From June 2009 Resource

Now Playing on a Computer Near You:
Need 2 Know Online Courses

LOMA’s new online courses teach the foundations of insurance principles, products, and operations in an entirely new way.

Sidebar: What Companies & Employees Are Saying

By Kristen Falk, FLMI, FFSI, AAPA, ACS, AIAA, AIRC, ARA — LOMA

A casual glance around reveals that this is a world full of high-tech gadgets: smartphones, HD TVs, BluRay players, and the latest in ultrathin laptop computers. It’s not stretching the truth to say that many iPhone and BlackBerry users view those devices as lifelines to the world, their own pocket-sized computers with a phone thrown in for good measure. All of this technology can impact the way we work and play. It can also impact the way we learn. By making the most of technology, education and training is no longer limited to textbooks and classrooms. E-learning allows highly effective learning to take place anywhere, as long as you have a computer handy.

LOMA prides itself on its flexibility, its connection to the insurance industry and a willingness to develop new products that meet the industry’s changing needs. In that spirit, LOMA responded to industry requests for courses that help employees more quickly get up to speed in today’s difficult financial services environment. With the help of industry experts from member companies, LOMA developed the "Need 2 Know" Series: two new online courses, LOMA 281—Meeting Customer Needs with Insurance and Annuities and LOMA 291—Improving the Bottom Line: Insurance Company Operations. Designed to ignite the potential of insurance company employees, these online courses teach the foundations of insurance principles, products, and operations in an entirely new way.

Both courses are now available at LOMA’s online learning Website, LOMALearn (www.lomalearn.org). So far the response to Need 2 Know from companies and employees alike has been extremely positive. Companies appreciate the fact that they are saving time and money by using the Need 2 Know courses and that their employees are getting up to speed more quickly. Many managers have commented on how taking the courses has improved their employees’ job performance.

François Lemieux, FLMI, PCS, AIAA, ALHC, of SSQ Financial Group, is a member of LOMA’s Education and Training Council and the Quebec LOMA Society representative. Commenting on his employees’ experiences with Need 2 Know, he said, "As a director, I strongly promote these new courses for any employee in the insurance industry. The content is well suited for any new employee who does not have an insurance background. Further, we can certainly see a rapid productivity gain since the learner is able to have an overview of insurance concepts, how they can best interact with our customers and the interrelationship among all the different departments within an insurance company."

Employees like the livelier presentation of the material and appreciate the time they save taking these courses online. They also comment on how they feel more confident in performing their jobs because of the knowledge they gain from taking the Need 2 Know courses. Scott O’Neil, computer operator, with Empire Life stated that "After completing LOMA 281, I feel much more confident in my understanding of the insurance industry. Being in the technical side of operations, part of my responsibilities is to ensure our applications are available; now I understand what our claim processors and underwriters are actually doing. Although I thought I had a good understanding of the industry, the course has certainly grown my knowledge of the products and terminology used. The knowledge gained through this course will help me immensely in the future when I speak to or deal with other business units. I will no longer have to "fake" that look of understanding!"

Many people are familiar with LOMA’s more traditional courses, LOMA 280—Principles of Insurance: Life, Health, and Annuities and LOMA 290—Insurance Company Operations. These textbook-based courses constitute Level 1 of LOMA’s Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) program. Using the essential content from these two courses, LOMA has developed two new FLMI courses, known collectively as the "Need 2 Know" series (LOMA 281 and LOMA 291). The Need 2 Know courses are online, interactive experiences that help today’s learners quickly master industry basics and boost their effectiveness and productivity. These courses provide information in interesting and engaging ways—including audio and video—designed to meet the changing needs of today’s learner.

LOMA 281 is an introductory course that offers technologically enhanced learning experiences to teach insurance and annuity products and principles. The course is appropriate for anyone who is looking for an engaging way to learn the basics of life insurance and annuity products and how these products meet customer needs.

LOMA 291 uses video vignettes and other highly interactive, media-rich online experiences to teach insurance company operations. The learner "works" alongside employees at the Forthright Financial Services Company, a fictitious company that has established an internal "Excellence Initiative" to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness. This course is appropriate for employees who need to understand the functions and interrelationships of each major operational area of the company and recognize the important role that every member of the organization plays in ensuring the company’s financial success.

LOMA 281 and 291 each include four modules. Each module ends with an exam that learners can take without a proctor. Employees earn credit for each course by working through the course content and by passing all of the end-of-module exams. Employees can take these Need 2 Know courses as an alternative to the current LOMA 280 and LOMA 290 courses. After successfully completing the courses, they will earn the FLMI Level 1 Certificate and have two credits toward the prestigious FLMI designation.

How Companies Benefit

Company-sponsored initiatives to encourage or require employees to complete Need 2 Know courses or the traditional FLMI Level 1 can reap many rewards, including improved employee performance and increased employee engagement. LOMA’s course content always emphasizes that employees are brand ambassadors for their companies, uniquely positioned to represent the company and promote products and services on and off the job. A simple conversation with one employee could be a potential customer’s only exposure to the value of life insurance and annuities. The Need 2 Know courses help employees prepare for their roles as company ambassadors.

