eLearning for Mobile Lawyers
By:
Norman Letalik Borden Ladner Gervias LLP
Toronto, Ontario
Presented at: ACLEA 47th Annual Meeting
July 30 – August 2, 2011 Boston, Massachusetts
Norman Letalik Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Toronto, Ontario Canada
Norman Letalik is a partner in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG). Norm was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1989 and the Law Society of England and Wales in 1998. Prior to practicing law, Norm was a Law Professor at Dalhousie Law School (1980‐1986) and the National University of Singapore (1986‐1988). Norm obtained a Master's Degree in Political Science (International Relations) from Kent State University in 1976, his Law Degree from Dalhousie Law School in 1979 and a Masters Degree in Law (with distinction) from Dalhousie Law School in 1980. Norm is BLG's Managing Director, Professional Excellence. His responsibilities include the firm's recruitment, mentoring, performance evaluations, continuing education, knowledge management and professional development activities. Norm is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. Norm practices in the fields of Product Liability, Maritime and Shipping Law and Gray Market Goods. Norm is recognized in the 2011 edition of The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory; selected by peers for inclusion in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada®; and selected by peers for inclusion in Who's Who Legal 2010. Norm has delivered numerous papers and presentations throughout the world and is the author of more than 50 publications in many areas of law.
BLG U
QUICK START GUIDE
Accessing BLG U as a BLG User through Sesame .......................................................................................1
Accessing BLG U as a BLG User from outside the office.............................................................................1
Accessing BLG U as a Guest........................................................................................................................ 2
BLG U Home Page ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Viewing Your Learning Plan ....................................................................................................................... 4
Viewing the Course Catalogue .................................................................................................................... 4
Searching the Course Catalogue ................................................................................................................. 4
Registering for a Course.............................................................................................................................. 5
Launching and Viewing a BLG U Video ......................................................................................................7
Changing Video Settings............................................................................................................................. 9
Completing a Course..................................................................................................................................10
Cancelling Registration for a Course .........................................................................................................10
Viewing your Achievement Record............................................................................................................10
Logging out of BLG U ................................................................................................................................ 11
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ACCESSING
BLG U AS A
BLG USER
THROUGH
SESAME
To launch BLG U, from the Sesame home page, under Tools & Applications, click onthe BLG U link.
This will take you to the BLG U launch page. Click on Launch BLG U button.
This will launch the BLG U home page.
ACCESSING
BLG U AS A
BLG USER
FROM OUTSIDE
THE OFFICE
When logging in to BLG U from outside the office, use the provided URL link to connect.Do not go in through Remote Access (VPN or Citrix). To connect to the BLG U sitedirectly:
1. Type the following URL into the Web Browser address field:https://secure-blgu.blgcanada.com/
2. The Connect to secure … login screen will open. Enter your user name asblgcanada\your username.
3. Type in your regular network password.
4. Click OK.
5. This will take you to the BLG U launch page. Click on Launch BLG U button.
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This will launch the BLG U home page.
ACCESSING
BLG U AS A
GUEST
To login to BLG U, click on the following link or enter it into your internet browser:www.blgu.ca
Type in your User Name and Password. Your User Name and Password will have beenpreviously supplied by a BLG U administrator.
You will then be taken to the following page:
Click on Launch BLG U.
This will launch the BLG U Home Page.
DISABLING
POP-UP
BLOCKER
A “Browser Requirements” screen may open. If so, you will need to disable the pop-upblocker in your browser.
(To disable the pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer:
6. Select the Tools menu.
7. Select Pop-up Blocker.
8. Select Turn Off Pop-up Blocker.
9. Click Continue in the Browser Requirements page).
If you are not familiar with how to turn off pop-up blockers, please contact yourorganization’s IT helpdesk.
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BLG U HOME
PAGE
The BLG U home page is broken down into a number of sections:
The top section consists of the Log Off button and the Language button where youcan change your language, as well as tabs where you can navigate to:
Welcome – will take you to the home page if you are elsewhere on the site.
Learning Plan – where you can find your Learning Plan, providing a list ofcourses that you are currently registered for.
Courses/Registration – where a list of all courses, categorized by Subject, areprovided with easy links for registration. View the entire Course Catalogue orperform a search to locate courses of interest.
Achievement Record – where a list of all completed courses can be viewed.
The middle section provides a scrolling preview of several available courses.
The bottom section is broken down into three sections:
New Courses – this lists selected new courses that have been added to BLG U inthe past month.
