The Capital’s Swimming Club (HSK)

HSK is Denmark’s largest sports union with more than 11.500 members. Members of the club can swim at the level that suits them, whether beginner-, exercise-, or competition level. Their target is for everyone to get comfortable with the water, high as low, young as old.

Challenge

Dull intros and long monologues were not good ways to catch the learner's attention at HSK. They needed a way to kickstart their training and make the trainings relate to their learners.

That’s why The Capital’s Swimming Club (HSK) decided to elevate their training with partial digitization, where more knowledge is packed and being unfolded in a more exciting way through Learningbank’s Learning Lifecycle Platform.

In that way, swimming coaches in the club can get prepared even better and spend time on the most important thing: to give the members the best experience with swimming. A new form for digital onboarding of the new coaches for the new season of September 2021 became the beginning when HSK chose Learningbank as their new learning platform and partner.

“We try to plain down our doorstep, so, it is easy to step into our workplace. In other words: It should be easy to be an employee at HSK. But we will never compromise with quality. And that’s why it was important for us to strengthen our digital onboarding, so we can suit up our coaches well before their first day,” Jonas Enevoldsen, Head of Swimming School in HSK, says.

HSK teaches in 14 different swimming pools in the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, and that’s why it can be difficult to reach all coaches before they start.

“That’s why we wanted an introduction for the swimming club, which also contained what expectations there are for me as a new swimming coach, what I should prepare before my first shift, and what I should do on my first shift. Furthermore, it is important for us that the onboarding is automated in a way so the coaches can complete the training from home, or do it when it suits them,” Jonas says.

Solution

Instant feedback, data tracking, and automation. HSK are especially thrilled about these features.

“When you get instant feedback, you feel a level of being seen and heard. And when we cannot be there physically, it is super cool, that this feature is part of the platform,” Jonas says.

“It is also very good that you can combine different types of media, for example, quizzes and videos in the same module, because it hits more learning styles,” Mia Grieger says, Project Manager and Swim - ming School Coordinator in HSK, and continues:

“The interface is very straightforward. So, we have been off to a flying start.”

At first, Jonas and Mia sent their existing learning materials to their Learning & Adoption Manager from Learningbank. Here, they got valuable feedback in return:

“We have been very happy about the tangible inputs, where we were told how we could cut the learning materials differently, so, the learners on the other end would be more excited about the content. Furthermore, we also received a slide with bullets and tips, which we can use going forward working with creating content in the platform,” Jonas says.

By now, Mia and Jonas have created a lot of content in the platform for their digital onboarding, which especially is video based because of their audience. And then, Learningbank has designed some elements to elevate the learning experience.

“We use video because it is easier for us to show visuals. Some people from our audience are only 14 years old, and this is a clear indicator for using video. Furthermore, Learningbank has created several GIFs and figures, which has created a specific HSK identity throughout the learning, which is very important to us. It has added both some warmth and humor, while it also lightens up the tone a bit – without losing the seriousness,” Jonas says.

“And then Learningbank has also created a map of Copenhagen with clickable points, where a movie pops up with a rundown of each swimming pool, so, everybody knows about security for each, individual pool, and this really elevates the learning experience too,” Mia says.

To save time for HSK a special integration was built by Learningbank:

“We quickly located that we needed a different API than the traditional ones, and this was solved! It was really nice. Learningbank considered our needs, so we didn’t have to add people to different systems. Now, everybody comes automatically from our HR system and over to the learning platform,” Jonas says.

Results

Thanks to analyzing their content HSK found tweaks that needed to be done to get everyone on board no matter their coaches' seniority levels. For the ones that have been with the club a bit longer some adjustments were done:
 
“We have sent them specific learning materials, where it is only parts of the learning they receive. And this challenge we would never have discovered before, but now we can because we can analyze data in the platform, where we can track the learners’ progress.”

Mia and Jonas are happy with the learners feedback:

“We have received positive feedback only. They are happy, and they tell us that it is easier to get knowledge and learn in this way than before,” Mia says.

Going forward the plan is to use more Blended Learning, where you mix different learning activities. It should be a part of the culture in HSK, and there are several reasons for this.

“Our age on average for our coaches is 20 years of age, and that is why it is important that we add digital solutions to our workday, such as the learning platform. Furthermore, an engagement survey shows that our coaches actually think it is nice that more stuff is happening online, which we had to do during Corona. However, we are still a sports union, so, it is important we still have meetings in person and can grow our community together. And the digital solutions must ensure that our community can prosper because it gives us another experience when we meet in person. But Instead of spending a lot of time on handing over oral information in a physical meeting, now, we can give the information through the platform,” Jonas says and finishes up:

“Next step is to implement more of our formal training in the platform. The platform must be used as a steppingstone for the coaches in between course days. In that way, the platform becomes the base for their homework, where they get the basic knowledge, and then the course itself will become more workshop based. So, now, when they arrive on their first day at a course, they will have greater knowledge, and this will raise the quality of our training.”

“We will definitely recommend Learningbank. It is easy to use the platform, and you have a high level of plug’n’play. And it is very positive when you want to get going fast and create learning right away.”

A big thanks to the union pool from DIF and DGI, which has given financial support to HSK and the development and implementation of the HSK learning universe. Also, a big thanks to The Danish Swim - ming Union, who has been a sounding board for HSK throughout the process.