Online learning is hot—and at UE, this is particularly true in the area of workplace harassment prevention. More than 115,000 individuals at UE member institutions have taken advantage of our harassment prevention training, at no additional cost to UE members. And now, we’re expanding our training resources to help you ensure that your entire school or campus community has access to this important training.
UE recognizes that most of our members have personnel who lack easy access to computers. Maintenance, housekeeping, and security staff may spend most of their days away from a fixed office. And for hourly or part-time personnel, an hour-long online course may not be practical. Yet all personnel need training in key areas, such as workplace harassment.
EduRisk has a solution: mini-courses tailored to the needs of maintenance, housekeeping, and support staff. These are particularly important audiences, since they are disproportionately involved in workplace harassment claims. In just 15-20 minutes, the mini-courses cover the most essential elements of workplace harassment prevention and include a simplified assessment.
As a modified version of the Workplace Harassment 113 course, the mini-courses focus on relevant scenarios for these staff members. Since research shows that behavior change is most likely to occur when personnel recognize themselves or their peers in learning situations, scenarios are based on composites of real-life situations at schools and universities.
In the Workplace Harassment Prevention mini-course for Security and Support Staff, learners can explore challenges experienced by Security Chief Doug Walters or administrative assistant Marissa Galvez, such as:
- Is a security officer’s complaint hazing or teasing?
- Is reassignment to another shift a reasonable response, or is it retaliation?
- How should Marissa advise her best friend, another admin, when harassment occurs?
- Who is responsible for maintaining a positive work environment?
In the mini-course for Maintenance/Housekeeping, learners can choose the role of James Johnson, head of maintenance, or a professional staff member, Joe Embers, the Registrar. Questions for learners to consider include:
- How should James respond when he is made aware of racist jokes?
- Should James take the advice of Tammy, head of Housekeeping, and stop jokes his personnel make outside the department?
- How should Joe react when a member of the Tammy’s staff alleges harassment?
- How does one discern between harassment and appropriate discipline?
These mini-courses expand your options to provide workplace harassment training to your entire school or campus community. If an hour of online education is viable and practical, personnel should complete Workplace Harassment Prevention 110 or Workplace Harassment Prevention 113; these courses provide more perspectives and useful supplementary information. If a streamlined version would be more practical in meeting the needs of some of your personnel, you can assign one or both of the mini-courses.
By Terry Mackey, Director of Learning Design