How Philips Healthcare Mobilized Learning with Scan Technology. Top Trends in elearning. September 15 & 16, Supplemental Materials

Transcription

1 Top Trends in elearning September 15 & 16, 2011 Supplemental Materials 402 How Philips Healthcare Mobilized Learning with Scan Technology Anne Lamontagne, Philips Healthcare

2 How Philips Learning Center Mobilized Learning with Scan Technology A QR code designed over a picture of Philips Andover Massachusetts site Scan this code, you will be directed to the Philips Learning Center Presented by: Anne Lamontagne Paula Sanderson, MS, MBA, Ed.S 1

3 . Contents Opening:... 3 We mapped out our solution... 4 Ready to Go... 4 Summary... 5 Results:... 5 What we did next... 5 Philips Learning Center investigation... 6 What is a 2 dimensional code... 6 QR Code History and Use... 6 License considerations... 6 Create QR Code... 7 QR Code guidelines... 7 MS Tag History and Use... 8 License considerations... 8 Create MS Tag... 9 MS Tag Guidelines... 9 Loading Readers Reader Reviews: QR Code Readers MS Tag Phone Reader for Internet sites of interest Blogs Mobile Learning MS Tag QR creation and tracking About us The Authors Contributors Bibliography

4 Opening: Educational institutions, businesses and individuals are constantly gathering information using their Smart phones. Scan technology further simplifies taking information in and facilitating an interaction with your website. A Smartphone is light, easy to carry and with wireless networks can gather information anytime, anywhere using QR codes and Microsoft Tags (MS Tags). Learning professionals can provide easy access to their learning websites using QR codes and MS Tags. In this session, Philips Learning Center will share the strategy we used to implement 2 dimensional codes that direct individuals to our online learning site. We will share our best practices, what worked and what didn t. There will be information on how other companies are using 2 dimensional codes and a discussion will be facilitated on how other learning professionals could apply this technology to meet their educational needs. In the initial research phase, we learned that 2 dimensional codes had many uses, so our first step was to determine how, using a code, we could best meet our customers needs. To give you some understanding of who we are, the Philips Learning Center is an online provider of continuing education for Healthcare Professionals around the world: Our Learning Management System (LMS) houses over 365,000 registered users their records and a course catalog of over 1200 courses. 850 of the Philips Learning Center courses are unique, accredited content that meet the educational and licensing requirements of many healthcare professionals. We are part of the larger organization, Royal Philips, a Dutch company founded in The company employs over 117,000 people worldwide and earned 22.3 billion Euros in sales for As a provider of continuing education to healthcare providers, we chose to use a QR code for a promotion to Nurses. We met as a team; the Philips Learning Center s Director, Graphic Designer, Content Developer and Marketing Specialist. Together we came up with a simple solution to start. We used three guiding principles to lead the way: Know our target audience: The NTI, National Training Institute for Critical Care Nursing is a trade show that Philips participates in every year. We chose Nurses (RNs) as our target audience and decided to develop a QR code that would be on our brochure and posted at the Philips Learning Center s station. Keep it simple: Our web site is currently designed for a laptop or PC. We needed a simple solution on a mobile phone that would allow RNs to register on the learning center but not necessarily navigate once on the site. We designed a mobile landing page which required the person who scanned the code to enter their name, and submit. Once submitted a personalized thank you note appears on the smart phone indicating an was sent to the address provided. Provide a reward: Our product continuing education. The Philips Learning Center registered and provided 100% discount code for 3 accredited courses that RNs could use towards their licensing requirements, education that gave the RN knowledge that lead to better patient care free of charge. All relevant information was sent in an for the RN to get to our site and choose the courses they wanted with the proper accreditation to meet their needs. 3

