Case Study: Transforming NICA’s Educational Programs through Emerge ID’s Custom Learning Solutions

by Chris Packert | Oct 21, 2024 | Featured | 0 comments

Emerge ID branded hero graphic titled “Learning Architecture in Practice” on a dark blue background, showing six connected steps in a learning process flow: 1) Clarify the Problem, 2) Understand Learners, 3) Organize Content, 4) Design the Experience, 5) Plan Platform + Launch, and 6) Define Measurement. Each step appears in a glowing card with a matching icon and brief description, connected left to right by a neon line. Supporting interface-style panels in the background show a learning strategy blueprint, learner journey, and impact dashboard with charts and metrics. Additional callouts at the bottom highlight aligned teams, focused solutions, seamless implementation, and measurable impact, reinforcing the message that Learning Architecture creates clarity before build so learning creates impact after launch.

Client Overview

The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) is a non-profit organization that supports youth mountain biking programs in high schools and middle schools across the United States. With a mission to build strong minds, bodies, and character through cycling, NICA focuses on providing leadership, services, and governance for affiliated mountain biking leagues.

The Challenge

As NICA expanded its reach to over 30 leagues nationwide, the organization recognized the need for standardized, high-quality training programs to support its growing base of coaches, team leaders, and volunteers. These stakeholders play critical roles in delivering NICA’s mission, yet they faced several challenges:

Inconsistent Training Experiences: Leagues across different states experienced significant variations in training delivery.

Scalability Issues: NICA needed a solution that could deliver training effectively to thousands of new and experienced coaches each year.

Engagement Concerns: Existing training programs needed to have interactive, engaging elements that modern learners expect.

Additionally, NICA needed a reliable platform to house its growing training content and facilitate users' access to and completion of courses.

The Solution

Emerge ID partnered with NICA in 2020 to design and deliver a comprehensive eLearning solution, including setting up a Learning Management System (LMS) using Moodle. The solution addressed NICA’s needs for standardized training, scalability, and engagement, while also modernizing their learning infrastructure.

Key Features of the Custom Learning Solution:

LMS Implementation and Single Sign-On Integration: Through Emerge ID’s partnership with Moodle, the team set up NICA’s new LMS, integrating it with their existing online registration and management system through a single sign-on (SSO) system. This ensured seamless access for coaches, team leaders, and volunteers.

Custom eLearning Curriculum: Emerge ID has developed a series of interactive and white-labeled eLearning modules for NICA’s stakeholders. Each module contains a set of learning outcomes, video content, learner engagement activities, knowledge checks, and module summaries. When combined, this approach creates an engaging, interactive learning experience. Integrating these modules into NICA courses ensures a consistent and interactive nationwide learning experience.

Course Creation and Management: Emerge ID created and implemented NICA’s courses in their new LMS, ensuring a smooth transition to a digital learning environment. This included adding content, integrating SCORM files, and developing assessments, learner surveys, and completion certificates.

Staff Training on Moodle: Emerge ID conducted comprehensive training sessions for NICA’s staff, empowering them to manage the Moodle LMS efficiently. Staff were taught how to update course content, track user progress, and manage course enrollments, providing them with full autonomy over their training program.

LMS Upgrades and Maintenance: Over time, Emerge ID upgraded NICA’s LMS to newer versions of Moodle, using both automated and manual operations. These upgrades ensure that the platform remains up to date with the latest features and security improvements, allowing NICA to continually enhance the learner experience.

Scalability and Accessibility: Hosted on the Moodle platform, the courses are accessible to thousands of participants throughout the country without geographical barriers. The platform is mobile-friendly, allowing coaches to complete the training on their own time and from any device.

Certification and Tracking: Upon completion, coaches receive a completion certificate, and NICA tracks certifications and monitors compliance through the integration between the LMS and NICAs online registration and management system, ensuring all participants meet required standards.

The Results

Integrating Emerge ID’s custom eLearning solutions with Moodle LMS has provided a transformative impact on NICA’s training and development efforts. Key outcomes include:

Nationwide Standardization: Over 13,000 coaches have completed the Level 1 Certification Course, ensuring that all NICA participants receive a consistent, high-quality training experience.

Streamlined Access: The single sign-on integration with NICA’s online registration and management system simplified access to the LMS, making it easy for users to log in and complete courses.

Improved Engagement and Retention: The interactive course design resulted in an increase in participant engagement, with learners reporting higher satisfaction with the training experience compared to previous methods.

Cost-Effective Scalability: NICA was able to scale its training program across 30+ leagues without the need for additional resources, leading to a reduction in training delivery costs.

Increased Compliance and Tracking: With Moodle’s built-in tracking and reporting features, NICA can monitor coach certifications and course completions, ensuring compliance across all leagues.

Client Feedback

NICA’s leadership team had this to say about the partnership with Emerge ID:

“Working with Emerge ID allowed us to create an eLearning platform that delivered high quality, consistent, and engaging curriculum to thousands of volunteer coaches. Our training is world-class because of the combination of our curriculum and Emerge's expertise in educational solutions. We couldn't be happier with the results.” - Mike McGarry, Director of Coaching & Education

Conclusion

By partnering with Emerge ID for the last four years, NICA has successfully modernized its training approach, making it more engaging, scalable, and effective. The combination of a custom blended-learning curriculum, the Moodle LMS, and comprehensive staff training has empowered NICA’s coaches with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver safe, fun, and inclusive cycling programs, helping NICA achieve its mission of developing young cyclists both on and off the trails.

This image shows the author of the blog posts.

Written by Chris Packert

Chris Packert is the founder and CEO of Emerge ID, a learning architecture and instructional design company that helps organizations design, build, launch, and improve meaningful learning experiences. With more than 30 years of experience across K–12 education, higher education, workforce development, military distance education, and sport education, Chris brings a practical, systems-based approach to learning strategy. His work focuses on helping teams clarify performance needs, create accessible and engaging learning solutions, implement effective learning technology, and measure impact beyond completion data. Through Emerge ID, Chris partners with organizations to turn complex learning challenges into clear, usable, and measurable learning experiences.

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