As Chris Watt, Head of Organisational Learning at the LSE, explains, "There’s plenty of equality and diversity eLearning around, but we wanted something that staff would really relate to and engage with."

Following an extensive evaluation process, the LSE chose to adapt an existing course offered by eLearning specialist Cylix. "We liked how Cylix presented the content, and in particular how they used interactions and case studies to explore topics and ideas in interesting and engaging ways. The fact that a lot of their content was written specifically for the HE sector was also a big plus point."

Cylix worked closely with a group of key stakeholders at the LSE over a period of a month to finalise the course content. As Steven Price, Cylix’s Managing Director, recalls, "We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with the LSE on such a high-profile project. Working with a large review group meant that we got lots of input and perspectives, so we were able to fine-tune the course to meet their specific requirements."

So, what have results been like? "The feedback from the initial pilot was excellent," says Watt. "Everyone felt that the course was pitched at the right level and particularly liked the animated graphic-novel approach Cylix implemented for the new case studies. They felt it was a really effective and contemporary way of illustrating behaviours and interactions between people."

Buoyed by the pilot, Watt has now launched the course across the school. "It’s early days, but in the first three months alone, nearly 1,000 staff completed the course and passed the mastery test. That’s a third of our entire workforce … in three months!" But while Watt is pleased, he knows that statistics like this only prove so much. "The mastery test scores confirm that people have understood the content, but our objective with the course was to get people to reflect on their attitudes and behaviours and deliver the standards we expect of them in their day-to-day working lives. That’s a more difficult thing to measure."

Over the coming months, Watt will be undertaking a more in-depth evaluation of the training, with the aim of measuring the impact it’s had on people. Central to this will be a sophisticated online knowledge and behavioural questionnaire that’s designed to assess long-term understanding and application of the course. Watt’s looking forward to analysing the results. "I’m expecting the questionnaire to underline what we’ve already established through initial discussions with staff, but it will be great to confirm this. Watch this space!"