Businesses know that time is money. The Need 2 Know courses were specifically designed to require less time to complete. By including only the most critical, "need to know" information in these courses, LOMA is responding to industry needs for professional development that will help employees improve their performance quickly.

This streamlined, focused format is especially important to companies that allow employees to study at work. Because the Need 2 Know courses take their employees less time to complete than LOMA 280 and 290, companies will find that employees have more time to devote to their job responsibilities, even if they are taking LOMA 281 and 291 on company time. In addition, the courses are very user-friendly and engaging. For that reason, companies may find that employees are willing to spend more of their own time working on course material. This is particularly important if companies are unable to allow their employees to use work time to study.

If employees complete Level I more quickly, the industry knowledge and expertise gained will allow them to better perform their jobs that much sooner. Their colleagues and managers, as well as company customers will all benefit. In the current difficult environment, more knowledgeable employees who can work more quickly may help offset the negative effects if companies are forced to reduce their workforces.

An organization’s commitment to education can have a huge impact on the organization’s success, increasing employee engagement, and ultimately, company productivity and bottom-line results. In the summer of 2007, Towers Perrin conducted a major research project to study the effect of engaged employees on the corporate bottom line. One premise was that a primary key to producing engaged employees is providing training and development. For the project, Towers Perrin surveyed 90,000 employees in 18 countries to determine their level of engagement and gathered financial data on their companies. It then performed a regression analysis to understand the connection between the two, and found that firms with the highest percentage of engaged employees had a 3.74 percent higher operating margin and a 2.06 percent higher net profit margin than average.

Billy Sims, FLMI, SPHR, CCP, CBP, vice president, human resources, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance, had this to say when asked why his company has been such an enthusiastic supporter of the Need 2 Know courses:

"Being a baby boomer, at first, I was apprehensive about online learning and somewhat skeptical about online courses. But then I saw the demo and realized that this is a very positive learning experience. Our new employees like the interactive courses and feel that they actually learn more than in traditional courses. Employees also have said that they feel more confident in their jobs and have more knowledge they can use on the job as a result of participating in this new format.

 "It’s clear that the LOMA team worked so hard to make this such a positive experience. Companies will be excited when they start using Need 2 Know. The preparation and effort that LOMA devoted to the courses really paid off, and the industry reviewers who worked on the course were obviously extremely knowledgeable because the information is so well-designed."

How Employees Benefit

The Need 2 Know courses are a streamlined method for learning essential industry concepts. As employees complete these courses, they are learning the language of our industry and gaining valuable knowledge about the financial services products, and about how their company operates. This knowledge can benefit them on the job as they interact with customer and other employees.

The online learning method also offers flexibility for today’s busy learner. If a learner has to stop in the middle of a lesson, the next time he logs into the course, a "bookmarking feature" takes him back to where he left off. Rather than having to turn to the back of a book to find the definition of a term, the learner just clicks a button to bring up the LOMA Glossary.

And, perhaps best of all, learners take the exam required to pass the course in four separate modules. Employees have commented that this reinforces the material that they have learned and helps them to retain the information. In addition, this process can reduce test anxiety for learners and allow more flexibility in testing for companies. These courses don’t require that a company employee monitor the learner who is being tested because LOMA has included controls in the courses, including ensuring that learners are viewing a minimum number of course screens before they take a module exam.

There are lots of other reasons that make these courses a convenient learning experience. A learner can access the courses anyplace that she can get on the Internet, whether that’s from her desktop computer at work or at home, or even on a business trip. In addition to gaining all of the critical knowledge contained in LOMA’s traditional FLMI Level I courses, learners who take these Need 2 Know courses have access to a variety of unique features. One special feature built into each course is an opening screen or "portal" from which learners easily navigate through the course. On the course portal page, learners can track where they are in the course, as well as go to any portion of a lesson or course module that they wish.

They can also benefit from:

The use of a variety of media, including audio and video

Interactive animations and reviews

Engaging storylines that provide a real-world perspective on the content

Interviews of company employees talking about their jobs

Discussion groups that allow learners to connect and share ideas

Access to LOMA experts to help with content questions

 

Susan Dicken, medical records specialist, summed up her experience with the Need 2 Know courses this way: "I have thirty years of employment with Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and have not been interested in taking LOMA courses simply because of the length of time I would have to apply in learning the material the more traditional way.   When I first learned of the Need 2 Know courses and viewed the demo, I immediately signed up for LOMA 281.  I got more out of the course because I was doing something as opposed to reading, reading and reading. 

"The format is easy to follow and the interaction is very helpful.   It amazed me, when taking the lesson exams, that I was able to retain much more of the information learned in each study module.  I became so interested and excited that I went on to complete both LOMA 281 and 291.  I am currently enrolled in one of the more traditional LOMA courses and look forward to earning the ACS designation before I retire within the next few years."

