Am I passionate about training, YOU BET!  I recently read an article about developing and using on-line training for OSHA & HIPPA compliance.  It seems like more and more companies are looking at on-line training for their employees. On-line training is available for OSHA, DOT, HIPPA and more.  Push a few buttons and you are trained.  While it is economical and less time consuming, there are some drawbacks.

As a trainer:

• I can look at a trainee and see in their eyes if they are understanding the material.   
• I can evaluate if a student learns by seeing, hearing or doing and then work with that student using their best learning style. 
• I can adjust the material if I see it is not relevant to YOUR students. 
• I can have a student verbalize back to me how much they understand about the subject to detemine if they need more information.

Please tell me how the computer can make these deteminations except by continually quizing the student. 

Good safety trainers are good for business and payback their expense.  They help increase productivity and help keep worker’s compensation lower.  Both result in more profits going to the bottom line.  I have used this example before, but a average incident (according to OSHA) cost an employer about $25,000.  At 3% profit margin the company has to make an additional $833,000 to break even, and that’s if you have only 1 incident.

I am assistant scuba instructor and now there are some certifing agencies that have on-line classes for courses content.  Not the buddy I would want to be with at 80 feet under water, and to have to depend on saving my life if something went wrong.  How about the on-line First Aid/CPR class, want that person to work on you? 

On-line training for the refresher great, for the initial training, think about it and what it may really cost you.