Upcoming Events – this section lists selected upcoming scheduled events forclients.
Selected Links – this section includes links to various Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment/Continuing Legal Education compliance requirements.
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VIEWING
YOUR
LEARNING
PLAN
To view your Learning Plan:
Click on the Learning Plan tab. The Learning Plan is the location from wherecourses are launched.
Note that when you first log in to BLG U, your Learning Plan may not have anycourses listed.
To add a course to your Learning Plan, you need to register for a course via the CourseCatalogue.
VIEWING THE
COURSE
CATALOGUE
The courses that will be visible will depend upon your access rights.
To view the Course Catalogue:
Click on the Courses/Registration tab. A List of Subjects will be displayed.
Click on a Subject link to view the course list for a selected “subject”, i.e. program.For example, by clicking on BLG 101, you will see:
Click on a course in the Course List to view the details of a selected course.
To bypass the Course List and to see a complete list of all courses, click on theCurriculum Group link.
Upcoming session information can be found at the bottom of the Course Informationpage when upcoming sessions are available.
Note: To return to the previous screen, click the ‘Back’ arrow.
SEARCHING
THE COURSE
In addition to viewing or browsing course lists in the Catalogue, courses can be foundusing the Advanced Keyword Search tool within the Courses/Registration tab. The
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CATALOGUE -KEYWORDS
courses that will be visible will depend upon your access rights.
To perform an Advanced Keyword Search:
Click on the Courses/Registration tab and click on the Advanced KeywordSearch link.
Enter your search criteria.
Use the drop-down arrows to filter for Subject, Course Type, Job Position;
Enter keywords in the fields for Course Title, Course Keywords and InstructorName.
Click Search.
The search results will appear on the right-hand side of the Advanced Search screen.Click on the links in the search results to display the corresponding courseinformation pages.
REGISTERING
FOR A COURSE
NOTE: You need to register for an event on the BLG U website in order to watch thevideo recording of that event. (This is so that the system records the fact in your LearningPlan and Achievement Record).
1. Click on the Courses/Registration tab to open the Course Catalogue and openthe course details for the session you wish to register for.
2. Click the Register button at the foot of the Course information page.
3. Click OK to continue.
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4. The Registration Confirmation page will appear. Click Continue.
5. To immediately start the course, from the Learning Plan page, click on theLaunch button.
6. A course will remain in your Learning Plan until you mark it Complete or youCancel it. You can launch the course at a later time by returning to your LearningPlan. To log off BLG U, click on the Log Off button in the top-right hand corner.
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LAUNCHING
AND VIEWING
A BLG UVIDEO
To launch a course that you have previously registered for:
1. Go to your Learning Plan page and click on the Launch button to start the course.
2. If the course is provided through video, click on either one of the two Play iconsto play the video.
The video will commence playing once you click on the Play icon.
3. To view the chapters of a video, click on the icon on the right-hand side of thevideo.
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The icon will open the chapters tab, which lists the chapters in the video. To go toa specific chapter, click on the link for that chapter.
4. To close the chapter tab, click on the arrow .
NOTE: You will be able to link to a specific chapter only once the video has commencedplaying and has fully downloaded. This may take a few moments. If the video has notfully downloaded and you click on a link the video may return to the beginning.
NOTE: A few BLG U videos have embedded PowerPoint presentations, but most do not.In instances where the PowerPoint presentation is not embedded, you can find the link tothe presentation, and in some instances additional materials, on lower portion of thechapter tab. Click on the link to open the presentation or other document. You candownload it and print it if desired. When printing a PowerPoint presentation, select the“Pure Black and White” option on the “Color/grayscale” drop-down menu in thePowerPoint print dialogue box.
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CHANGING
VIDEO
SETTINGS
To change the volume, screen size, fast forward or rewind the video, use the buttons at thebottom of the video. For more information, please see instructions below:
To increase or decrease the volume:
click on the lines on the volume button . To increase the volume, click on thelonger lines. To decrease the volume, click on the shorter lines.
To make the video full screen:
click on the full screen button . Click on the ESC button on your keyboard to goback to the regular screen size.
To stop the video:
click on the button. To restart the video, click on the button.
To fast forward or rewind the video:
click on or drag your mouse along the time line at the bottom of the video.
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COMPLETING
A COURSEOnce you have completed the course, click on the Complete button beside the courselisted in your Learning Plan.
Once marked ‘Complete’, the course will be removed from the Learning Plan and willappear in your Achievement Record.
