WINTER 1998     Inside: • MOULD — A Growing Health Concern in Buildings • Using Geophysics for Site Characterization • Bow Valley Centre Demolition • Occupational Ergonomics • Interactive Multimedia INTERACTIVE MULTI-MEDIA – New Trends in Employee Training By Mike Katz, TKL Technologies Inc.     Interactive training systems are being employed by companies searching for more effective ways to deliver knowledge and accelerate training as part of their training process. Successful firms of the new millennium will require a superior basis for knowledge building, gathering and distribution. They will need to be capable of delivering strategically relevant material to the right people in real time.     What are the advantages of an interactive training system? The answer to this question clearly depends on what type of training satisfies all of a company’s needs. The program should be efficient and effective and meet the operational and logistical considerations of the company. Workers must be able to learn the material quickly and precisely, retain it and be able to apply it to real on-the-job problems. The program should be flexible and able to add or amend content easily. Finally, does the program verify the worker’s knowledge or need trainer interaction?     The main advantage of an interactive training system is that is helps the user make decisions and formulate a strategy to help solve a future problem. If the user is introduced to a series of strategies in context, learned them in a very easy way, practiced them until he could answer every question accurately, then he is better equipped to deal with the real life problem. For example, if a worker sees a new hazardous product for the first time, his chances of not getting hurt are significantly improved if he is trained to ask the right questions. "Does it have a label?" Can I identify the symbol? What must I remember not to do with a compressed gas? If I’m not sure, where can I get more information? Where are the safety data sheets kept?, etc.     But that leaves the ultimate question. How can we know that this training method transfers into better on the job performance? In the 1960’s, the U.S. army was having great difficulty training soldiers with relatively low academic skills to operate sophisticated equipment. The workers simply could not read through manuals or remember classroom lessons. Through interactive learning they became very proficient at operational tasks. Today we have the added advantage of much more sophisticated computer systems that can make the learning task easier. As former Citibank C.E.O., Walter Wriston states, "The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of the people in his organization is going to blow the competition away." Perhaps the new trend toward interactive training is just such an attempt.     The following topics are suitable for interactive training: WHMIS, TDG, Hazardous Materials, Pulp Mill Gases, Confined Space Entry, etc. PHH in conjunction with TKL Technologies can develop interactive training programs that will meet the needs of your company. For further information, please contact John Holland in the PHH Richmond office or Mike Katz at TKL Technologies Inc., 604-977-8955, email: m_katz@tkltech.com.