IDSDMC: Workplace Training Technology

Adhering to the correct workplace safety practices may literally mean the difference between life and death. In a workplace environment time and cost constraints may not allow for totally shutting down operations to conduct training exercises. This is where distance education technologies come into place to enable effective yet cost conscious training solutions.

An industrial workplace such as a biodiesel plant which has experienced safety lapses will need to train its workers to avoid these events. Morrison, Ross Kalman and Kemp (2011) identify recommend a combination of demonstration, practice and elaboration as essential when planning for procedural knowledge transfer. Safety operations will necessarily involve knowledge of step-by-step procedures. To achieve these objectives, a narrated online PowerPoint presentation involving images, verbal and textual information could be uploaded to Slide Share for the trainee workers to observe. Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Svacek (2012) discuss Dale’s Cone of experiences which categorizes how media conveys information. The Slide Share presentation involves using symbols and observing, which, though not particularly interactive nor hands-on may actually more effective because of the distractions and in this case safety issues involved in using real machinery. Though fairly low-tech, presentations are a viable way of delivering training and are widely used as can be seen at the Washington State Department’s Labor and Industries website.

Given the importance of the knowledge to be gained, however, more realistic demonstrations could be viewed via online video presentations. These may be retrieved from the company’s website, from outsourced training providers, or from various government entities concerned with occupational health and safety. Oak Grove Tech is a training and consulting firm which produces customized training solutions. The company’s Industrial Workplace Safety Demo is an online sample of the type of training videos the company can produce.

Using cost effective tools such as online presentations and videos organized within an instruction plan, a company could provide training for many workers. Using what Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Svacek (2012) note is a hybrid model, i.e., up to 79% of the training would be completed online via distance education, after successful completion of the modules, the trainees could be assessed by an actual SME on real equipment. This final section of the course could be used for summative assessment to certify that the participants have gained the requisite skills and can actually use the equipment safely.

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Willey & Sons, Inc.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.