CANCELLING
REGISTRATION
FOR A COURSE
You can cancel registration for a course.
1. Click on the Learning Plan tab to view all courses you are currently registeredfor.
2. Click on the Cancel button to cancel your registration.
3. Press OK to confirm cancellation.
4. The course will be removed from your Learning Plan.
VIEWING
YOUR
ACHIEVEMENT
RECORD
Clicking on the Achievement Record tab will display information about all coursesthat you have completed.
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LOGGING OUT
OF BLG UTo log out of BLG U ensure that you click on the Log Off button in the top-right corner ofthe browser window.
Once you have logged out, the LearnFlex general login screen will appear.You can close the browser.
eLearning for Mobile Lawyers: The Case for BLG U
Norman [email protected]
What will be covered?
• The Genesis• The Planning Process• The Launch• A Demo• Lessons Learned
Why provide remote access?
• MCLE/MCPD comes to Canada• Internal demand from our own busy professionals
• Demand by clients for easily accessibleMCLE/MCPD credits
The Business Benefits
• Business Development opportunities:- Opportunity to showcase depth and
breadth of expertise- Demonstration of expertise
• Reduced training costs for BLG over the long-term
• Convenience for BLG professionals• Possible first mover advantage
Key elements of BLG U
• Web-based presence:- Learning Management System- Learning Content Management System
• Accessible from firm portal and website• Electronic and non-electronic (i.e., traditionalseminars)
The Implementation Plan
3-stages of the phased implementation plan:1) Implement BLG U technology infrastructure, i.e., create the shell;2) Internal launch, begin to populate and “operationalise” the BLG U shell; and3) Client launch of populated BLG U including multimedia elements.
The Planning Process
• Draft the Business Case• Get approval of Senior Management• Choose an IT platform: RFP process• Draft IT project charter• Collaborate with the IT vendor and the IT Department to design the platform
• Develop a plan for content
What goes into the Business Case?
• Executive Summary which describes:1) The Business Opportunity2) The Business Benefits
• A high level description of the vision• A description of: the content; content development; content maintenance; content delivery; and presentation options
• Governance Structure
What goes into the Business Case?
The Implementation of the Project:Phase 1: Infrastructure set-upPhase 2: Internal launchPhase 3: Client and Media Launch
What goes into the Business Case?
Description of:1) The People involved;2) The Process involved – Production Values;
and3) Technology:
a) Video Equipment;b) Post-Production Technology; andc) Distribution Technology.
What goes into the Business Case?
Preliminary Cost Analysis:1) IT infrastructure;2) Manpower to implement;3) Manpower to develop content;4) Manpower to sustain content; and5) Manpower to interact with users.
The Launch
Establish a Governance Structure:- Professional Committee- BLG U Management Board- BLG U Advisory Board
The Launch: Internal
- Before launching: Test and test again- Pilot group: Include both “early adopters”and “dinosaurs”
- Do surveys of user-friendliness- Develop tip sheets- Tell them and then tell them again - Get in front of a captured audience
The Launch: Internal
After Pilot, launch internally:- Make sure your management board is available
- Ensure that IT Department is involved- Ensure that senior management knows what is happening and who to call to get answers
The Launch: Internal
Follow through:- Get in front of practice groups to sell the vision and alert them to opportunities- Meet with key clients to alert them that it is coming and recruit pilot client users to test it with external users
The Launch: External
• Work with your Business Development and Media team to develop a plan for client messaging
• Work with Business Development to get client list for launch
• Prepare materials and messaging for launch• Let all professionals know that it is coming and prepare materials for them to respond to client requests
The Launch: External
• Prepare team to deal with client requests• Alert IT vendor to launch date• Alert IT department re launch date• Collect feedback from clients and your professionals as they are contacted by clients
• Press the send button!
Demo
And now, a Demo of the final product:
Lessons Learned
- No matter how much information you provide in advance, some will have no idea what it is about
- You have to work with BD and IT even if it can be painful
- Don’t assume that you will capture everyone’s imagination
- Highest use will be near the annual deadline
Lessons Learned
• Clients “get it”, more so than your own professionals
• Clients provide great feedback• Word of mouth is the best salesman• Once professionals overcome the fear of video, it is a great sales tool
• We live in the YouTube era, get on with your multi-media initiatives!
Questions:
Questions?
Norman LetalikPartner & Managing Director, Professional ExcellenceTel +1.416.367.6344 | [email protected]
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