Online Education at Vecova

The Cause

Vecova’s idea is to move our Essential Skills training courses into an eLearning environment. These courses provide important training and skill development for employees at Vecova and other disability service providers. Courses cover a variety of topics related to the physical health, mental health, and personal care of the consumers Vecova supports, as well as professional development opportunities for employees. It is necessary for Vecova to offer these courses to meet Creating Excellence Together (CET) accreditation standards as a disability services provider.

However, due to restrictions on in-class training due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vecova would like to transition these courses from an in-class environment to an online platform so employees and other service providers can safely access courses to continue their training.

Vecova is one of a few organizations that own a Learning Management System, which allows the organization to utilize eLearning as an accessible, time sensitive and impactful method to train employees. Currently, Vecova has been successfully operating four online courses, including Online Medication Administration, Intercultural Competency, Workplace Integration Skills and Writing Skills. We also have a Leadership Series currently under pilot.

During a time when many organizations are searching for professional and affordable online options due to in-class restrictions, Vecova would like to expand our Essential Skills eLearning offerings for our employees and other service providers in the disability sector and beyond. By offering more courses online, Vecova will also be able to increase our reach to other sectors throughout the province, who would otherwise be unable to access classroom-based courses.

The idea is to develop three new eLearning training courses in collaboration with a local, Calgary-based business. Vecova’s Essential Skills and specialized Medical Training solutions are regularly accessed by our employees and other organizations, and will be greatly needed as we transition many in-person activities to virtual environment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. By expanding our eLearning platform and offerings, Vecova can help improve learning and development and human resources support for service providers, and ensure consumers in these services continue to receive the best possible support.

Who Will it Benefit?

Vecova provides a broad range of learning, training and development programs to assist non-profits and their employees to better support the individuals they serve in the disability sector and other service areas. This includes all of Vecova’s employees, 22 Calgary Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) agencies, care homes, mental health services and social service agencies. Vecova works with new agencies and established professionals to provide a variety of training offerings.

By transitioning these in-class courses into eLearning courses, Vecova’s employees and other non-profits across different sectors will directly benefit from safely having access to essential training courses. Vecova’s consumers and the individuals served by other non-profits will indirectly benefit from having support workers and caregivers with the most recent training.

These learning and development courses are essential for good employee skill acquisition and foundational knowledge. When employees are well trained in the essential skills required for their positions, overall organizational risk and consumer mistreatment is reduced. These courses provide employees an opportunity to learn better techniques to support and communicate with consumers.