Why eLearning technical topics just may fit the bill

By Paul Avery | Product Training Engineer at Yaskawa America • Drives and Motion Division

It is a universal truth that training for your employees and staff is a good thing. Finding the time and money tosend people off for training … well … not so much. Budgets are tight, people are too busy to be away from their primaryresponsibilities, and many people don’t like to travel to far away sites no matter how necessary the training might be.

As a technical trainer for variable frequency drives (VFDs) you won’t hear me bad mouthing in-person training as probably the best method of presenting large quantities of mostly new information to groups or individuals. But the reality is that there just isn’t always the time and money available for it.

Enter eLearning. Like all things in modern life, the internet has changed the game when it comes to training people on technical topics. Admit it: The last time you had to repair something around the house you first did a quick search of YouTube to see if there was a video that showed step-by-step how to fix your exact model. The same thinking can be applied to industrial and commercial devices that are just too complex to be intuitive.

Here are some important reasons that justify why eLearning should be part of your employee training curriculum.

With the current state of the internet and the interconnectivity of devices and equipment, it is in the best interest of any company that wants to optimize the productivity of their associates tasked with technical tasks consider eLearning. It offers high ROI due to its low cost, ease of access, skillbased objectives, and ability to customize to each viewer. Above: Some eLearning modules present quizzes to help students measure their own proficiency on a topic. In fact, eLearning modules can also provide step-by-step instructions on detailed tasks such as programming; virtual chapters on specific subtopics to save engineers time; and certification to those who require it.

Low or no cost: eLearning modules and videos are freely available on the web. Great short and long videos are available either at public sites like YouTube channels, or directly through manufacturer’s websites. Since most web browser can host the video or module there generally isn’t a cost for special software to view or host the content. And of course, because these are available 24/7/365 on the web, there is no cost for travel, lodging, and meals that are normally a part of onsite training.

Pacing: In every training class, there is always a challenge to create a comfortable learning environment. Part of the challenge is the pacing of the content. It always seems that the information is coming too quickly for some and too slowly for others. Either way, it is easy for the student to lose interest in a class where the pacing is not appropriate for their skill level.

With eLearning the pace of the information is totally controlled by the viewer-student. Beginners can stop the content and review at their leisure and even start over as many times as they would like. More experienced students can skip directly to the part that they are most interested in without sitting through the parts that they already have down. This keeps them engaged and optimizes the time spent on the training. Many video platforms such as YouTube also let publishing manufacturers to annotate videos with topic timelines to give viewers the ability to jump directly to video portions of interest. Timeline jumping by topic can optimize the student’s time and prevent them clicking away when they are faced with sitting through stuff that doesn’t interest them. Manually forcing them to click around until they find what they want can also lead to frustration.

Universal: Particularly when the eLearning is in the form of YouTube videos, there is a joy in knowing that the devices that can partake of the training are not limited to any one device, like a personal computer, or to any particular platform, like Apple or Android. YouTube videos are available everywhere and the quality of the video is automatically scaled to match the device and internet bandwidth available. Of course, many companies may need to figure out how to allow their personnel access to the eLearning videos without the worry of losing employees to binge watching non-work related or inappropriate content on work hours.

Scale: Unlike in-person training which usually lasts at least a day to multiple days and covers a breadth of topics, eLearning’s specialty is short topic and skills based. Instead of a class on everything, most people want to know about a particular device. An eLearning video will cover a shorter topic and much more skill based — such as How to wire a motor to a VFD. However, many short topic modules can be strung together to create an overall skills-based training certification when testing is included and vetted as part of a course. as part of a Learning Management System or LMS. Students can strive to achieve certificates via completing and passing groups of shorter lessons. Just as collections of predetermined classes can lead to an associate or bachelor’s degrees, collections of shorter eLearning tasks can developing skills. Online lessons can be easily populated with quizzes athat require a passing score for students to achieve badges.

Interactive: A subcategory of eLearning is one that couples viewable eLearning modules or videos with online real-time student interaction with actual equipment. This is especially useful when teaching skills that require the use of equipment that students may not own. For example, software from VFD manufacturers can customize VFD operation ... but using the software requires some training. Students interested in this software watch YouTube demonstrations and then access a VFD connected to the Internet to prove their command of the software by completing preset projects. Upon successful completion of projects, the students can earn Professional versions of the customizing software. In this way, the student gets something to which the general public doesn’t have access … and the manufacturer gains capable programmers using their advanced software tools.

