CPeO stands for "The Comprehensive Package for Building eLearning Organisations".

The CPeO helps an organisation to add eLearning and Blended Learning services to their face-to-face teaching through capacity building of teaching and management staff based on a very effective methodology.

There are two packages available based on the same methodology: the CPeO education and the CPeO business (see page The CPeO at a glance).

During the CPeO sustainable blended learning service products are developed and eLearning infrastructure is setup and utilized.

The CPeO consists of four elements: educational material and guidelines, a ready to use eLearning platform, rapid eLearning production processes, business and project consultancy.

The CPeO has a focus on real job performances. Therefore experienced consultants provide job and implementation related coaching during the CPeO only.

The methodology of Action Learning has been tailored to the needs of teaching and management staff in charge of shifting face-to-face teaching towards blended learning. In an Action Learning program these professionals work in a cooperative manner to develop a solution for a real job problem. Action Learning is a continuous process of learning, working, and reflecting what has been achieved with the overall intention of producing a tangible outcome.
During the CPeO project work, job rotation, or any form of a simulation such as case studies or business games are used (active learning scenarios). In addition, and what is even more relevant, learning is centered around the need to find and implement a solution to a real job problem. The participant learns the subject, practices and at the same time delivers a portfolio of products and services which is measured against market demands and needs. The individual development is as important as implementing the solution in the real work environment. Therefore, through an Action Learning program participants develop faster solutions needed in the job world than through any other types of learning events.

We share the vision of access to education for all. One condition for this Millenium Development Goal is that more knowledge owners than ever before become enabled to offer their authentic and contextual knowledge beyond the boundaries of their established institutions. This will be possible through advanced information and communication technologies. Because the best and most useful concepts for education should be readily available for knowledge communities, especially in the South, eLearning, ePublishing and management of knowledge will play a key role.

Generally, e(lectronic)Learning is the term for any kind of learning using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media, e.g. Radio, computers and the Internet or CD-ROM as distribution media for electronic content. Members of the Hoffmann&Reif´s partner network prefer a combination of two concepts when implementing eLearning projects: various modes of eLearning and action learning. The results are workplace-learning settings for academic or vocational staff - which often cross organizational boundaries.

Educational institutions can add value to their services by reaching out to new students or by addressing new market segments (e.g. distance education for remote areas; new target groups through responding to workplace requirements, or the need to learn from home). Re-usability of learning material and efficient process management in production and service delivery - a significant potential within eLearning - can enhance an existing training service and may also reduce educational product maintenance cost.

Yes, the CPeO enables teaching and management staff to plan, deliver and monitor educational services - independent from the mode of delivery. The reason why we have positioned the CPeO in the eLearning market is that eLearning serves as a suitable entry strategy to improve educational services in general e.g. through modularization, quality assurance, service orientation and media literacy of teaching staff.

Participants joining the CPeO will quickly find out, that the first planning steps like "project needs analysis" or curriculum development are indenpendent from the mode of delivery. In the later planning process e.g. when entering the instructional design process, participants define whether or not face to face, eLearning or blended learning scenarios are chosen as best delivery mode. This choice depends on e.g. business factors like market demands, target groups and learning objectives.

Yes, we offer guest accounts for those who would like to participate passively in live programmes and without getting support from moderators. In addition guided tours as simulations are offered. Please get in contact with Sebastian Hoffmann (shof@hoffmann-reif.com). He will provide you with further information.

The certificates are issued by a public sector institution and a company. The tele-akademie is one of the leading eLearning providers in Germany which is associated to the University of Applied Sciences in Furtwangen. The tele-akademie is an acknowledged eLearning think tank in Germany. Hoffmann&Reif is a private sector company working in international business development since 2001. The company is a pioneer in strategic eLearning consultancy.



All costs are covered through the participation fee which depends on the amount of participants. Face-to-face events are covered by the participation fee, too. The participants cover their own travel expenses and the host institution covers the expenses for the face-to-face venue. The participants must take into account that there will be personal costs for telecommunications, computer usage, office supplies and maybe travel arrangements for group meetings.

