Case Study
Not-Your-Usual Case Study: What Award-Winning Learning Teams Do Differently
Inside the BCEN / WeLearn Partnership That Won Best Learning Team
- 30 Nov, 2025
- 8 min read
In this case study
Table of Contents
Most case studies focus on what got built. This one is different.
This case study examines how a learning team actually worked — the dynamics, decisions, and partnership model that earned BCEN and WeLearn the Brandon Hall Group’s 2021 Best Learning Team award.
When judges evaluate submissions, they look beyond deliverables. They assess fit to needs, learning approaches, solution delivery, measurable benefits, and overall impact. But they’re really asking: What made this team’s approach worth recognizing?
The BCEN and WeLearn team launched a complete learning ecosystem during a global pandemic with subject matter experts working double shifts in overwhelmed emergency departments. A 11-person organization partnered with WeLearn to deliver a full suite of learning experiences —19 online courses, expanded practice exams, monthly webinars, and a podcast series. The result? Over 6,000 continuing education credits claimed and satisfaction ratings consistently above 4.4 on a 5-point scale. All delivered on time.
But the award recognized something deeper. It recognized how people worked together when every plan needed constant adaptation. How a small organization and an external partner built something meaningful by treating partnership as more than a contract.
This is that story. Not what got built, but how the team built it, and what made judges call it exceptional.
The Setup: Two Organizations, One Mission
Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) had a problem that many organizations face: big vision, small internal team.
With just 11 employees serving a global nursing community across 25 countries, BCEN needed to transform from a certification board into a comprehensive learning partner.
They needed strategy, execution, and someone who would care about their mission as much as they did.
WeLearn came to the table not as a vendor, but as an extension of BCEN’s team. The distinction matters.
What Made This Team Different
They Started With Strategy
Most learning projects begin with someone saying, “We need courses” or “We need a new LMS.” The BCEN-WeLearn team started by asking bigger questions.
What does lifelong learning mean for emergency nurses? How do we support people from their first day in an ED through their transition into leadership? What does the emergency nursing community actually need versus what we think they need?
They spent February and March 2020 mapping a three-year strategy with five core pillars. They documented assumptions, identified risks, and built a roadmap that would guide decisions even when circumstances changed.
That foundation proved essential. Because in March 2020, circumstances changed dramatically.
They Built For Flexibility
When COVID hit, subject matter experts were suddenly working double shifts in overwhelmed emergency departments. The team didn’t abandon the timeline. They restructured how work happened.
Multiple virtual sessions across time zones. Asynchronous development cycles that respected unpredictable schedules. Frequent touchpoints that kept everyone connected without creating burden.
This flexibility — this ability to leverage resources and embrace new models under pressure — is what judges recognized when evaluating the team’s learning approaches.
WeLearn created an SME onboarding course that turned training into an experience. Subject matter experts weren’t just told what to do — they saw and felt what the end learner experience would be. They understood not just their role, but why it mattered.
When some experts had to step back due to personal or professional demands, WeLearn recruited additional talent to maintain momentum. When technology limitations emerged around pricing models, the team pivoted quickly rather than letting perfect become the enemy of good.
They Built Reciprocity Into Volunteering
Twenty volunteer nurse item writers gave their time to develop practice exam content. These weren’t just contributors, they were nurses working demanding shifts during a pandemic who still showed up to serve their community.
WeLearn designed virtual Item Writer Training sessions engaging enough to keep professionals interested. Then they worked with BCEN to offer continuing education credit for participation. The message was clear: your time matters, your contribution has value, and we’ll give back.
The item writers kept showing up because they felt valued and the exchange was genuine.
They Made Each Other Better
The core team included BCEN’s CEO, directors of strategy and operations, and WeLearn’s learning strategists, designers, and program managers. But the real team grew to over 50 people.
WeLearn handled production work — social promotion assets, podcast production, backend technical support — that would have overwhelmed BCEN’s small staff. This was about protecting BCEN’s bandwidth for what mattered most: connecting with their nursing community.
BCEN brought deep understanding of their audience and unwavering clarity about mission. WeLearn brought learning expertise and the capacity to execute at scale.
The bi-weekly steering committee meetings kept everyone aligned without creating administrative burden. Five workstreams operated with dedicated leads using an agile approach that allowed adaptation as circumstances shifted.
This wasn’t coordination. It was collaboration.
The Delivery: Five Workstreams, Zero Drama
Here’s what successful delivery looked like:
- Learning Strategy: A comprehensive three-year roadmap that guided decisions even when plans changed
Learning Technology & - Customer Experience: Designing customer journeys that aligned to both the BCEN Certificate holder experience and the envisioned experience in the new LMS.
- Product Design & Development: Nineteen online courses and expanded practice exam content developed in 8-10 week cycles with subject matter experts stretched thin by pandemic demands
- Social Promotion & Engagement: BCEN Learn brand development, podcast series, webinar programming, and community engagement strategies that created genuine connection
- Quality and Governance: Frameworks for catalog management, service escalation, continuous improvement, and web accessibility that would support growth beyond launch
By October 2020, BCEN Learn launched complete with courses, enhanced practice exams, monthly webinars, and a podcast series. On time and during a global pandemic.
The Results
Genuine partnership, intentional design and a solid strategy worked.
Impact within seven months:
- 1,478 practice exams completed (4.45/5 satisfaction)
- 810 courses completed (4.63/5 satisfaction)
- 2,065 webinar participants (4.73/5 satisfaction)
- 1,034 podcast listeners
- 6,170 continuing education credits claimed
But the real measure showed up in what learners said:
"It was very interactive so it kept my attention."
"Well presented, easy to learn, like the diagrams/pictures/interactive."
"Outstanding presentation. Clear and easy to understand, evidence-based care that for me included new information."
"I loved the format—it was visually simple, engaging, informative."
Emergency nurses juggling careers and professional development found learning experiences that respected their time and met them where they were. That’s true impact.
The Recognition: Why It Mattered
The Brandon Hall Group’s Best Learning Team award recognizes teams that demonstrate exceptional teamwork, resource leverage, new learning approaches, successful solution delivery, and positive organizational impact.
BCEN and WeLearn earned that recognition. But more importantly, they built something that continues to serve the emergency nursing community.
The award validated what both organizations knew: this approach works. Genuine partnership, flexibility when plans change, and staying focused on mission aren’t just principles — they’re what make learning initiatives succeed.
Your success story starts here
See how WeLearn can support your team with strategies that deliver measurable impact.
