About our Client

Funded by a levy on New Zealand dairy farmers, DairyNZ invests dairy farmers’ money into a wide range of programmes – including industry research and development, promoting careers in dairying and advocating for farmers with central and regional government.

The Brief

DairyNZ runs a ‘FeedRight’ course for rural professionals who offer (or plan to offer) feed management/nutrition advice to farmers.  The FeedRight course involves two x 2-day workshops which take detailed, technical content about dairy cow feed and nutrition and look at how to apply this on farm.

DairyNZ wanted to make sure that people registering for the course had the right background knowledge and experience to allow them to engage effectively with the content of the FeedRight workshops, and to ensure they were suitably qualified to advise farmers on feed management.

Our Role

Working closely with the creator of the FeedRight programme, Dr Jane Kay, we began by clarifying the purpose, audience and objectives, then designing a framework of online deliverables to meet these objectives.

We then worked through the design and development phases of each deliverable with multiple review points to ensure the final solution matched the needs of DairyNZ and the end user.

The  result is a multi-faceted solution comprised of the following components:

1. An online self-rating tool to help potential FeedRight participants identify whether they are the right fit for the FeedRight programme and vice versa.
2. An online assessment to identify areas of foundational knowledge the participants need to strengthen before attending the workshops. The assessment then points the user to the relevant eLearning modules they need to complete.
3. Eight interactive eLearning modules, each covering key concepts participants need to have on board to be able to effectively engage in the FeedRight workshops.

The Results

• The informed self-selection process empowers potential participants to decide whether the course is right for them and therefore avoid wasted time at unsuitable training.
• A more consistent level of baseline knowledge among participants attending to FeedRight workshops allows a common language for discussions, thereby  creating a more effective learning environment.
• DairyNZ now has a range of easily-accessible, high quality learning resources on dairy cow nutrition that they can offer other learners beyond the FeedRight programme.