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News and Background Information on the Conference | |||
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The move from CBT to Distance Learning
Eight hundred trainers work in a unique network of ninety training centers in seventy countries, offering training and qualification for over 185,000 participants a year. For example in Stuttgart-Vaihingen in Germany, the German headquarters of DaimlerChrysler, up to 450 people per day take part in sales and management training courses. DaimlerChrysler has already been producing CBT for ten years, and about 130 different subjects have been published, ranging from physical basics (e.g. electrics/electronics) to differentiated automotive functions such as navigation systems, gearboxes, or ABS. Over the years, CBT changed from an individual, add-on, fee-based program for retailers to an integrated Distance Learning approach that is "just another method out of the box". In 1992 AKUBIS, an interactive TV-based broadcasting system was launched. The first CBTs were published on CD in 1996. In 2000, e-Training was added for the first time. The e-Training was part of a blended learning concept consisting of online sessions, a virtual classroom, online tests, but also face-to-face training. Web-based training for fundamentals has been available since 2004. Since then all these different media and modules have been used in our concepts, either as individual modules or integrated into training concepts. One important aspect of the delivery of online training or distance learning courses successfully to staff is the marketing of these training programmes within the company. At Global Training, we have also seen that employee acceptance varies greatly from market to market and that it depends on both the employee’s function and education, though younger employees seem to have less problems with the programmes and training concepts. Actually, these learners are quite demanding concerning animation and interactivity since they are used to high quality from games and the Internet. Salespeople are also very positive, according to Matthias Adam-Brockerhoff, who heads the team e-training and CBT/WBT within Global Training. They get their information about new cars "prepared and guided" and very close to the market launches; they do not have to elaborate it on their own. Here, too, though, there is a "BUT": The salespeople do not have the opportunity to go through an entire programme in a single sitting. They want it split into segments of about 30 minutes, which allows them to "learn at lunch". Matthias Adam-Brockerhoff will give you an overview of the various steps of this development. He will provide insight into the production process (planning of issues, production/programming, distribution, and invoicing) of electronic content and also give you a view of the strategy that Global Training has set out for the future. “Recently distance learning has accounted for about 50% of our total man-days of training. We want to increase this share to about 80% in the near future. To reach this target, we are focussing our activities on the learners opening their minds and modifying their habits for these new methods. We are also extending our catalogue, offering easy access to all learners. Another focus is on content sharing”, says Adam-Brockerhoff. More information about the pre-conference forum on E-Learning in the Automotive Industry can be found at http://www.online-educa.com/?a=1&b=4&c=6.
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Matthias Adam-Brockerhoff, 39, is head of the team e-training and CBT/WBT in Global Training at DaimlerChrysler, where he is responsible for planning, production, and sales. The team also develops the distance-learning strategy for Global Training. He was previously in charge of various issues and projects in the quality management departments at smart and DaimlerChrysler. He later took over the marketing, sales, and market support of after-sales information systems (diagnosis, repair, and parts information for the automobile producer’s workshops).