A culture shift: transforming learning at CERN

Abstract

To accomplish its mission, the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN, Switzerland) is committed to the continuous development of its personnel through a systematic and sustained learning culture, that aims at keeping the knowledge and competences of the personnel in line with the evolving needs of the organisation. With this goal in mind, CERN supports learning in its broadest sense and promotes a variety of learning methods. Over the last few years, CERN has focused its efforts on expanding the learning opportunities of its personnel via newly available software and e-learning tools and methodologies, thereby bringing a shift in the learning culture of the organisation. In September 2018, CERN launched a new Learning Management System centralising all learning opportunities in a single platform, the CERN Learning Hub. In addition, new e-learning resources are now widely available to the personnel, including customised internally created e-learnings, an e-library, a commercial e-learning platform for self-paced learning and online surveys (180 feedback tools for CERN managers and leaders). This paper presents the experience gained by CERN in testing and adopting these new e-learning technologies and discusses the future vision for CERN.