Promoting online training with DGOT

DIP YOUR TOES

ONLINE TRAINING • DAN LEE, ONE VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER, EXTOLS THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUES OF A NEW APPROACH OFFERED BY DANGEROUS GOODS ONLINE TRAINING

THE FUTURE IS HERE! I prostrate myself on the altar of forgiveness for daring once to say that e-learning will never replace the skill of a trainer in a classroom environment. There now exists an online e-learning programme of such power and effectiveness that we need never have to endure another gut-wrenchingly boring delivery of IATA Dangerous Goods by Air as we sit through two days of a refresher or re-do three days for an expired initial course.

The future is, as I said, already here and it brings with it these benefits: • It’s cheaper than a standard instructor-led course and there are no travel or

accommodation fees to add • You learn at your own pace – as slowly or as quickly as the program will let you • Direct feedback lets you know if you have correctly understood and thus correctly applied the learning within each module • Access to a book of knowledgeconfirmation exercises and further explanation of key points • Doing the end-of-course examination in the comfort of your own home • Receiving detailed written feedback on what you answered incorrectly or incompletely.

Those who know me will attest that I am not a big fan of International Air Transport Association (IATA) training; this stems from my days working for what was at the time the world’s largest airline and attending various DG by Air training courses delivered by a wide range of training providers who all had one thing in common: strict adherence to the boring IATA process where the content is delivered by an instructor.

MAKE THE CHANGE When I left the airline world I reduced my exposure to the biannual tedium of IATA DG by Air training to once every five years, just to keep my hand-in and to maintain my sanity. I am a firm believer that a DGSA or DG professional must learn more than just the road element of their craft. The UK is an island nation and both the sea and air modes of transport are vital elements to get dangerous goods items away from our shores.

I used to resent having to take three days of unpaid leave (I am self-employed) and sit through a course that was akin to being slowly bludgeoned to death by a manual with blue and yellow pages, so it was out of a mixture of curiosity and necessity that I embarked on the new method of IATA DG by Air delivery offered by Paul Horner and his team at Dangerous Goods Online Training.

My curiosity came through various experiences and exposure to e-learning from my time as a police law trainer back in the 1990s and in airlines and freight forwarders during the 2000s. My necessity was due to a client requesting an ‘in-date’ IATA DG by Air certificate. Covid-19 restrictions on both travel and attendance for one of the few DG by Air courses being delivered around the country also had a bearing on my decision to take the plunge and immerse myself with the online process.

I do not want readers to think that I curried favour by asking for a discount to undertake the

SHIPPING DANGEROUS GOODS BY AIR IS A COMPLEX

BUSINESS AND EFFECTIVE TRAINING IS VITAL TO

training. I am a great believer in paying the full price for training as I never offer discounts for my training courses because when you know something is good why would you sell it cheap?

HOW IT FEELS The administration, payment and access to the Dangerous Goods Online Training course is almost instantaneous. Once you receive your password and username you can commence the learning immediately. The content is delivered in 12 modules that cover all the basics of the IATA DG by Air content that you would expect from a standard course. But, unlike a standard course, you can go back and play the module again if you didn’t quite understand the content. If you are struggling after playing it through a couple of times you can email an online instructor to give you specifi c help.

Each module is provided in text and picture format with a narration so you can listen and read the content as it is delivered. There are regular knowledge checks in the form of exercises and questions to let you know whether you are applying the content in each module correctly.

I particularly liked the reference to reading the content of the relevant section rather than just relying on the delivery of the e-learning module’s content. This is an important point that is often missed or rushed through on standard IATA DG by air courses – you have to read and understand the content in the manual in order to apply it properly.

The e-learning programme is well thought through and delivered very professionally. You could do the whole 12 modules in one day – but why would you? Or you could do it as I did, spread over a couple of weeks. I enjoyed listening and engaging with the modules with a cup of tea, glass of beer or tumbler of whisky to hand. Some modules I did in a spare hour in the morning, a stolen hour prior to picking up the kids from school and in the wee small hours when the rest of the house was asleep.

I knew then that I could never go back to sitting in a training room in some grey, featureless hotel with 20 other people crammed in a room where 12 was the maximum occupancy, all struggling to make sense of where we were in the manuals and what the instructor was going on about…

FEEDBACK LOOP When you have received and completed all the modules within the e-learning programme you are immediately contacted with an email to arrange your exam. The exam paper is delivered via a parcel delivery service and the exam is taken within a one-on-one, online, invigilated session. The following day, the paper is collected by the same parcel delivery service back to Dangerous Goods Online Training.

The result of your exam is provided within three days of receipt (mine was the next day) and you get detailed written feedback as to which questions you failed to score the maximum points on. Fortunately, I passed the exam and I had my certifi cate ready to send to the client within the email congratulating me on my result.

I can hear the swathes of DG instructors and trainers protesting that such online learning programs can never replace the interaction that they have with their student as they struggle to comprehend the weird and multi-levelled world of dangerous goods. They may have a point for ADR and DGSA training but, when you stop the automatic and natural objections to something that could threaten your livelihood, the premise of consistent delivery of the IATA DG training is what is needed in the theatre of global compliance to an agreed standard.

If you view this online training programme objectively you will see that it now frees up the existing IATA DG trainers to go and assist companies by doing more specifi c and directed learning as their IATA DG training needs analysis requires. As a qualifi ed trainer, I welcome training a group of staff who all have a known, consistent level of knowledge so that I can take their development to the next level of competence and effectiveness where their DG knowledge leads to fewer business delays and an enhanced business reputation of being able to get the air freight moving with minimal delay. Isn’t that after all what a company wants, more than just a tick in a CAA Audit Compliance List?

Well done Dangerous Goods Online Training, I am converted! All my requirements for IATA DG by Air will, in future, be met by DG Online Training’s excellent training programmes and I will heartily recommend any DG professional, who hasn’t done so already, to dip their toe in the Future of DG by Air learning to determine whether this method of delivery meets their requirements too.

This is an edited version of an article written by Dan Lee of Dan Lee Training (www. danleetraining.com) for the British Association of Dangerous Goods Professionals’ (BADGP) newsletter.

For further details about Dangerous Goods Online Training’s courses, visit www.dgonline. training or call +44 800 649 6799.