Training - CBT and Multimedia

DMC has been developing computer-based training (CBT) and multimedia training solutions for some of the world’s largest companies since 1989. Content has ranged from company induction, sales and product knowledge through fire safety to credit card processing.

Who uses CBT?

Sometimes large numbers of people need to be trained on new products or procedures. Sending out teams of trainers to different sites, or transporting trainees to a central point, can be very expensive. How do you ensure that the training is consistent and of high quality every time a course is given? CBT, where trainees study at their own workplace and at times which suit production schedules, is a cost-effective way of achieving this. Perhaps you already have excellent trainers and consistently good courses. What happens six weeks after the course when a trainee forgets some of what was taught? CBT can provide refresher training on-demand or it can provide training to a new member of staff immediately, without the need to wait for a minimum class size. Much training involves risk, either to trainees, or to equipment or even to data on computer systems. The simulation capabilities of CBT allow trainees to explore ‘what-if’ scenarios without risk. This may be training enough or it may provide useful pre- course training to allow trainees to maximise the utility of a ‘live’ training session.

Is the training any good? It’s fairly easy to determine: CBT can incorporate quizzes, formal tests or simulations of real-life situations and provide extensive reporting of individual and group performance. If a point in the training is not being understood, a good statistics package incorporated in the CBT will soon bring this to your attention.

Over the years companies such as Visa International, Reuters, Midland Bank, General Accident, Software AG, General Motors and Payless ShoeSource have made use of DMC’s expertise. Yes, we’ve won awards for the CBT we created but the best recommendation is the repeat business we receive.

Technological Advances

The company’s CBT has always been at the forefront of technology. We pioneered methods to create multiple language versions of training courses quickly and cheaply and, to date, have created CBT modules in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Gaelic. We were one of the first companies in the world to use software-decoded video and audio in our training courses and our proprietary development method, instructional prototyping, which is independent of authoring language, is constantly being improved to create CBT more efficiently.

Innovative use of technology does not always mean using the latest and most expensive equipment. A course we developed on credit-card processing was used in over 90 countries by financial institutions with a huge range of different PCs. Creative use of graphics allowed us to simulate paper forms on slow machines with only EGA graphics.

Another project for a large retailer involved creating animations and graphics to run on 286-based PS/2s with only 1MB of memory. In addition, the CBT had to co-exist with store management software. Custom-built memory-swapping software allowed this to happen and low-level graphic routines provided fast and effective animation.

What do you need to create CBT?

No matter what technology is employed, CBT is only effective if users’ training needs are properly understood. This means an effective training needs analysis and skills audit. The knowledge of a diverse group of subject-matter experts, often with no training experience, then needs to be distilled into a series of learning outcomes. These then need to be fleshed out to a computer-based training course which is informative, easy-to-use and interesting enough to hold trainees’ attention. This requires training experience, analysis and knowledge engineering skills to get the process started. Putting the course together requires writing and editing ability, sound and efficient programming techniques, graphics and animation expertise, strong project management plus awareness of the many mistakes which have been made creating CBT in the past. Assembling an in-house team is a slow and expensive process. DMC has been creating award-winning courses for nearly ten years. If you need it done quickly, and you want it done properly, give us a call. If you want to build your own team (or teach them some new tricks !) we can help with a range of public and tailored in- house courses or consultancy and joint-development work.