Five years ago the Copesan Technical Committee (CTC) began exploring the idea of creating a learning management system (LMS) for Copesan Partner companies. “It was to be an E-learning center committed to providing a high level of learner-centered, Web-based training in the pest management industry,” says Tom Moore, long-time Copesan president.
“We needed to provide training for service technicians in a much more efficient, streamlined and easy-to-use fashion,” says McCloud Services’ Kim Kelly-Tunis. “It was to be a university — a central repository of basic information, and it was aimed at obviating the need to prevent reinventing the wheel each and every time we created an educational module.”
According to Margaret Ideman, director of continuous improvement for J.C. Ehrlich Co., a Copesan Partner firm, an LMS is a computerized way of creating and launching a training program and tracking and awarding the progress of participants in the program. “It’s an effective way to automate the training process, to provide consistent training, to share information, and to take advantage of all available resources,” she explains. “The project was planned, created and officially kicked off three years ago by a steering committee which included Dr. Bob Rummel of Western Pest Services; Ole Dosland of Copesan; John O’Reilly of Plunkett’s Pest Control; Kim Kelly-Tunis; Anil Menon of Wil-Kil Pest Control; and myself,” she says.
The courses are produced using advanced learning concepts that encompass adult learning techniques. E-learning works, says Moore. “Participants can independently go on-line, take the courses and fulfill their learning objectives at their own pace on their own time. We’ve designed a user-friendly, computerized delivery format that allows one to concentrate on the lesson at hand. The participant doesn’t have to figure out how to run the delivery software. That fact alone saves time and alleviates frustration.”
Training courses available from Copesan University cover a wide range of subjects from pest management and selling to customer relations and driver safety. Whether you’re a five-person pest management business or a multi-branch operation with hundreds of employees, Copesan University is priced to meet your online training needs in an easily accessible, affordable fashion.
Here’s how it works. All technical courses in the Copesan training library are available at a cost of $10 per course, per user. Training modules in the “Telephone Doctor” business series are available at a cost of $20 per course, per user.
As pest management professionals complete each course a permanent record is created that tracks their progress, allowing company managers to monitor their performance and assess the company’s training needs on a regular basis. “It’s a great way to manage the continuing education process,” says Copesan President Tom Moore, “making sure your staff is up-to-date on the latest technical, customer service, management and sales training. And new courses will be added on a regular basis, further enhancing the value of the service.”
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