- Control
The power to build bespoke learning pathways for students - Quality
Real-time videos from world-class educators empower students to evolve - Scope
Videos cover every discipline of hairdressing & barbering, including hair science - User-friendly
The platform is simple to use for tutors and students - Cost-effective
Affordable solution that adds value to all users
Requirement
A bespoke e-learning pathway for cosmetology students
Based on two sites in Illinois, Cosmetology & Spa Academy delivers training programs for hairdressing, barbering and beauty students at the outset of their careers. With courses providing training that equates to spending 2 years at college, the academy provides a comprehensive education in all areas of cosmetology. Once they graduate, students are ready to service clients on the salon floor.
Owner Ned Halimi required a blended e-learning platform to bolster the academy’s wide-ranging curriculum, support his teaching team and improve outcomes for his 250 students. “It’s vital that students leave us with the competence and confidence to delight their clients,” Ned explained. “By adding more bespoke learning pathways, I knew that we’d empower students to become specialists in their chosen niche areas.”
Challenge
Finding an online resource that focused on the development of students’ skills and knowledge
Keeping up with the constant changes to government regulations is an ongoing battle for the Cosmetology & Spa Academy. Ned therefore needed an e-learning solution that added real value to his organisation, allowing him to focus on compliance and other key areas of the business. However, despite extensive research, he was unable to find a viable or cost-effective platform on the US market.
“Cosmetology e-learning platforms currently available in the US are limited, both in terms of numbers and in the range of content they offer,” Ned elaborated. “As a result, I would have needed to purchase multiple resources to meet the teaching requirements of my curriculum – and even then, there would have been significant gaps in key scientific and skill development areas.”
Why MHD
Unrivalled depth and breadth of content and outstanding quality of teaching
Thanks to a previous partnership with a US-based e-learning company, Ned’s extensive research eventually led him – in 2015 – to MHD.
“I purchased an online video and was immediately impressed with the content,” said Ned. “After conducting some research of my own, I discovered MHD (https://myhairdressers.com/) and MHDAcademy.” Ned was so inspired that he immediately purchased subscriptions to both. “I was blown away by the quality of the training and the sheer number of videos available – covering niche skills and hair science.”
Ned quickly discovered that the MHD brand of education is unique: “I love that everything is demonstrated in real-time, enabling us to deliver hands-on training. The in-depth coverage of the techniques is also fantastic – and all the videos contain an excellent explanation of additional relevant knowledge.”
“The quality of the videos themselves is also outstanding – not like anything I’ve encountered on the US market or by searching resources on YouTube,” Ned added. “For example, every video is shot from 3 camera angles, which helps students develop their understanding and embed techniques easily.”
With over 70 instructors from some of the biggest brands in the business – including leading product manufacturers – we’re also the only online resource to offer such a huge range of educators on one platform. “It’s incredible that MHD has been able to bring together so many globally-acclaimed hairdressers,” said Ned. “It isn’t often that you’ll find Sharon Blain and Tim Hartley in one place.”
Solution
The world’s largest online library of quality cosmetology training
Currently, MHD has over 500 videos. However, we’re in the process of migrating our content from the (no longer operating) MHDAcademy, which means that – from September 2018 – MHD will be home to over 500 hairdressing and barbering training videos.
Sarah Oglesby, our Director of Quality Assurance, explained the move and why we’ve decided to focus our resources on MHD. “After a decade of creating the world’s most extensive range of online training videos, we’re delighted to finally bring our tutorials together on one platform,” she said. “This valuable resource can now be used by industry and for industry – empowering businesses like Ned’s to flourish – which is what we had always intended.”
Ned is enthusiastic about our decision: “We are excited to use the updated MHD training resource and enjoy unlimited access to the vast array of e-learning content. Now we’re in a position where we can develop our learners’ skills with even more bespoke learning pathways, allowing them to become specialists in niche areas, including hair up, colouring, cutting and extensions – and all before they graduate.”
MHD provides a cost-effective solution for educational establishments like Cosmetology & Spa Academy. “It’s extremely affordable,” Ned said. “Other platforms charge much more and don’t come close to MHD when it comes to adding educational value.”
Result
Absolute control and the power to optimise the student experience
The benefits of MHD‘s unique blended e-learning platform are already being felt across the board at Cosmetology & Spa Academy. For example, the school is in the process of updating its curriculum: “I’m including embedded content to ensure that my students don’t have any downtime in their hands-on sessions,” Ned explained.
Student outcomes are also being optimised: “Starting with foundation techniques, we’re progressing our students through the levels all the way to advanced – ensuring that they’re the cream of the crop,” said Ned. “Thanks to MHD‘s progressive program, my students will be complete hairdressers or barbers on graduation.”
Ned is enthusiastic about the fact that MHD is easy to access and available anywhere. In addition, he’s been impressed by our customer service: “The most amazing thing is that you can purchase a membership and be rolling in no time,” he said. “You can’t get this with any other e-learning platform.”
Merging our content into one easy-to-access platform means that educators like Ned are in complete control. Sarah said: “By migrating all our content to MHD, we’re effectively doubling the amount of content available. As a result, we’re empowering organisations to create bespoke training pathways for their students, and giving them the ability to make their courses completely unique.”
We’ll leave the final words to Ned:
MHD is a turnkey package for cosmetology schools. Anyone that uses the product won’t need to go anywhere else.
I was blown away by both the quality of the training and the sheer number of videos available – both in terms of skills and hair science.
We are excited to use the updated MHD training resource and enjoy unlimited access to the vast array of e-learning content. Now we’re in a position where we can develop our learners’ skills with even more bespoke learning pathways, allowing them to become specialists in niche areas, including hair up, colouring, cutting and extensions – and all before they graduate.
Ned Halimi, Owner, Cosmetology & Spa Academy
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