‘Due to the nature of athletics, with many events, we have a lot of content, so it was a bigger job than we anticipated,’ Adam said.

Around 80 courses and close to 200 content modules were migrated to the Learning Centre for Athletics Australia – a large undertaking compared with other sports that have less than 10 courses to migrate.

‘There were some teething problems, but we expected that, being an early adopter. We’re ironing out the kinks and smoothing the way for other sports and have been supported along the way by the Sport Australia team.’

‘It was a massive piece of work and we committed significant time and resources to the project, but we also received a lot of support from Sport Australia’s Learning Centre team. We really appreciate the collaborative approach, the dedication and the responsiveness of the team. We were all focused on getting a positive outcome,’ Adam said. ‘I have nothing but positive things to say about the relationship and about the calibre of staff within the Learning Centre team.

‘In terms of cost, there was a one off payment to get set up, and an ongoing annual cost, which is comparable to what we were paying previously. We are comfortable with the cost because ultimately, we will have a better, more modern system, with greater functionality.’

‘We are enhancing the education we deliver and future proofing our learning and development system,’ said Adam. ‘Eventually, we hope to benefit from introducing functions such as single sign-on that Sport Australia is working with us on, further improving the user experience.

‘In future, we also see opportunities for application of the platform across staff induction, increased learning at national and state level and also down into clubs.

‘The more sports that join the Learning Centre, the greater the opportunity to collaborate across the sport sector and the greater cost savings for each sport, so we all benefit!’ Adam said.

The online course now includes a mix of interactive activities and videos from experienced coaches that are mobile-friendly and is followed by a face-to-face workshop and practical assessment tasks.

Swimming Australia’s General Manager of Coaching Development Graeme Hill said the Learning Centre allowed the course to be developed as a series of bite-sized modules that coaches could pick up and work on at times that suited them, providing a more personalised and flexible approach to learning.

“We are committed to a blend of learning models,” Hill said. “We can have coaches learn content online and then apply and reinforce their learning in an interactive face-to-face workshop.”

The Development Coaching course is the entry level of the Swimming Australia National Coaching Framework, focussed on quality coaching that creates a strong foundation to support coaches as they begin their coaching journey.

“It’s not just about vertical progression through the coaching pathway, we’re looking at creating coaching excellence at all levels through continuous horizontal development of coaches at each stage of the National Coaching Framework,” Hill said. “We have a focus on building future content which complements our core course and provides continuous development opportunities within each level, as well as opportunities to progress. The Learning Centre allows us to present a suggested learning catalogue to every learner.”

The Swimming Australia Learning Centre also houses the Masters Swimming Coach course and a range of short courses for technical officials, with plans to continue building on these resources.

An impressive feature of the new Learning Centre has allowed Swimming Australia to integrate learning material from Sport Integrity Australia, including Play By The Rules, along with Sport Australia’s popular Community Coaching General Principles course. Future Sport Australia content will also be available through the Learning Centre.

The recent launch of Sport Australia’s Director Education course, The Start Line, was also an attraction as “we’re keen to tap into quality education to support strong governance across the organisation,” Hill said.

Sport Australia’s Learning Centre team praised Swimming Australia for its work in tailoring content to engage and guide their learners through the course’s interactive and mobile-friendly content.

While the process of modifying and moving to the Learning Centre had initially seemed daunting, Hill said the Sport Australia Learning Centre team had provided excellent support in migrating the updated content.

“All the people we’ve dealt with enabled us to get where we wanted to,” Hill said. “We had almost zero interruptions with our learning systems and didn’t have to manage any downtime of our courses.”

“It was a great experience… Swimming and Sport Australia working together to deliver an improved and modernised learning outcome.”

For more information the Development Coaching Course, visit Swimming Australia’s Coach Education website.

For more on the Australian Sport Learning Centre, contact the learning centre team at learningcentre@ausport.gov.au.