GeoLearning wins NJ contract

The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety awarded a three-year, $2.56 million contract to GeoLearning Inc. to provide the state's police, fire and other emergency training academies with an Internet-based human resources system and other e-learning applications.

The Iowa-based company will provide a learning management platform called GeoMaestro for the state's 23 police academies, 18 fire academies and another 212 eligible training organizations. Users will be able to manage student records, identify training gaps, and certify compliance and readiness.

The platform also will have a course catalog listing training available to the first responder community from various sources, including colleges, universities, local police and fire academies, and the Red Cross.

Additionally, state and local officials would have access to a current list of available trained personnel in case of an emergency. The system will track e-learning and classroom-based training and compile attendance and performance records for emergency officials.

The technology will help state officials define first responder job profiles as well as behavioral and technical competencies, which will be managed through an application linking individual competency gaps to learning and development.