High-Tech Training

High-Tech Training

Five selected technologies that have had and will continue to have an impact on how people learn are:

¨      e-Learning: e-Learning, which includes online learning makes it possible for learners to interact with the learning content in real-time (e.g. with an instructor), and, if they are so inclined, with other learners at the same time. As the trainee exhibits learner-control for practice, pacing, feedback and accessibility, he or she brings to bear influences on content (the design of text, video, graphics, and sound; collaboration with peers, other trainees, experts and advisors; and sharing of information, learning practice communities, and projects (Noe, 2013). e-Learning can be designed to complement and enrich a company’s business strategy, is accessible any time and almost any place removes obstructions to geographic location of dispersed employees. E-Learning training is delivered to employees faster and in a shorter amount and stays current because of easy updating (Noe, 2013).

¨      Social Media: This technology is very interactive but more informal (lack of a specified start and end time) in scope and consists of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and YouTube as well as wikis and blogs. Links to resources such as videos, webinars and articles are easily uploaded by professionals and non-professionals (caveat emptor) and allows for the free exchange of content and ideas (Noe, 2013). Users can determine future training needs, reinforce learning, coach, be coached, and mentor, and schedule and register for learning and social events. Blogs and wikis are webpages and websites respectively that permit authors to post entries and readers to comment on those entries. Wiki designers create, edit, update content, collaborate and share knowledge (Noe, 2013).

¨      Mobile Learning: This method of learning takes on more of a just-in-time-related-to-performance role rather than a formal knowledge seeking characteristic. For example, employees at IBM are using mobile learning to jump start and transform the sales/client relationship. Mobile learning users have access to critical information such as reference checklists, cultural information in high-growth markets in Brazil and China (Ahmad, & Orton, 2010). Mobile is most effective in short (less than ten minutes), easy to use and meaningful bursts with content relevant to the employees’ job performance (Noe, 2013).

¨      Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS): Intelligent Tutoring Systems (artificial intelligence) veer from other forms of technology with these features: An ITS has the ability match instruction to individual learner needs, communicate and respond to the trainee/student, model the learning process for the student, adjust content delivery based on the trainee’s past performance, and complete a self-assessment in order to modify the content delivery and feedback (Noe, 2013).

¨      Simulations and Games: Simulations require trainees to make decisions resulting in consequences, some possibly life-altering, in a non-threatening, yet realistic training environment. The training is interactive using the same rules required in the actual performance of the job (Noe, 2013). As an example, Nurse Anesthetists are using simulation to help train them for surgery. The training involves using a lifelike mannequin to teach nursing students the correct method for administering anesthesia. The mannequin is designed so that when a breathing tube is inserted it responds functionally in the same ways a human body would to changes in blood pressure, breathing and ventilator settings (WorldNow, 2015). The pressure to perform gets real as professors and peers watch, mentor and learn but with none of the nerve-wrecking tragedy that might occur if a mistake is made with a human being.                  

References

Ahmad, N., & Orton, P. (2010). Smartphones make IBM smarter, but not as expected. Training and Development, 64(1), 46–50.

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

WorldNow, (2015). Retrieved from http://raycomgroup.worldnow.com/story/student-nurse-anesthetists-use-high-tech-training-methods