PORTFOLIO SAMPLE

Software Certification Program

Challenge

A point-of-sale software development company had a flagship product with extremely broad and customizable functionality. As a result, it had become difficult to learn how to make use of all of the product’s features. Although the company had individual instructor-led classes and e-learning courses, there was no overarching learning path or assessment.

Solution

To provide a structured curriculum and ensure learners had mastered it, I led a team in developing the company’s first system administrator Certification Program. The Program had two components: a 10-week blended learning experience called the practice exam, and a full-day practical final exam.

For the practice exam, we provided certification candidates with a test copy of the software, a book of practice exercises, a list of e-learning courses to help with the exercises, and one-on-one tutoring sessions. This strategy took advantage of several learning principles, including the following:

1. The spaced repetition effect. The Program encouraged learners to practice using the software repeatedly over a sustained period, making it more likely they would remember the material afterward.

2. Learning transfer theory. People are more likely to apply their learning if they have practiced it in a situation resembling real life. By having learners configure the software to match sample business requirements in the practice exam book, we gave them the most authentic practice possible.

3. Multiple modality theory. People are more likely to learn if they encounter the material in several different formats. The Program provided this opportunity through a variety of self-paced and instructor-led learning opportunities.

For the final exam, we provided configuration tasks resembling the practice exam and scored each step according to a rubric. We summed the scores by section, determined how many sections the candidate passed, and awarded certification if they had passed the required number.

Result

The Certification Program received consistent, overwhelming praise from customer candidates. New users became productive more quickly, and current users took what they learned to propose improved processes to their organizations.

Internally, the Certification Program became the core of the Customer Service on-boarding training, allowing new hires to learn enough of the software suite to provide competent technical support in less than three months.