Much of our talent development work with leading organizations involves customized onsite learning programs targeted to different cohorts of employees with different learning requirements. These programs are highly effective and consistently earn very high ratings from the participants and sponsors alike. For companies that prefer traditional onsite delivery of management development programs, these highly customized learning experiences are incomparable for the learning and networking that occurs in a discrete physical space.

These onsite programs can be expensive to produce, however, and additionally carry with them the costs of the conference center venue, participants’ travel, hotel and meals and, most significantly, the opportunity cost of the participants being away from their jobs for days or weeks at a time. With training budgets tight and downsizings leaving fewer employees to handle larger workloads, many companies are looking for innovative solutions that offer high quality developmental experiences at lower price points and with less time away from the office.

During the past few years, EDP has developed with several Fortune 1000 companies three new types of programs to address these needs - low cost online learning solutions that present similar program content and utilize the same high quality subject matter experts from our onsite programs, but are delivered virtually, directly to employees’ desktops.
The results have been impressive, both developmentally and economically. These innovative, budget-friendly offerings are highly attractive to organizations committed to cost effective talent development, either as stand alone learning platforms or as enhancements to onsite programs.

The Virtual Learning Program (VLP), the Spotlight Series, and the Books Come To Life Series (BCTL) are customized online initiatives that leverage an organization’s IT infrastructure to bring learning experiences directly to groups of employees in their offices, while saving the company thousands of dollars in training related travel costs and minimizing employee time away from their jobs. Like our onsite programs, these online programs are taught by subject matter experts from some of the world’s top business schools and private consultancies.

How It Works

EDP and each client identify the professional and business competencies for enhanced development at different levels of the organization – Vice Presidents and Directors, Supervisors and Managers, and Individual Contributors. A curriculum is developed for each cohort and faculty teams are assembled and briefed. Some clients choose to create an Advisory Board comprised of managers from across the organization to provide enterprise-wide input into the shaping of the curriculum. EDP and its faculty then create either a “Virtual Learning Program” of live interactive, action-learning modules taught by business school professors, or a “Spotlight Series” of live customized webinar presentations by recognized subject matter experts, or a “Books Come To Life” Series of passionate story-telling business professors teaching key learning points from the most credible business books in the market.

All three types of online curricula and faculty are vetted for academic quality, relevance to the organization, and take away applicability for the participants. EDP’s Online Learning Manager, experienced teaching in fast track MBA Programs, then coordinates with each client to ensure IT compatibility between the faculty presenter resources and the client’s existing IT infrastructure, typically Webex or Microsoft Live Meeting.

Each of these online learning solutions – Virtual Learning Program, the Spotlight Series, and Books Come To Life – provides participants with maximum flexibility to learn from their offices or on the road, while leveraging the organization’s existing IT infrastructure to offer MBA-level learning at highly attractive price points. From ‘knowledge acquisition’ to ‘action learning’ to ‘competency development,’ EDP’s online learning solutions enable companies to create an organizational culture of learning while disseminating the latest innovative ideas and best practices throughout the enterprise.