Technology Tools for Asynchronous Training

In a scenario where a biodiesel manufacturing plant needs to improve upon its poor safety record, there is a challenge to provide safety training to its employees, during all shifts, in an asynchronous manner. Additionally, the supervisors need to ensure employee participation and effective demonstration of the training lessons. I believe utilizing a combination of media sharing sites and podcasts can effectively address these training needs.

Media sharing sites allow a variety of content, such as text, pictures, audio, and video to be shared by a much larger audience, as described in multimedia program “The Technology of Distance Education”. These items can provide a level of interactivity for the purpose of employees indicating, in a question and answer environment, their understanding of the information being presented. Podcasts, in offering audio, graphics, and video, provide greater advantages in learning by addressing both visual and verbal modes of learning (The Technology of Distance Education). Podcasts also provide a greater level of accessibility and convenience as they can be downloaded for playback by a variety of equipment such as iPods, MP3 players, and computers (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, 2009).

In utilizing this combination of technology tools for these training needs, offers a more abstract form of learning to occur, which is a more efficient use of resources available, in addition to learning occurring in an environment with fewer distractions (Simonson et al., 2009). In developing the necessary training modules in such a way as to incorporate interactivity throughout, a supervisor can be assured of the employee’s participation in the training. To proceed from one stage in the training to the next, the employee will need to correctly identify proper safety procedures, as presented in the module. Should this not occur, the employee will be directed to begin the training module once more.

In identifying specific examples of these technology tools in action, I will first direct readers of this blog to the online safety training site of Vivid Learning Systems at:  http://www.learnatvivid.com/

A specific example of what they can provide is available at:  http://www.youtube.com/user/VividLearningSystems. This multimedia training program displays the level of interactivity for an employee as they demonstrate the proper safety procedures, after having completed a training module presenting and explaining proper safety procedures. Links for two additional multimedia examples are available on the right side of the window.

Another example is MSDS Online at:  http://blog.msdsonline.com/

A specific example from this site, of Podcasts can be found at:  http://blog.msdsonline.com/safety-on-demand-podcast/. This site offers Podcasts covering various safety standards and compliance related topics through interviews with professionals in the field of safety.

In summary, conveying the necessary information to teach employees proper safety guidelines and procedures can be effectively achieved through utilizing a combination of media sharing sites and Podcasts. Improving upon employee’s knowledge base as well as ability to demonstrate proper safety procedures can be achieved in an efficient and economical manner. In fact, video of an employee performing how to safely operate machinery in a real life circumstance can be incorporated into the overall training scenario. Supervisors could then use this video for further communication, feedback, and training purposes.

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

The Technology of Distance Education. Lecture presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5364557&Survey=1&47=7270808&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.