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Intranets
Chapter 36
Using Multimedia Applications
on an Intranet to Train Employees
CONTENTS
Training is a large cost in any corporation. Enormous amounts
of training need to be done in any company, particularly large
ones. The costs associated with training are not only financial-they
are the time devoted to training, and perhaps equally important,
the time and money wasted if a company doesn't properly
train its employees.
Training needs to be done to orient new employees to the corporation
itself-things such as teaching about corporate procedures, where
to find information, how to fill out forms, rules that managers
must follow, and other similar orientation issues.
Another level of training has to do with how to use particular
pieces of software at the corporation-for example, how to use
the accounting system or a database.
The most complex level of training incorporates not just how to
use software or how to follow procedures, but how to actually
do business at the company. For example, many companies put new
sales employees through a substantial amount of training that
encompasses teaching about the industry in which the salesperson
is selling, information about the product to be sold, as well
as specific sales techniques to be used.
Training is not just for new employees-it needs to be an ongoing
process. New products and goods to sell mean people need to be
taught about them. New software and business procedures require
that people be taught how to use them.
An intranet can help with all these kinds of training. It can
cut costs, save time, and ensure that people get better training.
On the simplest level, Web pages can be built to train people.
The Web can be used as a multimedia training tool by including
pictures, video, audio, with the text. It can be interactive as
well-people can answer questions, take tests, and try out procedures.
More revolutionary will be intranet-based multimedia applications.
Videoconferencing will allow trainers to teach people across the
entire intranet. People won't have to be physically in the same
room; instead, they can be seated at their PCs. And they'll be
able to interact and ask questions using the technology as well.
With whiteboard applications (in which people can see what is
on each other's computer screens), a teacher can demonstrate how
to use a particular piece of software, and everyone connected
can see on their computer screen what the instructor is doing,
and can ask questions by doing things such as circling a portion
of the screen, and asking questions about it.
Streaming video and audio technologies (which allow people to
watch videos or listen to audios without having to wait for them
to completely download) can be used for training as well. The
ultimate training tool, however, may be virtual reality. A virtual
world is built that someone can walk through and interact with
in the same way as with the real world. Virtual reality has been
used by the airlines and the military, for example, to train pilots.
Training employees is a major cost to many corporations. All employees
require training on an ongoing basis-training for mundane things
such as how to fill out new forms and procedures, to more sophisticated
things, such as being given information about new goods and services
the company sells. Multimedia on an intranet can be a very effective
training tool.
- It can be expensive for CyberMusic to fly instructors across
the country to teach small classes-many instructors need to be
paid, in addition to travel costs. With intranet videoconferencing,
however, a single instructor can teach a class live, and people
across the intranet and across the country can follow along on
their computers via desktop-to-desktop videoconferencing using
a videoconferencing program like CU-See-Me. With CU-See-Me, people
log into servers called reflectors, and can then participate in
a videoconference. They can be seen and be heard by the instructor,
and so can ask questions as well. CyberMusic uses videoconferencing
to train its sales employees on sales techniques.
- Sometimes, particularly with a sales staff, it can be difficult
to make sure that everyone can participate in a videoconference
at the same time. Additionally, people may at times want refresher
courses when a trainer isn't available. To solve the problem,
CyberMusic videocasts training videos across the intranet, using
streaming video technology. Anyone who wants to watch a training
video can click on a link on a Web page to a video clip, and they
can watch the training video at their own leisure. The video clip
is played from a streaming video server.
- Audio technology can be used for training as well-in particular
one called RealAudio. People can click on a link on a Web page,
and when they do so, they will hear an audio clip. The clip can
also display HTML Web pages as it plays the audio clip. In the
case of CyberMusic, RealAudio is used to teach its employees what
records are in their catalog. People can click on music clips
from all their recording artists, and as they listen, can view
Web pages with pictures and information about the artists. The
audio clips are played from a RealAudio server.
- For in-depth training on how to use a particular piece of
software, CyberMusic uses whiteboard applications. Whiteboard
applications allow many people to view what is on each other's
computer screens. An instructor can teach, step-by-step, how to
use a piece of software, and everyone connected to the whiteboard
can see what he is doing on their own computer screen. The instructor
can also mark up the screen, and everyone connected can see what
he is marking up. CyberMusic uses whiteboard applications for
training its accounting department how to use a new accounting
system. CU-See-Me reflectors allow for whiteboard applications.
- Virtual Reality has long been used in training applications-notably
by airlines and the military in training pilots. In virtual reality,
virtual worlds are built that people can walk through and interact
with. At CyberMusic, virtual reality is used to teach recording
engineers how to handle a recording session. A world has been
built in which engineers have to not only handle the technical
aspects of how to use the recording hardware, but even have to
contend with rock artists gone awry, intent on destroying the
recording session.
Contact
reference@developer.com with questions or comments.
Copyright 1998
EarthWeb Inc., All rights reserved.
PLEASE READ THE ACCEPTABLE USAGE STATEMENT.
Copyright 1998 Macmillan Computer Publishing. All rights reserved.
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