Boldly Teleporting Through Space and Time
I just finished watching Star Trek Into Darkness the latest addition to the Star Trek
franchise. One of the things I like
about all the Star Trek stories is the ability to transport through space, and
now time. I always was intrigued about
the ability to step into the transporter room and be beamed anywhere. In the latest episode, they even managed to
go back in time.
Well we are putting the final changes on our own transporter;
we call it ESI Distance Learning. Now
you can beam one of our instructors through the Internet to your PC or tablet
anywhere in the world and any time you wish.
For the last three years, we have been working on ways to
make it easier for customers to attend one of our courses using the Web. Our first version is a Webinar based course
dealing with pumps. We took sections
from our two-day Piping System
Fundamentals course to create a two hour Webinar dealing with pumps, and
pump operation. We used our WebEx
account and started with 50 attendees.
That first course sold out, in one day.
Prior to our first Webinar, we were a little nervous; what
if people had difficulty logging on to WebEx, if they did not like the Webinar
format, if they wanted their money back.
Well the first Web class was well received, everyone liked the format
and no one asked for a refund. Since
then we have conducted over twenty pump webinars. The course is still well attended and we
continually get positive feedback from the attendees.
Last year we decided to run our Piping System Fundamentals course (all 16 hours) in Webinar
form. We divided the course into 8 two-hour
blocks, and covered two blocks per week.
We also recorded each two-hour block so you can review the information
if you could not attend the live Webinar, or if you wanted to review any
content. It was a good start, but we
felt it was still lacking.
We started looking for ways to make the course meet our
customers’ schedule, any time of the day or night. We
also wanted them to be able to practice what they learned, and finally we
wanted to have the same interactive feeling as a live course. Sounds like an impossible task. We looked at it as a challenge not
impossible. So, you may be asking, “How
did they do it?”
The distance learning Piping
System Fundamentals is made up of nine topics, with many of the topics
having multiple lessons. Each lesson is
a pre-recorded video between 15 to 30 minutes in length. Most video lessons have a Practical Exercise
where the attendee can work out technical problems covered in the video. After completing all video lessons for a
topic, a quiz tests the mastery of the topic, and you are provided with immediate
feedback.
Each course has a specific start and stop date, with the
original plan that the attendee can complete the course in 30 days. Upon registration, you receive a copy of the
Crane Technical Paper 410, along with a copy of the ESI Learning Piping System
Fundamentals. These two books are
referenced extensively throughout the course.
Each course is also assigned a Distance Learning Instructor that answers
your questions, provide additional insight, and make it a profitable learning
experience.
If you have any questions, they are directed to the
distance-learning instructor by either e-mail, or call in phone support. There is also a forum for all attendees that
is moderated by the distance-learning instructor.
Each week of the scheduled course, the Distance Learning
Instructor has office hours where you can ask your questions live and get an
answer. During office hours, the
instructor will answer your questions; review the past weeks questions, and
provides additional insight. The office
hours are conducted via WebEx and they are recorded for later viewing.
Upon successful completion of the Piping System Fundamentals
course, the attendee receives credit for 16 professional development
hours.
So how can you help?
We are seeking 25 volunteers to “Boldly go where no one has gone before”
to test out our distance learning transporter.
If you would like to sign up please e-mail your request complete with
name, and contact information to DistanceLearningInstructor-PSF@eng-software.com. We will choose 25 people at random for the
online Piping System Fundamentals course.
It will start on September 1, 2014 and will end on September 31, 2014.
This course will be taught in standard US units, and is only open to people in
the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Each of the 25 volunteers will receive a copy of the Crane Technical
Paper 410, and the Piping System Fundamentals course books, and upon successful
completion of the course will receive 16 Professional Development Hours.
That’s all I have for this month, as always I would really
enjoy hearing from you.