5 We mapped out our solution: Create a Discount Code: Our LMS has the functionality to create a code that can be put into a person s profile that enables the learner to be able to take advantage of a discount that has been set up by the Philips Learning Center. Create QR Tag: Creating a QR tag is free of charge and can be done using a QR generator. Apply QR Tag to Marketing Collateral: By applying the QR Code to a small 5 x 7 promotional postcard, this allowed Nurses to bring the promotion back to their medical facility and share, so others could scan and learn too Customer Scans the QR Code: The RN is brought to our newly designed mobile landing page, enters first name, last name, and submit. The customer then receives a personalized thank you on their Smartphone. Philips LMS then registers the customer, puts the discount code into their profile and sends an to the customer with instructions on how to receive their free education. We designed in a counter to see how many people used our QR code. When the Nurse/customer is at their PC they are directed to our site. Using the instruction provided in their personalized they are able to obtain their education. Ready to Go Once the solution was completed and tested, we went to the Nursing trade show. An important piece for the success of our QR Code was a customer s comfort level with scan technology. The first show we went to the event planners had taken time during the opening session to guide Smartphone users on loading a QR reader application on to their phone. Knowing your audience is very important should you decide to use scan technology. If someone is not comfortable with the technology they are not likely to use it. As scan technology becomes more popular we believe users will know if they have scan capability or not. If they do, they will use it. 4

6 Summary The Philips Learning Center team was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the first trade show we used a QR code for, The NTI, National Training Institute for Critical Care Nursing. We were able to reach out to our customers with a simple registration that included the continuing education Registered Nurses needed to maintain their license requirements. Our solution came at a low cost and the development required is still being used today. Results: Philips Learning Center s simple registration o Registrations increased 38% over the previous year Education benefit to Registered Nurses o Over 2,000 accredited continuing education courses were obtained from the Philips Learning Center. o Education often results in better patient care. Low cost of the Learning Center s solution included: o Approximately 80 hours of development for a complete solution Design & Specifications Mobile ready page Custom s Testing o QR code free of charge What we did next As the QR codes are free of charge to create; we decided to add a QR code to all of our marketing collateral. Currently all Philips Learning Center literature has a QR code printed on the material. We have many different health care professionals that we provide continuing education to and have marketing collateral designed to meet their continuing education needs. Mobile landing pagers have been developed for the healthcare professionals we serve. When one of those professionals scans a code from a brochure relevant to their profession, they are brought to a landing page on the Philips Learning Center that has educational information that is useful to that individual. 5

7 Philips Learning Center investigation What is a 2 dimensional code A 2 dimensional code is a symbol that carries meaningful information in both directions with in a small square. This allows the code to hold up to several hundred times the amount of data carried by an ordinary bar code. Currently, obtaining a QR code is free of charge making it a cost effective solution. The QR code you develop can direct an audience to a variety of different types of information, some examples include: a website contact information event schedules In the case of the Philips Learning Center, we are using the QR code to direct our audience (healthcare professionals) to appropriate mobile landing pages where they will find relevant continuing education. QR Code History and Use Quick Response (QR ) codes were created by a subsidiary company of Toyota, Denso Wave in Developers were trying to expand on the traditional bar code while keeping the symbol small. The need for a code to hold more data while not being too large evolved into what we now know as QR codes. QR codes can hold about 4,300 alphanumeric characters. These seem to be the most popular 2D code and are scanned using an appropriate scan reader application and a mobile phone s camera, a.k.a smartphone. Tracking these codes can be part of your site functionality but many companies offer services that provide URL management and tracking of your code. A QR code reader application must be installed on the smartphone for the code to be read. URLs to obtain a reader are available on page 7 of this paper. License considerations The coding standard is a published ISO document, the name is a registered trademark, DENSO owns the patent rights, but has chosen not to execute them, this allows wide use without paying any royalty. When using the term QR code the registration should be noted on the same page. When including a QR code image, no registration code is required (Wave, ) 6