Yes, certification can be done in collaboration with third parties. In this case the quality of the participant´s deliverables are assessed jointly according to the evaluation criteria given. All logos are printed on the certificate then.



In addition, local certificates can be issued independently of Hoffmann&Reif / tele-akademie without using the brand name. The use of the brand name CPeO requires the certification process to be performed by the German institutions always.



The CPeO has been designed especially for the takeover by the customers´staff, rolling-out the enabling package institution-wide and beyond. That is why all licenses for CPeO content and CPeO technology have been chosen to be open. If institutions want take over the certification process of Hoffmann&Reif / Tele-Akademie, it can be provided. If institutions want to setup their own certification process, they can get support for this while participating in the CPeO programme.

The CPeO authors and consultants have been involved in many eLearning projects in the last decade. They identified the transfer requirements of newly acquired knowledge and skills for achieving a real impact on organisational change and service quality. Many capacity building measures in the past have not been able to close the gap between knowledge acquisition and organisational and service change.



This experience has been a point of departure for the CPeO and Action learning has therefore been chosen as a main learning strategy. Indicators for success are derived from real job and organisational objectives. To illustrate this with an example: in traditional training one often evaluates the knowledge gained or the quality of deliverables, e.g. course material that the participants developed and delivered according to given criteria like usability or content quality. In action learning programmes like the CPeO, one evaluates the actual delivery of the course produced by the participants and the recipients' satisfaction after they have bought and used the course. The implementation of real job tasks within a coaching programme such as the CPeO requires more time (and more competencies) than the dissemination of knowledge and subject matter related skills.



The ultimate success of any training should be proven by its impact on the actual service delivery of participants' organisations. The CPeO ensures that participants master the transfer of newly gained knowledge and skills into their actual job responsibilities. While many training programmes stop when the transfer of information and related skills is completed, the CPeO coaching guides a participant until change and success is visible in the particpant´s work environment. In the CPeO the indicators of a successful change process are part of the overall programme assessment (e.g. successful acquisition of budgets or results of customer surveys). Through the evaluation of indicators demonstrating a real change process the impact of the CPeO becomes transparent. In many training programmes participants might become prepared for real job tasks, but the transfer from training to the actual service delivery is not addressed.



Since the transfer time can be as long as a training itself, CPeO participants and their organisations save significantly time and costs.

At the end of the coaching programme, participants will have practiced all steps of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that covers the entire eLearning service development and delivery chain. They will be able - at a professional level - to start up with the implementation of further eLearning projects which they prepared during the programme already. Upon successful delivery of eLearning services to their target markets it can be assumed that the institutional environment for eLearning service delivery will be created continuously and growth will happen.



Regarding the training provider, first of all, staff members will have been enabled to plan and implement eLearning projects that fit to the institution´s goals and customers´ needs. Secondly new work processes suitable for scalable projects have been practiced and can be introduced to the institution. Since participants are working on their real job tasks while staying at the workplace, their learning has an immediate impact and a high degree of relevance for the institution.



Upon successful completion of the programme the institution receives the CPeO, the documentation of all SOPs and the delivery platform itself - a complete human resources development package worth several hundred thousand USD. The CPeO multiplication alone can offer new business opportunities. Risks can be kept relatively low since no investment in technology is required.

If you are a teaching professional or a professional content producer, the CPeO can provide significant benefits to you.

a) The CPeO enables teaching professionals to (re)use already existing learning material, such as scripts, slides, online resources or books. Producing new professionally authored and designed content from scratch might be one way to follow, but it may also be a good option to embed existing content from publishing companies.

b) The CPeO is a very useful programme for publishers and training providers who want to ensure the uptake and sustainability of their products and services. eLearning content is a crucial resource in the teaching and learning process.

Any teacher, trainer or facilitator using content needs to know how to embed content in the learning process. Content and service providers face the risk that their products and services may not be applied sustainably. Therefore teachers, trainers and facilitators need skills for instructional non-technical adaptation and modularisation of professionally authored and designed content products.

That is why publishers and training providers offer the CPeO to their customers.



In both cases vocational and academic content of publishers can be embedded in the CPeO itself as resource material. In addition the CPeO can help publishers to facilitate contextualization of their material through participating teaching staff.

