Helius digital signage wins two IMS Learning Impact awards

LINDON, Utah — Helius, a Hughes company, announced it has been named as a recipient of two Best in Class Awards at the 2009 IMS Learning Impact Awards in Barcelona, Spain. The Learning Impact Awards are designed to recognize the compelling use of technology in support of worldwide learning. This unique program evaluates established, new, and research efforts in context at an implementing learning institution.

The Best Corporate Training Solution Award was given to Helius and JCPenney for use of educational technology in a business environment. JCPenney has over 1,100 store locations and approximately 150,000 store associates that are required to take 35 hours of training during their first 90 days of employment in addition to ongoing training. Managing training and ensuring consistent quality at the individual level for such a large employee base can be difficult, which is why JCPenney selected the Helius next-generation training system. Using Helius technology, JCPenney is able to broadcast both live and on-demand training via satellite to associates in all store locations, thereby saving over $20 million in related training costs in the last several years.

“The Helius MediaClassroom system enabled us to facilitate live and on demand training sessions at all of our store locations,” said Deborah Masten, vice president and director of associate development for JCPenney. “We now have over 600 on-demand courses available that can be viewed by associates at their convenience. Furthermore, we have significantly reduced costs associated with in-person training and travel, as well as duplication and distribution of training materials, and increased productivity due to flexible training hours, all without increasing my department head count.”

The Best Association Training Technology Award was given to Helius and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) for use of technology in a non-profit organization. The CCES is an independent, national, non-profit organization responsible for fostering ethical sport for all Canadians, which includes administering the Anti-Doping Program for Canadian athletes. Under the 2009 World Anti-Doping Code, there is a strong emphasis on education to ensure athletes are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Faced with a dated and expensive training program that depended on live instructors, CCES turned to Helius to provide an affordable next-generation online training platform to support the education of over 20,000 geographically dispersed athletes every year. Using the Helius Portal e-Learning system, CCES now creates, deploys and tracks Web-based anti-doping training for athletes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Canadian Colleges Athletic Association, Football Canada, Canadian Hockey League, as well as elite athletes in other organizations. Several of these organizations will not let their athletes compete until they can certify completion of their anti-doping training.

“Helius has helped us to achieve our mission by providing an affordable eLearning platform that appeals to a younger target audience,” said Paul Melia, president and CEO of the CCES. “According to our surveys across all athletes, 91 percent agree the material is thorough and informative and that the new online training system better informs them of their anti-doping rights and responsibilities. With this success in mind, our long-term plan is to create values-based sport and character development eLearning courses that can be offered to over 750,000 high-school students and reach them at an earlier point in life.”

“It is an honor to be recognized by the IMS as a global leader in the training and learning field,” said Mike Tippets, president, Helius. “Helius continues to provide innovative solutions that help today’s leading organizations provide anytime, anywhere education solutions for their learners. We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with great organizations like JCPenney and CCES in meeting unique training objectives.”