Established in 1979, the Territory Insurance Office is an insurance and finance institution with branches and agents throughout the NT.
They offer a range of services including health and life insurance, investment and lending services, superannuation and risk management assessments. They employ more than 250 people and are committed to providing professional development opportunities in order to upskill and retain their staff.
They have established partnerships with a range of registered training organisations (RTOs) including Adelaide Institute of TAFE, the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Securities Institute of Australia, to deliver nationally accredited training from the Financial Services and Business Services training packages. In-house Territory Insurance Office trainers conduct training on behalf of the RTOs, with the RTOs completing the final assessment processes.
The Territory Insurance Office established a partnership with Adelaide Institute of TAFE as no RTOs in the NT provide the specific finance or insurance training required by Territory Insurance Office staff to undertake specific roles within the organisation.
In 2004 they will be working together to deliver units from the Certificate III in Financial Services (General Insurance) with the view to expand delivery to include the Certificate IV and Diploma in Financial Services (General Insurance) in the future. The delivery of Frontline Management units in partnership with the NT Chamber of Commerce and Industry is also planned for the future.
Territory Insurance Office Human Resource Officer Tristenne Van Heythuysen said the Territory Insurance Office was planning to invest in a learning management system in the near future that will support the inclusion of a range of interactive online learning experiences into their training programs.
"Staff will be able to log on to the organisation's home page and the learning management system will support amongst other things, course content being available online with links to course content elements such as study notes and assignments. The technology will allow trainers to communicate with learners online, facilitate discussion groups, and implement online assessments such as quizzes and self-assessment activities" she said.
The partnership between the Territory Insurance Office and Adelaide Institute of TAFE benefits both organisations. Tristenne said, "We will share any materials developed to implement the Certificate III in Financial Services (General Insurance) which Adelaide Institute of TAFE will be able to use for training in other settings," she said.
The seeds for the organisation's shift in thinking about providing more flexible and e-learning options were sown in 2003 when the Training Coordinator, Tanya Griffiths, initiated a collaboration between the Territory Insurance Office and Adelaide Institute of TAFE to participate together in the nationally funded professional development project (LearnScope) to assess the flexible learning delivery capabilities of the Territory Insurance Office and its training staff.
Tristenne said, "Being involved in the professional development project has given us the confidence to move forward and develop online learning materials to support our current training needs."
"We explored the kind of flexible training options that could better meet the learning needs of finance and insurance practitioners employed at Territory Insurance Office. Staff said they wanted to be able to have a range of choices about how they could access training, with most preferring a blended learning environment that included a combination of e-learning experiences, using traditional workbooks and face-to-face delivery."
Territory Insurance Office Training Coordinator Tanya Griffiths said the organisation regarded its staff as its most important resource and that training plays a large role in keeping and upskilling staff. "We wanted to be able to deliver customised in-house training that is recognised at a national level to 250 Territory Insurance Office staff located in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs," she said.
"We have a great in-house training team who have technology and corporate training skills. Generally training had been delivered in the traditional way with new technology just popping its head in occasionally. Traditional training methods had become tiresome for both learners and trainers. We needed to move with the times," she said.
Tristenne said, "We wanted to nurture the skills of our trainers and open up their eyes to the possibilities that flexible learning has to offer. The professional development we have undertaken has assisted us to do this. At this stage, we really are just cutting our teeth on this new technology but we are really motivated and have plans as an organisation to implement more flexible training including offering online learning."
"The content associated with financial training can be a bit dry. Exposure to flexible learning ideas has freed up trainers so they can inject a bit of their own enthusiasm into the way the content is delivered. They are excited about how a blended learning approach could make training sessions more interactive experiences for learners compared to the old chalk and talk approach.
"This project has been the beginning of a cultural evolution of the organisation's attitude about flexible learning options. We have consciously taken baby steps with our in-house trainers, to build their confidence so flexible learning delivery becomes part our culture. Over time it will seem like it has always been a part of the way we do things."
"Our trainers are now confident about taking the next step to develop online learning materials. With time and experience our capacity to offer flexible learning will continue to grow and grow."