The CPeO has a focus on strategic and managerial aspects of eLearning, supporting the course development phase as well as service delivery. The CPeO provides the instruments to monitor and assess quality of service and products continuously.

If the training provider´s business is already successful, one can assume that efficient business processes are in place and customers are satisfied.



But if a growth strategy is needed to scale the business by embedding moderation services of teachers, if more teaching staff should become enabled to make an expedient use of digital media and technology, if quality of products and services must be monitored, assessed and increased, then training providers can benefit from the CPeO´s capacities.

We favour Rapid eLearning (ReL) tools to produce eLearning content quickly and cost-efficiently: within a minimum of 30 working hours, participants should be able to produce a short, re-usable, digital learning module which can even contain simulations and other multimedia elements if required. The tools become embedded in the participants´ job description and workplace. In addition a modularisation process to assure re-usability is established in collaboration with the participants and a methodology for the design of action based learning material is practiced.

The content production phase in the CPeO programme lasts a few weeks. The production time needed by the participants differs, depending on the scope of the individual projects. It is not intended to develop sophisticated and perfectly designed learning material, which certainly remains the business of publishing companies and which requires in-depth know-how in usability design and technology. In most cases such sophisticated material is not even required or it can be brought in from established companies. It is, however, seen as crucial that the essential steps of a course production process are practiced and the participants become familiar with a scalable work procedure.

The market compliance of the produced content is assessed and then deployed by the respective teacher her-/himself. The CPeO participants must make sure that their learning material, which may be combined with more sophisticated educational products from the market, helps to accomplish the learning objectives. Therefore they work on the accompanying teaching measures to offer a suitable service level to their target group.

The results shall be used by the teachers, their colleagues and the institution. They may also be shared over the Internet with CPeO network partner institutions. The idea behind the CPeO is that teachers become enabled to offer their products and services within the institution and to the outside world. They may also charge for the service delivery to outsiders.

Quality management requires standardized procedures to be established within an organisation. The CPeO provides Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the entire process of sustainable planning, designing, producing and delivering educational products. With these SOPs a set of work procedures is made available that reflects the formal quality requirements for the organisation wide implementation of educational products, e.g. eLearning and blended learning courseware.

In addition there are several quality assurance tools which are embedded in the technology provided. If a customer installs the server platform technology, all tools will be provided automatically.

Learners, moderators and management use different communication tools which fit best to the specific requirements. During the entire programme email, mailing lists, chat, discussion boards as well as personal course home pages are used for knowledge exchange. All communication elements are archived and available to the participating group through a web browser. Mailing lists are the most important communication tools. The communication archive helps moderators to refer to previous communication and it allows new participants to catch up quickly.

Text based communication plays a key role as an instructional channel. Since it consumes little bandwidth the CPeO has been implemented successfully also in very low bandwidth environments.

We recommend that in small and medium sized companies all staff members in charge of eLearning development and service delivery undergo the action learning process and execute the eLearning Standard Operating Procedures.

In big companies a multipliying chain should be elaborated. The participating group should not be smaller than 15 and perform very well. After participation or even in parallel CPeO participants can run multiplying activities for an institution-wide rollout to transfer the experiences and work procedures gained.

The CPeO programme is quite demanding and participants can much better assist colleagues who do not participate, the more their workload in their jobs is reduced. This would facilitate a multiplying impact even during the CPeO programme.

Yes, this is a crucial point. To the target group of the CPeO belong both decision-makers as well as teaching staff. Decision-makers are integrated in the programme mainly through coaching activities of the consultants who run the face to face workshops. Furthermore several activities are directed to the decision-makers throughout the programme. A close interaction between the teaching staff and the decision makers is required. Therefore all activities of the teaching staff are precisely documented and the status of achievements can be accessed on the web at any time.

The CpeO is a multiplier programme and it is strictly action based. Therefore the prerequisites are tougher than with e.g. a training on eLearning skills or on media literacy.

We provide you a requirement list upon request.

It is our main interest that CPeO customers get a return on their investment. Therefore we assist customers in selecting the right staff members who can cope with the demands over the forthcoming years when developing an eLearning service.