# Presentation: 183988

## Web-Based Training:  Should it be on Today’s Menu?

- U.S. Department of Energy Building Energy Codes Program
- Pam ColeRosemarie Bartlett

## BECP Training History

- Stand-up
- Videotapes
- Satellite broadcasts
- Computer-based (CDs)

- Then

- Now

- Stand-up
- Webcasts
- Self-paced
- Online videos

## Webcasts

- Pros
- Reach a larger audience
- Lower cost per student
- Travel/availability
- Cons
- Rely on service provider
- Technical issues
- Not great for “Hands-on” activities

## Webcasts - Things to Consider

- Date/Time of Event
- Material Preparation
- Announcement
- Registration
- Issues Prior to Event
- Issues During Event
- Follow-Up

## Date/Time of Event (A)

- When
- Who

## Date/Time of Event (B)

- Time zones
- Other events

## Material Preparation (A)

- Length of material
- Material approved by others
- Format

## Material Preparation (B)

- Responsible?
- Due date?
- Web service provider?

**Notes:**
Who is responsible to prepare it?
When is it due?  Who has to review it?
Can web service provider handle the format you want to use? – what will you be doing?  Strictly PowerPoint?  Software Demonstrations?  Do you want to be able to turn “control” over to attendees?

## Announcement – Website (A)

**Date/Time:  Important to give different time zones**

**Make presentation available ahead of time**

## Announcement Website (A) 

## Announcement – Website (B)

- Information layout
- CEUs

**Notes:**
Information clearly laid out (have several people look at it), as clear as you think it is, folks will not understand something about it. Try to be as clear as possible when providing CEU information – this is critical to many attendees.

Can people readily figure out whether CEUs are offered and how many?  You will likely get questions from folks as to whether your training CEUs are applicable to their organization – we explain that the training is applicable to other organizations (besides AIA and ICC) as long as the organization accepts self reporting – attendees can print and keep the certificate of completion for their records.

## Announcement – Email (A)

## Announcement – Email (B)

- Forward email to a friend
- Forward certain details (but not entire email)
- Registration?

**Notes:**
Forward email to a friend – friend doesn’t always realize they need to register
Forward certain details (but not entire email) – tech support gets questions requesting details
Can they figure out they need to register and register soon? – attendee limit issue and some folks believe all they need is a URL and they don’t need to register

## Registration (A)

## Registration (B)

- Confirmation?
- Read it?
- Presentation copies?
- Multiple viewers at one site?
- Registration required?
- Attendee limit?

**Notes:**
Get an initial confirmation but don’t recognize it has all of the log-in details
Register way early and then forget
Read it?  Do they even read and understand that they need both a computer with an Internet connection AND a phone to participate
Even though a link to the presentation is given, do they go there and print a copy?
Each individual registers even though what you care about is # of connections
Make clear what each individual needs to do if there are multiple viewers at a site
Registration required/limit to # of attendees:  web service provider capacity; # of questions and follow-up work

## Registration - Reminder

**Send a Reminder Two Days Prior to Event**

## Registration – Reminder (B)

- Phone AND computer?
- Presentation copies?

**Notes:**
When you send out the registration reminder (often, this can be part of the service that the webcast provider does), emphasize they need a phone AND a computer, unless you are using a streaming audio AND streaming video service.

Try also to emphasize that the presentation is available ahead of time to help them follow along and take notes, and give the location of the file.  We recommend NOT sending the presentation but making it available on a website somewhere.  This saves people’s mailbox space but can also be helpful if you realize you have a mistake in the presentation – you can fix it online, and you haven’t sent it to 1000 people.

## Event

- Call in early
- Log in early
- “No show” rates

**Notes:**
Many participants wait until the event start time to call in and log in – even though the reminder emphasizes how important it is to do this at least 15 minutes ahead of time.  There are usually a few complaints that they missed the first few minutes of the event.

Be prepared for “no shows”, especially if the event you are offering is “free”.  Also be aware that participants may register individually but actually be viewing the webcast at a shared location, so you could end up with 20 individual registrations when in actuality you only have 1 site.  (You care about actual sites - # of computer connections – because this is how the webcast providers typically bill you).

## Event (B)

- Log in
- Have trouble
- Presentation copies?
- Logistics of handling questions
- Unanswered questions?
- Evaluation/feedback from attendees

**Notes:**
There have been a few folks who tried to participate using a dial-up connection which poses a problem because they need Internet connection AND a phone.  There are few people who want the audio to stream as well as the video.  This capability exists among many webcast providers, but typically the cost is higher, and bandwidth limitations could further limit the number of attendees per event.

Some people call in and don’t realize they need to log into the computer.

Some people log into the computer but don’t call in and then submit an electronic question to the effect that the slides are changing but where’s the audio – they have turned up their computer speakers but still don’t hear anything!

Making the presentation available ahead of time is crucial.  There have been a few folks who have had technical difficulties logging in on the computer, but were able to follow along okay on the phone and with their hard copy of the presentation.  However, even though the link to the presentation has been provided (in the reminder message AND on the main webcast page), there are still several questions asked during each webcast about whether the presentation is available.

Tech support – pop up blockers; can’t install software needed

## Follow-Up

- Answer all questions not answered “live”
- Provide statistics on attendance, etc.
- Evaluate the evaluations

## Thank You Page

**Allows participants to:**
**Complete Evaluation Form**
**Take Test**
**Print a Certificate**

## Thank You Page (B)

- Evaluation?
- Test?
- AIA?
- Other?
- Certificate?