In creating these courses, LOMA’s challenge was to use its time-tested industry content in a whole new way. Rather than presenting educational information in a traditional format, the LOMA team designed these courses to present learners with video- and audio-based situations and scenarios that are similar to the ones that insurance company employees are likely to encounter on the job. The goal was to create courses that help employees learn information they need to do their jobs, as well as to help them see how that information is critical to being able to successfully interact with their company’s customers and help their company succeed.

The team’s foundation for the Need 2 Know courses was the content of the LOMA 280 and 290 textbooks. Using that award winning content, course developers created storyboards that transformed the textbook information into a variety of formats: audio conversations, video vignettes, short summaries, and thought-provoking review questions. Translating the storyboards into the finished product of online lessons involved hundreds, if not thousands, of individual tasks, from creating each screen in the course to finding photographs to illustrate the content. More of a challenge was creating the unique audio and video vignettes that appear in both courses. LOMA used a professional team of actors and producers to develop high-quality, engaging video scenes that use real life situations to illustrate important course concepts.

At all stages in the development of the Need 2 Know courses industry experts from dozens of prominent insurance and financial companies were involved. These subject matter experts provide insights and information that help LOMA create online courses that are representative of the insurance industry today. Industry reviewers also made numerous suggestions about how best to present the information to their companies’ employees, helping to ensure that the information presented in the courses is accurate and up-to-date. LOMA’s industry reviewers are volunteers who provide a great service to the financial services industry, and future learners, by providing subject matter expertise that helps ensure LOMA content is relevant to today’s insurance professional.

One of the industry experts who worked on both courses, Matthew Hughes, FLMI, ACS, a senior writer/analyst for Transamerica Reinsurance, described his experience as a reviewer on the project:

"Regardless of your experience in the industry, LOMA 281 and 291 provide the opportunity to brush up on ideas or concepts that can be pushed to the side by our day-to-day responsibilities. I found the information—and working on this project— to be a useful tool to make me really think again about the basic principles of our industry and how we operate. It’s wonderful refresher material. It was also a great experience to work with so many professionals from the business during the process."

The LOMALearn Website at https://www.lomalearn.org and www.loma.org are the places to go to find out more about Need 2 Know. A video demonstration is available, as well as complete descriptions of both courses. In addition, there are downloads available of a variety of articles and reference materials about the value provided to companies and employees by learning and development activities, Companies and employees can also register to take LOMA 281 and 291 on LOMALearn.

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What Companies are Saying:

" I think the courses give the employee a good understanding of the insurance industry.  I think it makes it easier for them to understand how their role in the company fits in and I think it makes them better employees.  I wish we had this when I was taking LOMA Level 1."
--Steven Ward, FLMI, FALU, Underwriting Manager, Genworth Financial

" I am old fashion and like to have a book to take wherever I go.  But working with 281 and 291, I realize that today’s student can really benefit from the interactive style of the on-line learning."
--Pat Stevenson, FLMI, ACS, AIAA, ARC, AAPA, ARA. Compliance and Product Specialist, Baltimore Life

"The new online format is a change in the right direction for LOMA. With revised content, in manageable bites and an interactive learning environment, students are definitely on the path to success." 
--Kristin Greenham, FLMI, AIAA, PCS, Business Consultant, London Life

"I think the new Online LOMA 281 and 291 are geared to the way people are learning today.  When given a choice of online learning or book learning, today’s students prefer the interactive nature of online learning--it’s what they are used to.  The courses bring home actual real-world experiences in the insurance arena while teaching the important concepts to LOMA students.
    A few weeks ago after reviewing 281/291, I asked one of our newer claims auditors who will be taking these courses in the future after his graduation from college, what method of learning he prefers.  He stated online learning will be his choice."
-- Michelle M. Muirhead, FLMI, CIE, MCM, CCP, AIRC, HCAFA, FLHC, Special Claims Coordinator,
Physicians Mutual Insurance Company

What Employees are Saying:  

" As a newcomer into the insurance industry the Need 2 Know, LOMA online courses, are helping me tremendously to gain a thorough knowledge of the insurance terminologies and have a better understanding of how the industry works. The great thing about it is that I can access it 24/7 from my home or even if I’m miles away from home. The web application is user friendly and interactive so you are actively engaged in learning the materials plus the mini tests help you prepare for the exam!"
--Freshta Nawassan, SSQ Financial Group

 "Need 2 Know is awesome. You can review until you feel comfortable taking the exam. I would love to see more Need 2 Know courses."
--Trisha Thornton. HR/Payroll Assistant, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance

"The best experience in learning that I have ever been involved with and at my pace."
--Angela Rodriguez, Administrative Assistant, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance

"LOMA 291 for me was a very helpful course. I liked it because it had videos in it that were very helpful. I also liked the fact that it was more condensed and had shorter chapters."
--Shellie Maheu, Annuity Processor, Policy Service Annuity Unit, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance

Contact Resource at resource@loma.org