| Video-enhanced
Training Over the past several years we have been involved in a variety of training development programs for our customers. Every customer has some form of pre-existing training infrastructure such as designated training personnel, training manual format specifications, and sometimes a designated training facility. We have found that the best of these programs are very good and do indeed prepare an employee well for new responsibilities. Unfortunately, when the employee is out in the field at his or her job location, it is difficult to deliver training materials for "refresher" courses or infrequently performed tasks. The solution for some of these training problems is the distribution of essential work task training in video form to the point at which the employee can access the information. In the example we have assembled here, a station agent in a mass transit environment has access to a series of short video files which explain and demonstrate the correct procedures needed for normal operations of ticket vending equipment. The training materials are accessed through the normal operations console in the station control booth. The console view normally shows the operational statuses of equipment located in the station area. Pull-down menus are used to select the needed video training selection.
A Java console (here it is a common Internet browser application) is opened with a brief summary of the steps needed to perform the selected task.
The blue hypertext link (not available on this web site) then brings up an MPEG-encoded video file which covers the correct performance of the task requested by the station agent.
Video files when compressed using MPEG-1 are typically in the range of eight to nine megabytes per minute. A full range of employee training video files can easily fit onto a single CD-ROM, or if converted into a streaming format can be managed from a central file server. Any pre-existing video can be easily converted into digital video files. This menu-driven display of fare collection tasks is typical of an implementation for a mass transit agency:
Please contact us if you have questions or comments regarding the use of video technology to enhance the effectiveness of training programs.
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