**Notes:**
Make links very simple so people can copy them down.  Only give link “live” during the webcast (last slide and leave it up for some period of time).  

Be prepared to get some questions again about CEUs.

Make a certificate available.

## Evaluation Form

**Overall Rating**
**Ease of Access**
**Overall Effectiveness of Presenter**
**Participate Again?**
**State**
**BECP Products**
**Additional Topics**
**Other Comments**

## Evaluation Form (B)

- Why?
- Gripes
- Suggestions

**Notes:**
It’s always important to do an evaluation form.  We provide one link to participants after the webcast – the Thank You page – the first item they come upon is the Evaluation form – this has greatly increased responses.  If you make the completion of the evaluation just another option for them, your responses will be limited.

Allows participants to gripe about any problems they may have had.

Allows you to get suggestions such as potential topic ideas from participants.  Some participants may also offer process improvement suggestions.

If you are going to go to the trouble to have an evaluation form, it’s vital that someone be responsible for reviewing the responses.

## Test

**Software grades the test and “logs” results**

## Test (B)

- Why?
- Who?
- How?

**Notes:**
AIA requires a test for distance learning activities.  Participants must pass with an 80% or better score.

Only AIA members are required to take the test – this is the only way they can get “credit” – however, we usually have several folks who attempt the test.

We use a shareware program called Moodle for our AIA tests which scores the tests.  AIA members who pass the test are submitted to AIA by BECP for credit.

## Certificate

**Allows participants to generate/print their own certificates**

## Certificate (B)

- How?
- What do I do with it?
- Doesn’t work

**Notes:**
Making the certificate available allows folks to self report.  Having a “certificate generator” so people can print their own certificates save a LOT of staff time – especially if you are going to be doing multiple events.

Be prepared for some folks to have trouble using a certificate generator.  You will once again be asked by a few participants what they’re supposed to do with their certificate.  We generate certificates for people who have trouble and email them the file.

## Self-Paced

- Schedules/availability
- Information links, etc.
- Instructor accessibility

## Self-Paced – Things to Consider

- Topic
- Length
- Tool to use
- Questions
- Technical
- Logistical
- Records?

**Notes:**
Topic – pick a topic that lends itself well to being self-paced.  If done well, most topics can accommodate this format.

Length – don’t have it be too long – or, if it’s longer than a couple of hours, make sure that the tool that’s used will track progress for the users and allow them to easily find where they left off if they exit and return later.

Tool – should be easy to understand and navigate.

Questions – make a point of contact available to answer technical questions related to the course material and also questions related to the tool.

If you are providing CEUs for the training, check to see if there are any record requirements.  For example, BECP offers AIA learning units for its courses, but this requires that participants take and pass a test (80%).  BECP submits successful participants to AIA for credit, and AIA requires that BECP retains the test scores and participant information for a period of some years which would be available to AIA upon request.

**Notes:**
This is an example of the first page of the COMcheck 101 self-paced training module.  It’s important to use representative graphics for visual interest.  However, do not use “gratuitous” graphics.

## Online Videos

- Schedules/availability
- Refresher
- Own pace (rewind, etc.)

## Online Videos – Things to Consider

- Format
- Access
- Downloadable or streaming
- Server load
- Additional resources

**Notes:**
Format – Windows Media (wmv), Flash, etc. – it’s good to offer more than one format to provide the users with the greatest flexibility

Access – how will folks be able to access the videos?  Will they be available only on a website, for example?

Downloadable or streaming – if you are going to offer streaming videos, make sure that the server load can handle multiple, simultaneous viewers.

The website page with the videos is a good place to again make the presentation PowerPoint file or PDF file available.

## Schedule of Webcast Activities

| Timing | Activity |
| --- | --- |
| 6 wks | Identify topic and set date |
| 6 wks | Secure speakers |
| 4 wks | Notify internal organization and set a location for them to view webcast (so they don’t take up your “slots”) |
| 4-6 wks | Reserve webcast service for event and a dry run session |
| 4-6 wks | Make sure technical assistance is available for event date |
| 4 wks | Marketing [announcement email blast (use electronic medium to advertise webcasts); determine target audience query; have registration system set up; have plan to handle group sites] |
| Ongoing | Monitor registration |
| 3-4 wks | Prepare instructional materials (log in/call in information; helpful hints for using webcast service |
| 1-2 wks | Create evaluation form (ease of log-in, future topics) |
| 1-2 wks | Obtain presentation from speaker(s) |
| 2-3 days | Send instructions with a pdf (or link to pdf) of presentation – useful for participants to take notes |
| 2-3 days | Prepare “loop” presentation – loops during 15-30 minutes prior to event – has instructions for participation during webcast (can’t be used for log-in instructions because they’re already logged in) |
| 1-2 days | Conduct dry run |
| 1 hour | On broadcast computer:  open software needed during broadcast and close all unneeded software (including email and anything else that sends notifications) |
| After | Obtain actual attendance list |
| After | Send (or direct folks to) evaluation form |
|  | How will attendees obtain a certificate of completion (watch costs with this; can be costly with a big event) |
| After | Respond to all unanswered questions |

**Schedule of Webcast Activities**

- Suggestions:
-   Have someone available to help speaker(s) with questions
-   If doing several webcasts – keep a simple summary spreadsheet with event title, date, # of attendees, and any other pertinent
-    information you may be asked for later.