In an industry where impact matters more than innovation for innovation's sake, the Learning Technologies Awards stand out for celebrating meaningful learning design that changes lives.

Just two short months ago, we were honoured, alongside the Safer Business Network (SBN), with the Gold Award for Excellence in the Design of Learning Content – Public & Non-Profit Sector for the WAVE (Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement) e-learning course. Being recognised at this level not only reflected what we believe provided a standout instructional solution but also highlighted the urgent societal issue it addresses: safeguarding vulnerable people in the night-time economy.

As part of this article, I’m going to cover the challenge the course tackled, the collaborative process that shaped it, the design decisions that made it work for its audience and the real-world impact it is already having.
 

Understanding the Problem: Safeguarding in the Night-Time Economy

The WAVE e-learning course was created in response to a very real and widespread issue – helping hospitality and security staff effectively safeguard vulnerable people, with a focus on night-time environments where alcohol, crowds, and fast-paced work can mask vulnerability.

Frontline staff are typically the first line of defence in preventing harm to vulnerable individual – whether that involves identifying a potential spiking incident, recognising coercive behaviour, or providing support to someone in distress. A barrier to ensuring this was consistently done though has historically been the widespread delivery of effective training. This has been largely due to inconsistent, inaccessible, or non-existent training.

The Safer Business Network, working closely with local authorities and venues, identified this critical gap in capability and consistency. They approached us with a vision, to create a scalable, accessible training solution to equip frontline staff with the confidence and knowledge to act in order to help keep people safe.

 

Designing for a Diverse, Time-Poor Audience

Designing for the WAVE audience presented both a challenge and an opportunity. The course needed to resonate with:

• Learners with a wide range of literacy and digital skills
• Staff using mobile devices, often on personal time or shared work equipment
• Venues with limited technical infrastructure
• A workforce that is transient, time-poor, and under constant operational pressure

The course had to be short (under 45 minutes), flexible, and free at the point of use. It also had to deliver practical, memorable learning that could change behaviour – fast.

Working in close partnership with SBN, we adopted an agile, user-centred design process that focused on accessibility, relevance, and realism.

 

Storytelling Meets Safeguarding: A Comic-Book Approach

One of the most distinctive features of the WAVE course is its use of a comic-book style animated scenario, delivered through Articulate Storyline and embedded into a Rise framework. This approach allows learners to follow the journey of different characters on a night out, looking out for signs of vulnerability as they follow the scene and making key decisions as it progresses.

We didn’t just do this for style, it was done to:

• Reduce cognitive overload in emotionally complex topics
• Provide a safe space to practise recognition and intervention
• Model behaviour through diverse, relatable characters

It also allowed for a visual narrative that could cut across language and literacy barriers – a key requirement when working with a varied workforce.

 

Multimodal Learning for Real-World Action

We built this course was built with accessibility and learner variability in mind. Beyond the comic-style scenario, learners must engage with:

• Interactive turning cards to introduce safeguarding terms
• Drag-and-drop tasks to practise appropriate responses
• Gap-fill activities for knowledge recall
• Optional audio narration to support different learning preferences
• A final quiz with a 100% pass mark, including feedback for each answer
• A downloadable glossary PDF, intended for use in break rooms and onboarding packs

These layered modalities support knowledge retention and encourage immediate workplace application – turning awareness into action.

 

Built to Scale: Low Bandwidth, High Impact

One of the key challenges when creating the course was designing it for low-bandwidth and mobile-first delivery, without compromising on engagement. Many staff in the night-time economy complete training on phones or shared terminals, often in noisy or disconnected environments.

Its SCORM-compliant structure ensures it can be hosted flexibly, and its vector animation avoids the need for streaming high-resolution video. This approach worked perfectly and made it possible for councils, venue groups, and business improvement districts (BIDs) to adopt and roll out the course quickly across large regions.

Implementation Strategy: Stakeholders, Support, and Spread

Based on the nature of the cause being to prevent individuals from harm and potentially save lives, it was essential that it was supported with backed with a strong implementation strategy. Wave was:

• Supported and promoted by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), ensuring credibility and reach among over 125,000 security professionals
• Distributed via SBN’s own channels, our LMS and client-side integrations
• Backed by targeted marketing campaigns on social media and through stakeholder networks
• Enhanced by helpdesk support and technical guidance for venues

Stakeholder involvement continued beyond launch, with built-in feedback loops allowing the course to evolve in response to user experience and new safeguarding challenges (such as updated guidance on spiking).

 

Evidence of success

Since its launch, WAVE has shown impressive results:

• Almost 16,000 learners have taken the course
• In a survey of over 300 learners:
  • 100% said they felt confident to handle a safeguarding or spiking incident after the course
  • Over 30% had already used the knowledge in a real-life situation
  • Nearly 50% had no prior training in these areas before taking WAVE
     

Human impact

What has mattered most to us about this course is the immeasurable difference it has had on the lives of people since its adoption. We have received feedback from hundreds of learners stating that the training they have received helped them prevent incidents such as spiking and potential sexual assault.

Below are a small sample of these quotes from learner’s have benefitted from completing the course:

‘I noticed a lone female highly intoxicated slouched on the floor and getting unwanted male attention. I protected her and got her safely to the medics this was at a festival.’

‘I spotted a girl in visible distress with a male. I referred to a female security colleague to take her to a safe space away from the male to ensure her safety and well-being. I gave assurance to the girl that she could contact any of our security team should she feel in a vulnerable situation.’

‘A lady was reported unconscious in the female toilets. I attended and knew straight away it was more than just alcohol induced. I called for medical backup, ensuring she kept her dignity at all times and placed her in the recovery position. I was able to get a slight response from her, and she was later got taken to hospital.’

‘I pretended to detain a girl after she asked for Angela and ensured she was sent home by our staff.’

‘I’ve had a couple of situations where females came to me and the bar staff and mentioned they felt uncomfortable with a situation. We made them aware of the things we can do to make them safe.’

While many learning programmes are measured by metrics like ROI or efficiency gains, the true value of WAVE lies in stories like these. It’s in the actions taken, the harm prevented, and the confidence learners now have to step in and support someone in need. For us, that’s the most meaningful measure of success.

 

Why we think the course stood out

While many excellent entries were submitted for the 2025 Learning Technologies Awards, I believe WAVE stood out for several reasons:

• It solved a very real and urgent problem
• It used engaging design leading to a meaningful and memorable user experience
• It showed measurable impact, with feedback from both learners and stakeholders
• It was built for scale, access, and rapid deployment – not just design excellence in theory, but in practice

In short, I believe the WAVE course proved that great learning design is about understanding your audience, responding to constraints creatively and keeping the focus on what matters: helping people make better decisions in the moments that count.
 

Looking Ahead

The Gold Award win is a proud milestone, but it also marks a beginning. With WAVE now recognised as a best-in-class example of safeguarding training, conversations are underway to adapt and expand the programme. In fact, we’ve just launched a new WAVE course specifically for the retail sector.

 

In Closing

It’s my opinion that award-winning design isn’t just about flash content – it’s about making purposeful impact with the learner. WAVE wasn’t just designed to look good on screen, but to resonate with its end-users for the greater good. I’m pleased to have been able to share this journey and incredibly grateful to the Learning Technologies community for recognising what this project represents.

 

 

Ashley Reddy 

IT Director