For instructor-led training, we are entering an age which is more than just an eBook.
The world of instructor-led training is under increasing pressure – pressure on costs and also pressure from clients on sustainability. The opinion being that printed training manuals are not an environmentally friendly product although there are strong counter arguments to this (see www.twosides.info). Sometimes it is not the intellectual argument that wins but the emotional one.
The easiest answer appears to be to stop printing training manuals and give the users an eBook. Whilst sending training materials electronically can raise serious concerns around security and the protection of intellectual property (covered in other blogs) – the other issue is that a simple eBook does not fulfill all of the requirements of an interactive instructor led training program, unless the eBook allows for these things.
1. Annotations
Functionality which is not available in a simple PDF or flip book. These kind of actions could be:
- The ability to highlight text by the user.
- Allowing the users to add their own notes to the book.
- Search key words and phrases.
2. Accessibility
The next issue is the ability to be able to read and take notes when not online. During a training course it is simply not possible to guarantee uninterrupted internet access – some internal firewalls do not like strange downloads. You want the delegate to be able to read and make notes wherever they are, be it at home with internet or even on the train home where that might not be possible. Although this can be done with a printed manual – you can also with the PDI product On Secure.
3. More Functionality
If you are going to take the time and effort required to take the printed manual and make it electronic, you would not only want the annotation and accessibility that a printed manual gives you, you would want more. Working with PDI can give you more:
- Sharing of notes within groups
- The ability to embed video - demonstrate practices alongside the text.
- The ability to link to other resources.
- The ability to have full analytics of the learning experience - you can see what your users made notes of, what they understood and what they might not have done.