8 Create QR Code Using your favorite search engine, search: 2D Barcode Generator and you will come up with hundreds of sites that will generate a code for you. Most sites are free, some charge when other services are available such as tracking or site maintenance. Once you identify the URL, , contact or other information you want your audience to have, simply enter and choose print. Be sure to use 300 dots per inch (DPI) resolution for the best scanning capability. I have included some guidelines below. Each site has similar information available on dimensions and printing guidelines for your QR Code. Testing is crucial! Be sure to try the QR code you create using different types of phones and different reader applications to be sure the outcome is as you ve planned. QR Code guidelines The QR Code standard has 40 versions, numbered 1 through 40. Each version is able to handle larger amounts of data. Each successively higher version has a reduction in the size of the readable on/off squares called modules. Version 1 holds the least data: up to 25 alphanumeric chars. Version 40 can handle the most data, maxing out at nearly 4,300 alphanumeric characters. QR codes can also handle pure numeric data or kanji characters. Each higher version QR code requires a more accurate scan or photo and will require more processing (slower performance) in the scanner. Therefore, it is desirable to use the lowest version possible that can accommodate the data to be encoded. QR Code Generators account for this and will automatically select the lowest version that will fit the amount of data to be encoded. (QR code Wikipedia, 2011) 7

9 MS Tag History and Use Microsoft expanded on QR codes by adding color and dimension to their code. They call their code High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB); it was invented by Gavin Jancke, Engineering Director at Microsoft Research. Microsoft Tag is an implementation of HCCB using 4 colors. (Wikipedia, 2011) This code allows for branding and is more attractive than a QR code. It is however limited in the amount of information it can hold, approximately 400 alphanumeric characters As with any 2 dimensional code, the MS Tag can be used to hold a variety of information: a website contact information event schedules A common use of MS Tag is as temporary tattoos for event management. Tags are created in reverse and cannot be scanned until they are transferred onto another surface. There are many considerations and they are all posted on the Microsoft tag site Microsoft offers many services free of charge. Tips and Tricks Newsletters & blogs Tracking: To track these codes, all scans go through Microsoft servers. The impact on the consumer is minimal and most likely will not even realize it. This allows Microsoft to offer the person who creates the code the ability to track scans in a variety of ways. A MS Tag reader must be installed on the phone for the code to be read. License considerations Microsoft will have you agree to a terms and conditions document. They allow you to print and disseminate the Tag on your materials free of charge providing you comply with the implementation guidelines found at: 7A44B617AC51/Tag_Implementation_Guide.pdf (Microsoft, Implementation Guide, 2011) Tags should be standalone and not adjacent to any branding but Microsoft Tag. Third parties can include plain text which promotes their services used to create Tags, but any services which you provide to create Tags should reference the Microsoft Tag or Tag product name. 8

10 Create MS Tag Microsoft Tag (MS Tag) can be created in black and white, color triangles and customized shapes and colors. Microsoft has a free tag creation process called Tag Manager; they advertise a 3 step process. The simplest of tags can be done this way. A comprehensive easy to read implementation guide is available at: guide.aspx If you want to use company branding, it s a little more complex but can be done. Microsoft has extensive instruction on customization using dots (instead of triangles), icons, color and backgrounds. (Microsoft, Getting Started, 2011) Testing is crucial! Be sure to try the MS Tag you create using different types of phones to be sure the outcome is as you ve planned. MS Tag Guidelines Tags are generated in vector graphics format so that they can be infinitely scaled from small to large yet maintain a crisp visual appearance. Standard Tags use a space efficient set of color or black and white triangles, as illustrated in the following examples: The symbol rows are separated from the frame and from one another by row spacers. The black frame is enclosed in a white border; equal in width to the height of the black bottom bar. The Tag border is an integral part of the Tag that must not be customized, obscured, or changed in any way. The Tag border includes the white area around the Tag (shown at left below; note that the white border is the same width as the height of the bottom black bar) as well as the black border and the timing markers including the white bars at the top and bottom and the small white squares on each side of the Tag frame. The second image (at right below) shows the specific areas (in gray) of the Tag that cannot be changed or removed. Any design changes in these areas may make the Tag unscannable by the Tag app. Remember: The width of the white space around any Tag is equal to the height of the bottom black bar. (Microsoft, Implementation Guide, 2011) The minimum size for standard tags: Black and White 7/8 square Color 3/4 square 9

