The solution came in the form of a fiber-optic network, already laid throughout the city. In February, the fire department began offering training via streaming video on the network. The programming comprises live broadcasts from the department's own studio, recorded programs and satellite feeds from the Fire and EMT Network.
The programs allow department personnel to receive about 60 percent of all their training while in-house on a shift, reducing the time needed for fire fighters to leave their stations. Lectures, previously delivered in the classroom, are presented during one-hour live shows. To account for shifts, the shows are taped and rebroadcast three times that day and three days later. The last week of each month is "encore week," during which each lecture is repeated several times. "If we're going to require them to become EMTs, we're going to give them opportunities for training," says Frank P. Mason, the department's visual communications officer and coordinator of the new training program.
The move to a more virtual training approach is considered a success from both a financial and a personnel standpoint. Hiring two additional training officers would have cost the department about $150,000 a year; instead, the department spent that amount this year to implement the program and will pay little to continue it into the future. What's more, fire fighters have embraced the new training style and--most important to the department--they are becoming more highly trained and professional, Mason says.
As state and local governments around the country feel the pinch of tighter budgets and the lack of extra staff time, they are looking to maximize their resources while providing more effective training. Increasingly, they're turning to technology to enhance or even replace conventional instructor-led classroom sessions. Some are able to take advantage of technology already in place and adapt it to meet the changing needs of employee education. For others, migrating to the Internet looks like the most promising approach.
Long before the advent of the information superhighway, South Carolina was paving the virtual-training path. In the late 1960s, it installed a statewide closed-circuit television system designed to provide programming to the state's public schools. But hospitals, local government offices and law enforcement departments also had access to the system, and within several years, the state had found a use for the air time schools weren't using: training. In 1976, the state began training poll workers through the system, enabling election-day volunteers to receive the same instructions statewide. Since then, the original four-channel system has been upgraded to a 32-channel digital satellite system that beams training courses to personnel across the state. "We move the ideas instead of moving people," says Kent Nickerson, director of state agency distance learning. "We put training where training's needed."
To that end, Nickerson's agency, South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV), produces several dozen productions a year in its own studio. Hundreds of others are developed off site by the agencies themselves. The programs cover a wide range of topics, from implementing a specific tax form to keeping doctors updated for certification. The shows, which most often run live, are sent via the central satellite to more than 2,000 sites throughout the state. Agencies can also receive satellite broadcasts from conferences they opt not to attend. By eliminating the need for employee travel and multiple presentations of the same training, the closed-circuit training saves departments thousands of dollars. "The exact same message is received statewide," says Nickerson, "and it leaves hard travel dollars for things that have to be done hands on."
The Teletraining system, as it is known within South Carolina, has become all the more valuable in light of the state's current budget crisis. Agencies are cutting their budgets anywhere from 8 to 15 percent, and "that generally means training is one of the first things to go," notes Reba Campbell, vice president of communications and government relations for SCETV. The department will be campaigning during the next year to make agencies more aware of the satellite system's capabilities for training, "so they can still continue training, although maybe not to the same degree or in the same amount," she adds.
South Carolina and Tulsa were fortunate in that they already had the infrastructure necessary to support satellite training sessions. Another government installing the fiber optics necessary for similar systems would likely find the endeavor too costly to be worthwhile, despite the cost savings of off-site training. So, many of those governments are turning to what's now widely available: the Internet. States and municipalities develop or buy Web-based courses that, like those at virtual universities, cover much of the same material as instructor-led classroom sessions. Although the details vary among locales, agencies often purchase course access for a given number of employees, who can then log into the systems from their home or office computers.
Aldona Valicenti, Kentucky's chief information officer, sees real benefits to Web-based training. "We have to do a lot more on-the-job training," she says. "We are not going to have the leisure to take people out of their functions and do a formal training class."
Kentucky's own Internet training effort is now into its third year, teaching more than 3,500 state and local employees about desktop software, including word processing and spreadsheets. Valicenti adds that through self-paced study, the Internet offers instruction that doesn't overwhelm employees and allows them to learn in a non- threatening environment. "Just-in-time" training, where employees learn small amounts of information as needed, is a particularly successful training method when combined with the Internet, she says.
Virginia is utilizing a variety of technology applications. When the commonwealth sliced its job classifications from 1,650 to 300 last September, its human resources managers realized they needed to do more than change employees' titles in their computer system. Each of those employees--from the top managers down through the ranks--needed training. They had to learn what their new classification meant and how it affected their pay and responsibilities. But to bring all of Virginia's employees to a central location and train them in a classroom setting would have taken months longer than the commonwealth wanted.
So the Department of Human Resources Management sidestepped the traditional route, embracing Virginia's statewide Web site and other learning methods. The training curriculum was distributed to agencies via overheads, Power Point demonstrations and CD-ROMs. Employees could study the new classifications on a computer screen or in a printed book. "We're trying to pitch to how individuals learn best," explains Sara Wilson, director of Virginia's Human Resources Management Department. "We're balancing the best way to deliver content."
That balance means most governments aren't ready to write off classroom instruction altogether. "There's still room for instructor- based training," Kentucky's Valicenti says, "but it's a smaller room." Critics contend that Web-based training doesn't allow for enough direct interpersonal contact. Some Internet training developers are incorporating e-mail feedback or online mentors into their courses; ASTD (formerly the American Society for Training and Development) is beginning to certify Web-based training classes to thresh the best courses from the chaff. But most governments continue to use some instructor-led training, either to supplement their virtual classes or to teach skills that are difficult to learn outside a classroom setting. Tulsa fire fighters continue to perform field drills after watching their training programs. In addition to providing satellite training, South Carolina offers leadership training, which many agree is dependent upon group interaction in a more traditional format.
San Diego, likewise, touts the value of face-to-face leadership training. Although its Centre for Organization Effectiveness--created in 1993 to develop management skills--is beginning to use the Web for the completion of some forms, its 10-day leadership academy for public-sector managers doesn't substitute high-tech tutelage for instructors and group interaction. The group has explored putting its academy for field workers on the Web but hasn't made a move in that direction yet, says co-executive director Trudy Sopp.
The training programs of the future likely will combine virtual and classroom learning. Thirty-two state agencies in North Carolina have adopted a training format that relies upon both classroom and Web- based lessons. Last year, they bought a three-year license for a training library that includes 53 classroom courses and an online performance and learning system. The state also holds the reproduction rights for course material. At $319,000, the license represents a tremendous savings to the state, now in the midst of a budget crisis. Ann Cobb, director of human resources development for the state, says the system will make training more efficient by enabling employees to complete classroom training prerequisites and refresher courses on the Internet. "We're hoping to build an integrated approach," she says. "That would be the ideal situation."