Paul Avery

Training for everyone from students to OEMs

Robert Watkins, V.P. of sales and applications at Ruland Manufacturing Co. explains his company's education initiatives. We've begun working more closely with our customers to provide application-based training both online and in-person. In-person training can be more impactful because it is a captured audience with limited distractions. Ruland web-based training is primarily done live (not prerecorded) and we try to have multiple people take it in the same room. This approximates some helpful aspects of in-person training.

Beyond that, we've made a company-wide commitment to the FIRST Robotics program — and have been a Gold level supplier of FRC for more than 10 years. We donate parts through the kickoff kit, FIRST Choice, and directly to teams ... and grant students access to all the training we give to our customers and technical-support team.

We've passionate about STEAM education and FIRST has been a great way for us to engage and help educate the next generation of engineers.

Motion-industry educational efforts abound for students and engineers

Motion-component suppliers surveyed for this year’s Design World Trends issue described several different programs to maintain technical proficiency for both application engineers and OEMs and other users of their products.

CGI Motion engages in outreach in the form of open houses so that STEM students get chances to tour the company facility. That’s from Robert Shouppe of CGI Motion. “We also provide equipment to Western Nevada College in our area — including CNC equipment and other machinery for their technical program. Plus we offer scholarships … and are proud to say that some of our employees have come to work for us, gone back to school to take the programs we sponsor, and obtained degrees and certifications in electronics and automation to ultimately advance their career within our company,” says Shouppe.

He adds that CGI Motion hopes to see more students enter both engineering and machine-shop professions in coming years, because he currently sees a labor shortage. “The retirement of baby boomers will really impact our industry, especially as a lot of older machinists are preparing to retire or ease into a sunset career. There's a big gap between the skill and knowledge we have in the shop and that just entering the shop.”

CGI Motion manufacturing mechanical engineer at Lance Brown adds its own perspective: “Colleges do an excellent job recruiting students early. However, I think there’s an emphasis on technical jobs related to computer programming and robotics … and our industry needs more attention is paid to developing young people in the skilled trades. We’re just not developing craftsmen anymore; few high schools still have wood shop and metal shop classes.”

Brown opposes portrayals of skilled trades as only pursued by dropouts: “Our industry offers lots of terrific manufacturing jobs. Many people raise families and live wonderful lives working those jobs; I certainly did.”

Robert C. Adams Jr. PhD, P.E. of rigid-chain technology supplier SERAPID shares that his company supports engineering education in many ways — including full compensation of what employees spend on tuition for higher education. In addition, SERAPID:

• Hires engineering students as engineering interns and sponsors capstone senior projects for the nearby School of Engineering and Computer Science at Oakland University

• Donates to the local FIRST robotics team and provides SERAPID products at cost to other U.S. FIRST robotics teams

• The company’s Director of Engineering also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Lubrication, Friction, and Wear (as well as a graduate course in advanced tribology) at Oakland University.

Manager of technical Training at Thomson Industries Thaniel Smith explains that a large portion of his company’s training (whether for internal personnel or our distribution partners) is face-to-face classroom instruction. “Our product experts and application engineers conduct these training sessions at our factories in North America and Europe where participants are also able to see firsthand some of the products on which they’re being trained,” explains Smith. Thomson field salespeople and product teams also provide training for OEMs and distributors on an as-needed basis.

“In addition to classroom training, our on-demand training content is always available on our website at www.thomsonlinear.com/en/ training with content specific to each of our product categories. Text, images, animations and videos cover basic design concepts as well as Thomson-specific information such as features, specifications, installation instructions, and maintenance tips,” Smith adds.

Multimedia presentations and on-demand resources are increasingly making their way into education and training materials to enhance these types of programs.

Mario Mitchell, product manager for IPS T-slot aluminum framing at Parker Hannifin’s Electromechanical & Drives Division explains yet another program. “In October 2018, we released the Parker T-Slot Aluminum Design Architect software called TADA. This digital tool lets end users design T-slot aluminum framing solutions for tables, carts, and machine guarding,” says Mitchell. The software is categorized as standalone — so it’s more than just an online catalog of parts. “TADA isn’t a plugin either, so design engineers aren’t locked into a certain 3D CAD platform when accessing our components for design work.”

Although the market is heavily dominated by 3D CAD software, the availability of software that doesn’t limit itself to a specific vendor is highly beneficial to customers. TADA inserts and keeps track of the proper fasteners to use within the design — a feature that’s fairly unique.

“In the past we did the bulk of our design work without the aid of a customer-facing tool. Now we can shorten the time from quote request to final proposal,” notes Mitchell. Design engineers can access tutorial videos, te mplates, and more at www.parker.com/designarchitect.