on business needs

• Know your ROI

Component #3: Know your starting point

“Our problem is we don’t know what we don’t know”

• Focused Training – solving real business issues

• Recruitment

• Analyse training effectiveness

• Intelligently deploy staff

Skills Analysis

Group A:6 lead Revit usersResults by topic

In developing your learning strategy to training, you should understand . . .

• Learning Styles: Auditory, Visual, Kinaesthetic,

Reading / Writing.

• Learner Types: Theorists, Reflectors, Activists,

Pragmatists.

• Communication Skills.

Component #4: Understand there are different learning styles

“The development of news skills is the critical enabler for the transition to more effective working practices enabled by BIM. Investment in high quality training (for clients, suppliers and students) is key to achieving success.”

- Richard Lane, Programme Manager at EU BIM Task Group, UK BIM Task Group

Component #5: Have a great training function

What does high quality training look like?

• An expert with the software (or process)

• The ability to share that expertise effectively,

• The industry knowledge to advise you on how to overcome the problems you

encounter on a daily basis,

• The willingness to tailor the training to meet your needs.

When it comes to training delivery, you need . . .

Lots of unstructured learning happening• Mentoring• Support• Encourage knowledge sharing• Lunch and learn, CPD, user groups• The B1M & on line resources• Webinars• Project kick-off workshops /

collaboration workshop• BIM Level 3 – learning strategy for

supply chain?• Independent review – get a second

opinion!

Component #6: Use alternative forms of learning

LMS = Learning Management System

• Lots of Options• Some purpose-built for BIM• Bentley Learn• CAD Learning

• 46,000 video library . . . 3,400 hours of video instruction• Global eTraining

• 1 million courses to learners in 139 countries• Self-paced and live guided learning

• Anytime, anywhere learning• Personalised, build your own course• Robust reporting, Software plug-ins

Component #7: Get a Learning Platform

• Personalised Learning Just in time Just enough Just for me

• Access to hundreds of courses / 1000s of hours instruction• 2-day course or 10-minute lesson?• 3-day course = 270 learning modules; limited attention span• Blended learning -- flipping the classroom• Software Plugin – embedded in the software

• will remember what you’ve watched• learning at the exact point of need

Get a Learning Platform

“The old classroom model simply doesn’t fit our changing needs. It’s a fundamentally passive way of learning, while the world requires more and more active processing of information.”

-- Salman Khan, “The One World Schoolhouse”

Commit to ongoing learning

• Budget for it! Needs to be more than 1 course every 2 years

• Make it modular -- bite size, just-in-time

• Learning linked to project needs and schedule

• Users will return to the next learning session with pertinent

questions.

• Kaizen – Philosophy of continual improvement

Component 8: Learn, apply . . . and learn some more

Give your BIM Learning Strategy Equal Time

• BIM Technology Strategy

• BIM Process Strategy

• BIM Learning Strategy

BIM

Tech

nolo

gy S

trat

egy BIM

Process Strategy

BIM

Lear

ning

Str

ateg

y

1. Multi-level approach

2. Clearly defined outcomes

3. Skills analysis

4. Different learning styles

5. Great training

6. Multiple tools and formats

7. eLearning & LMS

8. Continual learning and improvement

What is the Risk / Reward of your Learning Strategy?

What if we train them, and they leave?

What if we don’t train them, and they stay?

Thank you

Gordon McGlathery

gordon.mcglathery@cadassist.co.uk

www.cadassist.co.ukwww.cadblog.co.uk

https://twitter.com/Cadassist