Final Project Report

The LEAD – Living Equality & Diversity

eLearning Equality & Diversity Training Tool

Funded by the Equality Mainstreaming Unit which is jointly funded by
the European Social Fund 2007 - 2013 and by the Equality Authority"
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The LEAD – Living Equality & Diversity – Final Project Report

  1. Project Background

The LEAD – Living Equality & Diversity eLearning project, involved six Irish Universities DCU, NUIG, UCC, UCD, UL and TCD collaborating with Aurion Learning in the design and development of the contents. The programme was funded by the Equality Mainstreaming Unit, which is jointly funded by the European Social Fund 2007 - 2013 and by the Equality Authority.

The aim of the project was to collaboratively pilot an introductory tailored eLearning programme covering all nine grounds of discrimination under Irish Equality Legislation as part of a blended approach to generating mainstream staff engagement with diversity issues.

The University Sector aims to provide an inclusive environment which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its employees and students are respected. It also recognises the educational and organisational benefits of having a diverse community of employees and students and to this end, is working towards building and maintaining an environment which values diversity. The purpose of this project therefore was to give employees a general understanding of why it is important that Universities maintain and support inclusive environments that value diversity and promote equality.

For many years raising awareness of equality and diversity has been an active priority in third level institutions. Promoting equality is a core value for the organisations involved, as well as a part of their mandate under the Universities Act 1997. However it is important to build upon traditional classroom based learning measures and to transfer the learning directly into the workplace to develop a culture in which difference and equality of opportunity becomes part of day to day discourse and practice.

The use of this interactive and multimedia resource will enable staff to consider and reflect on the part they play in building an inclusive culture, across the university sector. It will be able to reach a wider audience than a classroom based methodology. Potentially 16,000 staff will be able to interact with this eLearning tool as the learning will not be restricted by a time and place, something that staff feedback has led us to believe is important.

eLearning is a relatively new approach to the delivery of training in the universities and there is a considerable challenge to staff development and equality professionals to achieve a strong learning engagement with the materials. One of the key elements of this programme therefore was the development of a tailored programme that addressed issues unique to the third level sector and which in turn could be rolled out to other institutions in the Higher Education Sector.

  1. The Consortium

Under the auspices of the IUA, the Irish Universities Equality Network was established to work collaboratively to share best practice, develop institutional competence, and promote an inclusive University environment free from discrimination.For the purpose of this project a sub group came together to form a consortium.

2.1 The Consortium Membership

Karen Campos McCormack – TrinityCollegeDublin

Marie Connolly – University of Limerick

Aoife Cooke – NationalUniversity of IrelandGalway

Mary Horgan – UniversityCollegeCork

Fiona Keane – UniversityCollegeDublin

Paul Smith – DublinCityUniversity

2.3 Project Terms of Reference

To collaboratively pilot a tailored eLearning programme covering all nine grounds of discrimination under Irish Equality Legislation as part of a blended approach to generating mainstream staff engagement with diversity issues.

2.4 The project objectives

To establish a consortium of universities from across Ireland to mainstream and strengthen diversity and equality engagement

To design, commission and embed eLearning materials into existing development and training interventions

To engage multiple stakeholders, including unions, at local levels in the project

To build the capacity of management and staff across the university sector

To embed an inclusive and discrimination free working environment

To establish senior level champions for the initiative across the institutions involved and the sector as a whole

To create greater awareness of learners, of diversity and equality in the workplace

To evaluate levels of staff engagement with the resources as a learning tool for diversity and equality awareness

To share results of the project within and beyond the education sector

To negotiate value for money for the sector

2.5 Role and Responsibilities

The University of Limerick acted as the Project Leader. The project involved full engagement by all the consortium members in the design and development of the eLearning tool in conjunction with Aurion Learning the contractor. A Project Team was set up consisting of five of the six members including, UL, DCU, TCD, NUIG & UCD. The project team member’s individually took overall responsibility for one of the 5 modules.

This ensured that 1 person had overall responsibility and all other members directed all input to that person.

A project site was set up which the consortium members and the Aurion Learning Project team had access to and all correspondence with regard to the project was updated through this channel.

The team met very regularly and due to the teams diverse locations conference calling facilities were used regularly in order to ensure that project deadlines were adhered to. See project plan – Appendix 1 and Minutes of Minutes Appendix 2.

The Project Team worked to very tight timelines. The project was awarded the contract in late September 2010 with a project completion date 30th November 2011.The tendering process was completed and the contract awarded to Aurion Learning in January 2011. The design, development and testing of Modules took place between February and June 2011. A review of the pilot was undertaken in early October 2011 with the final programme changes agreed early November 2011. The project materials are now all fully signed off on and the project is due for roll out within institutions as soon as agreed.

3. The Programme Content

The online programme allows each participant the flexibility to complete the course at times and places that are most convenient to them. The programme consists of 5 modules and participants can save their progress and return at any time. The estimated overall time for completion of the 5 modules is 2 hours.

Module 1 – Understanding Diversity

Module 2 – What’s it got to do with you?

Module 4 – From Compliance to commitment

Module 4 – Recruitment & Selection

Module 5 – Dignity & Respect

Once participants have completed all five Modules they will be able to access the Assessment which must be completed. Participants will pass the Assessment when they have correctly answered 70% or more of the 13 questions and have completed the Evaluation Questionnaire.

  1. The Programme Pilot

The Programme was Pilot tested across 6 institutions between June and September 2011. 264 users were involved in the pilot. The following were the key results:

97% felt the programme covered the main Equality and Diversity issues?

An average score of 3.8 (5) found the video and interactive elements useful.

40% completed the programme in one sitting

94% felt they would have the opportunity to utilise the knowledge and skills they practiced during the programme.

Appendix 3 – Pilot Evaluation Report

  1. Project Outcomes

A consortium was established of the 6 participating Universities to work in collaboration on the project.

85% of those who completed the full evaluation cited a significant change in how they now think about equality in the workplace having completed the programme.

eLearning materials to be embedded into other training interventions within institutions

Key stakeholders i.e. staff, management, union and student representatives were engaged in the programme design and piloting.

A key finding from the pilot was that employees understand and have now read their own institutions Equality & Diversity Policies and procedures.

From the programme content now in place it is hoped that learners understand how and why employees can avoid unacceptable behaviour and how they can effectively challenge such behaviour.

Champion Departments and individuals were recruited to support the rollout of the project and some part took in the actual programme content see ‘Opinions on Diversity’ – Module

A formal presentation of the findings has been organised for January 2012 where all other Higher Education Institutions and relevant Public Sector bodies will be invited to.

Due to the collaborative nature of this project the cost savings to each of the participating institutions has been significant. No one institution could have afforded to undertake this project on their own so all 6 institutions have gained significantly from a financial and a development perspective.

The project can be viewed on

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