OLNT'90 Proceedings: Henson - Select Learning's TradeSkill Open Learning Centre

Select Learning's TradeSkill Open Learning Centre

Barry Henson
Managing Director
Select Learning

Interactive videodisc at TradeSkill

Interactive videodisc, the latest in educational technology, is now available at the TradeSkill Open Learning Centre in Osborne Park. Studies have shown that the quality of learning is generally far superior to other training approaches and employees make fewer errors. A highly positive attitude toward their new skills and the motivation to apply them on the job are also frequent outcomes.

Interactive videodisc combines the benefits of individualised instruction with real life video. Employees set the pace and frequently interact with video examples from typical industrial sites. It is also noteworthy that the employee does not require any computer knowledge in order to take a course. The system provides friendly prompts and the employee responds by simply touching the screen. The keyboard is not required and computer anxiety is avoided.

Employers may enrol their workers in more than 130 interactive videodisc courses at the TradeSkill Open Learning Centre. Programmes are available for industrial and apprentice skills training, occupational health and safety, computer skills, and management and interpersonal training.

Mistakes to avoid in opening a centre

As marketers of TradeSkill multi media hardware and courseware Select Learning have assisted in the establishment of over twenty open learning centres, including their own centre in Perth. This experience has made Select Learning aware of the pitfalls that must be avoided for an open learning centre to succeed. Some of the more common ones to be avoided are

Poor marketing. Like any new idea or product, open learning must be marketed within the organisation. This is especially true in large organisations in which different departments may not be aware of projects in other departments.
Customised before generic courses. A great many training applications are plant or equipment specific. However, you should be aware that creation of customised courses requires large investments of time and money and strong support from management. Too many good projects have come unstuck because they did not give management or staff a tangible result early enough to sustain their support. Quality generic courses do provide one way to overcome this problem, by delivering tangible outcomes more quickly than can be achieved with custom designed courses;
User friendliness. If the technology is hard for a student to use, the course will fail, regardless of its quality. With the advent of touchscreens, roller balls, mice and other enhancements for making responses and commands, the only excuse for forcing a student to use a keyboard is if keyboarding is one of the specific skills to be learned in a course.

Author: Barry Henson provided a demonstration of Select Learning's courses. The summary above was prepared by the editors. For details, contact Barry at 88 Walters Drive, Osborne Park, WA 6017 (tel 09 242 2544, fax 09 242 2553). Select Learning are a company providing industrial training and interactive videodisc consultancies.
Please cite as: Henson, B. (1990). Select Learning's TradeSkill Open Learning Centre. In R. Atkinson and C. McBeath (Eds.), Open Learning and New Technology: Conference proceedings, 187-188. Perth: Australian Society for Educational Technology WA Chapter. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/olnt90/henson.html

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