Young Life undertook online training and testing for all the traditional reasons. What the organization does, however, is anything but. Young Life is a non-denominational, Christian organization committed to making an impact on kids’ lives and preparing them for the future. Active in all 50 states and more than 45 countries, Young Life reaches an estimated 1 million teenagers annually. More than 75,000 high school and middle school kids spend a weekend during the school year or a week during the summer at one of Young Life's 23 camping properties in the United States and Canada.

With 3,200 staff members and more than 30,000 volunteers, the group has a sizeable training project on its hands. Formerly, the organization brought new staff people to its headquarters in Colorado, incurring significant expenses for airfare and hotels. In addition, Young Life realized that the group was not reaching everyone who needed training or orientation. Young Life is attempting to cut down on costs to bring staff to one location; thus online training is very attractive for supplemental training.

“When a volunteer goes through a course, takes the test, and fails it, we email that person’s boss indicating, ‘This volunteer took the test; this is how they scored.’ Then their manager can provide them additional coaching,” he said.

Perception also provides instant feedback to people taking the assessment, indicating immediately whether they passed or failed. According to Hilt, the reaction to the computerized testing has been very good overall.

Since Young Life’s home office supervises training in the U.S. and abroad, the computerized assessments assure the organization that everyone is getting the same message. Christa Hilt believes that’s the biggest benefit that Perception offers. So far several hundred members have taken the online courses and the accompanying assessments or surveys. As Young Life adds courses to the Internet, the group plans to continue providing them online with an accompanying test or survey.