11 Loading Readers Many smart phones come with a reader built in, if they do it s one or the other; QR Code or MS Tag. The newest AT&T phones have a built in QR code reader and Blackberry has a built in MS Tag reader. If you don t see a reader on your phone or they type of reader is not what you want, use one of the sites below to get the code reader you want, or use your favorite internet browser to locate a reader application for your phone Reader Reviews: barcodes.com/qr code software/ QR Code Readers Android o BlackBerry o iphone o reader for iphone/id ?mt=8 MS Tag Phone Reader for : Android BlackBerry iphone Java Symbian S60 Windows Moble Windows Phone 7 Java ME Internet sites of interest Blogs 101 Uses for Quick Response (QR ) Codes: Creating Audience Engagement with the next killer US App o uses for quick response qr codes creatingaudience engagement with the next killer us app/ Microsoft Tag o Mobile Learning Judy Brown o MS Tag Microsoft Tag o 10

12 QR creation and tracking Qreate & Track by interlinkone o QR Path o About us Royal Philips is a Dutch company founded in The company now employs over 117,000 people worldwide. In 2010 Philips sales were 22.3 billion Euros. Our Mission: To create value with meaningful innovations that improves people s health and well being. The company has 3 sectors, healthcare, lighting and consumer products. The Philips Learning Center (PLC) is part of the healthcare sector. The PLC delivers online continuing education (CE) to healthcare professionals around the world. The PLC has over 365,000 registered users with an online catalog of over 1,700 accredited CE courses. Our users are Radiologic Technologists, Sonographers, Nurses and other medical professionals. The Authors Anne Lamontagne has worked in the healthcare industry for over 30 years. Currently she works at Philips Healthcare in Andover MA, the location of the company s corporate headquarters. For the past four years, Anne has been employed with the Philips Learning Center, providing accredited continuing education to over 365,000 medical professionals worldwide. Anne is a program manager for the nursing accreditation of online learning activities and manages marketing and communications for a variety of programs targeted at reaching healthcare professionals such as Radiologic Technologists, Dosimetrists, Social workers and many others. Anne is currently enrolled at Rivier College, majoring in Communications and Sociology and anticipates graduating in 2013 with a Bachelors of Arts degree. Paula Sanderson, MS, MBA, Ed.S currently manages the Philips Learning Center business including continuing education initiatives for Internet delivery for global Philips Healthcare. Primary responsibilities include business and financial management, platform requirements, process improvement strategies, and development of new uses for LMS platform based on effective knowledge acquisition strategies. Experience includes over 30 years clinical, marketing and management experience in the healthcare environment and over ten years e learning implementation experience in the corporate environment. Education includes receiving M.S. and M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Ed.S. from Nova Southeastern University Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences. Contributors Kenneth Blasius, Web Content Developer Philips Edward Francouer, Information Architect Philips David Hodges, Developer Outermost Software Barbara Lebron, Online Course Developer Philips 11

13 Bibliography Microsoft. (2011). Getting Started. Retrieved from Microsoft Tag: started.aspx Microsoft. (2011). Implementation Guide. Retrieved from Microsoft Tag: guide.aspx#generaldesignguidelines QR code Wikipedia. (2011, July 21). Retrieved 2011, from Wikipedia: Wave, D. ( ). Denso Wave Producct. Retrieved July 2011, from Denso Wave: wave.com/en/adcd/product/qrcode/index.html Wikipedia. (2011, June). High Capacity Color Bracode Wikipedia. Retrieved from Wikepedia: 12