06-10-2012, 05:17 PM
WEB-BASED TRAINING
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Abstract.
Learning material is a step- by-step guide to help beginners to design webbased training course for adult learners. This material will answer question “What does he/she do to go from identified training needs to competed course. This material is a tool to help design an effective, efficient and engaging computer-based training. The sequential model for course design is used. The material reflects author’s experience managing the distance education course development project of EU Phare programme.
WHAT IS WEB-BASED TRAINING?
Web-Based Training, or WBT, is training delivered over the Internet, specifically over the World Wide Web via the http protocol, and viewed with a browser program such as Internet Explorer.
Computer-Based Training, or CBT, is technology-based training typically delivered on CD-ROM, or over a local network. It’s often created and delivered with a proprietary software tool.
Before the year 2000, CBT was more popular than WBT, because bandwidth and technology limitations made it difficult to deliver full multimedia over the Internet. Today that is not true. WBT can do almost everything that CBT can do (except deliver long, DVD-quality video clips), and CBT is usually only seen today in off-the-shelf packages or in workplaces with no Internet access.
THE ADVANTAGES OF WEB-BASED TRAINING
Web-based training holds great promise for manufacturers as they struggle with maintaining a skilled workforce. A quick review of today's traditional training alternatives highlight methods that can be both ineffective and inefficient: Manufacturers perceive that they cannot afford to take production down for hours or days at a time for training seminars.
• High travel, lodging, and meals costs for sending employees to training.
• Training often not tailored to the employer's specific needs.
• Training efforts must be duplicated to reach a dispersed workforce.
• Employees' work and personal schedules leave only small blocks of available time for training.
• Technological changes and product redesign can quickly training course content.
Traditional distance learning media, including teleconferencing, text-based courses, audio courses, video courses, and text-based training all can help -- but each has drawbacks and can't solve all the problems mentioned above.
METHODOLOGY WEB-BASED TRAINING
Educators, trainers, and business people need to be able to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Web-based training in order to make informed decisions about the extent to which this new media should be used in their organizations. The present study hypothesizes that there are several key design elements that should be considered in costing Webbased training projects. The relative importance of these elements is examined using a case study approach. The methodology used in this case study can be employed in future cost benefit studies of Web-based training. This case
study also provides a detailed cost-benefit analysis, including the breakeven number of students required to recover Web-based course development costs and the return on investment over a five-year period.
Web-based training is receiving a great deal of interest in academia and private industry, and cost analysis has become increasingly important. Many universities such as the University of Phoenix, the University of Maryland, and Athabasca University, to name a few, have multimillion dollar budgets for Web-based teaching of part-time
students. In private industry, Bell Canada is a good example of how companies are using Web-based learning for both in-house employee training and as a service product offered to customers who want to apply distance learning in their own organizations. In both cases, the cost benefit of Web-based training must be established. Internally, Bell Canada is interested in using Web-based training because it is a cost-effective and convenient alternative to classroom training. Since Web-based training is also a customer product, it is necessary to demonstrate its value in order to interest customers in using this type of training model. For these reasons Bell Canada undertook a pilot project to examine the cost-effectiveness of Web-based training. The literature in the area of cost-benefit analysis of Web-based distance learning is sparse, and the objective of this paper is to fill the gap in the literature. The costing methodology discussed in this paper was developed by the authors and tested in the Bell Canada case study. The results of the cost-benefit analysis provide further information about the economic benefits of Web-based training.
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
The two essential requirements of Web-based education are hardware and main programming medium. The virtual labs can hosted on any computer connected to the internet; as most universities already have some internet-ready computers, such labs require no additional investment in hardware. The only requirements are a Java enabled browser. The applets that form the core of the computer-based laboratory experience use standard Java. These applets are accessible from any computer that has a browser and an internet connection. For those labs that lack an internet connection, it is possible to package the applets themselves, along with the associated lab, onto a CD and distribute these to the students. These mini applications provide total interactivity, combined with full multimedia and graphics that allow students to easily visualize difficult concepts. Incorporation of Java and Shockwave applets allow each student to have an interactive, hands-on experience in a lab, a personalized learning experience, to eliminate equipment issues, to minimize experimental errors, and to help making online learning resources not only much easier but also more fun for students. The main costs associated with the development of labs are programmer-time in setting up the hardware and software and instructor time in customizing the labs for each specific course.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
It is important to note that the aim of Virtual metrology labs is to provide enhanced educational and training support to the students in addition to traditional teaching and learning. It should be noted that this tool is very effective to increase the efficiency of learning and training. In a traditional university environment, virtual labs can also improve the engineering curricula in a cost effective way by establishing a timely connection between theory and practice [q8]. Web-based education and training offer many advantages to engineering and science education. Four Java applets: Vernier caliper, micrometer, dial indicator and protractor have been off-line run successfully with minimal problems. This experience encourages us to develop other web-based education and training, improving the site with more live video and Java applets. This Web-based education and training has been successfully classtested within an undergraduate preliminary year engineering course and students reported a positive experience with its use. The use of these labs should be self-explanatory and their reliable operation has been thoroughly tested. In a future work, the usability, efficiency and effectiveness of the system both from the point of view of the lecturers and the students will be reported.