Distance Education

Few debate the importance of ongoing training for shop employees, however, it sometimes takes a backseat to the more pressing and immediate challenges of operating an automotive service facility. Time constraints, demanding workloads and the constant question, “Can I really afford to have my lead technician out of the office for two days of training?” often sidetrack good intentions for training or at least put them on the back burner for a while longer.

New technology and the proliferation of computers at work and home are, however, encouraging the development of new ways to deliver training that fall under the broad category of distance education. There are a number of ways to learn under distance education, including instructional audio and video, computers and print. The computer has become a dynamic force in distance education, eliminating some of the common barriers to training by making it more convenient and cost-effective.

Computer Usage Trends According to USA Today, the percentage of adults in the United States who use — at least occasionally — a computer at work, school or home grew from 59 percent at the start of 1996 to 68 percent at the beginning of 2000. In addition, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates that 54 percent of U.S. households this year own a personal computer.

An early-2000 survey conducted by Dun & Bradstreet showed approximately 70 percent of small business owners had access to the Internet, up from 57 percent the previous year. The Automotive Service Association's "How's Your Business?" study in 1999 showed similar growth in Internet access among its 12,000 members, with 83 percent of mechanical members and 79 percent of collision members reporting Internet access within the shop or at home. The International Automotive Technicians Network (iATN), with nearly 30,000 members, reports 63 percent have Internet access from both home and work; the percentage of members with access from home is 95.3; the percentage of members with access at work is 67.7 percent.

DIRECT 2000 projects that at least 40 million more Americans not already online will log on within the next few years. On the evolution of Internet use, Web-based trainers are seeing more habitual use; meaning users are using it for longer periods of time.

Terminology There are several terms being used to describe new ways to deliver training and it's not uncommon to hear these terms used interchangeably or incorrectly. For example, how does online learning compare with distance learning? Distance learning is any type of educational situation in which the instructor and students are separated by physical distance and technology is used to bridge the instructional gap. Online learning is, therefore, a form of distance learning, as are self-study and correspondence courses.

Online learning encompasses a broad range of approaches. There is computer-based training (also called computer-based instruction) that refers to courses presented on a computer. The course does not provide links to learning resources outside of the course. Often, learners take a computer-based training course on a computer that is not connected to a network.

Web-based training (WBT) refers to courses available on an intranet, extranet or the Internet and is commonly linked to learning resources outside of the course, such as references, electronic mail and discussions. Sophisticated Web-based training allows multimedia content (text, images, sound and video) to be synchronized for a coherent learning experience. This “streaming” audio and video format requires high bandwidth capacity.

Technology-based instruction refers to training through a media other than the classroom, such as computers and audio and videotapes.

Industry Programs In the automotive service industry, many companies and organizations have plans to develop these advanced ways to deliver training. Here's a glimpse at some of the newer online technical training solutions in the industry and how they work.

Delmar, a division of Thomson Learning, recently announced its newest Internet-based Automotive Technician Certification test preparation product, the ATCChallenge.com. The product allows “anywhere, anytime” access and contains updated task lists and fully updated content on National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) exams A1 through A8, and L1 and P2. There are two test preparation modes. The Practice Question mode provides hints and insights into the right and wrong answers and includes access to a Spanish and English glossary of more than 5,000 automotive terms. Sample Test mode prepares students for exam day by using ASE-style questions reflecting the type of questions and task areas students are likely to encounter.

To use ATCChallenge.com, which complements Delmar's ASE test preparation print and CD-ROM products, users gain access to a personalized Web site that tracks their progress each time they sign on.

The company has also announced a partnership with PIX video, film & multimedia inc. to create additional customized, needs-driven training solutions in a variety of formats and platforms, including Web-based, multimedia, video and print. PIX has produced customized training programs for many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Honda, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan. According to Ridgie Barton, president of PIX, the company has a Web-based service advisor training program in production for Daewoo. “Right now, we have to deliver the product in two formats — CD- and Web-based — because in many parts of the country, connection speeds aren't what they need to be to support Web-based products,” said Barton. The company's training solutions for OEMs have largely been CD- or video-based, but Barton expects Web-based training for OEMs to explode within a year or so. According to Barton, Nissan has a dealer training Web site with basic information and Mitsubishi has an extensive dealer site with archived training programs.

iATN, founded in 1995 as an e-mail discussion list, recently introduced TechNight and a new Auditorium feature as part of its live conferencing system. In TechNight, live online conferences take place on Tuesday nights. These conferences are semi-moderated to keep discussions focused on the preselected technical subject. Members of iATN, who are largely technicians with at least four years of full-time experience or ASE-certification, have real-time conversations and can upload images to conference attendees. “For these conferences, we don't coordinate having experts, but they show up. It happens naturally,” said Brent Black, iATN founder.

Subjects have ranged from brake system complaints, on-board diagnostics (OBD) II and emission failures to anti-lock brake systems (ABS) and waveform analysis. Transcripts and images from the conferences are archived on the Web site (www.iatn.net) for future references and for direct links from forum discussions.

The iATN Auditorium has live conferencing with industry speakers. These moderated events let members post questions for the speaker immediately before and during the conference. Speakers then answer the questions. So far, iATN's Auditorium has had speakers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the California Air Resources Board and ASE.

According to Black, the network will soon rebroadcast the audio portion and accompanying Power Point presentations from live industry events on its Web site. It will adapt streaming video and high bandwidth content as the bandwidth capacity of its members increases. As of April 1999, only 7.1 percent of iATN members had bandwidth capacity at or above 128K. A current poll of its members shows nearly 20 percent with this capacity.

The network also provides an extensive technical library that includes more than 2,900 waveforms, scan data, infrared data, schematics and component photos (searchable by specific vehicle), 173,000 forum posts and 89,300 technical e-mails (also searchable by keyword or vehicle). There are user groups for particular products and the network handles 14 million e-mails per month among its members.

In June, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) announced its new Enhanced Delivery training programs. These programs combine interactive technology with hands-on classroom exercises. They have a student CD-ROM that includes the textbook, instructor audio track, video demonstrations of the classroom exercises and all instructional videos shown in the class.

According to I-CAR, this type of training will eventually replace I-CAR's traditional courses and is currently available on the following subjects: anti-lock brake and traction control systems, brakes, fundamentals of collision repair, damage analysis, electrical and electronics, restraints, welding and cutting steel and worker protection.

According to training experts, effective distance education programs take careful planning and a focused understanding of course requirements and student needs. The appropriate technology should only be selected once these elements are understood. In the very near future, the automotive service industry will likely be introduced to numerous distance education opportunities. The successful programs will be those that have good instructional design and strong content, while also matching the user's capabilities.