Contributed by Bob Chabot
ARE YOU READY FOR mLEARNING?
When it comes to training and education, bits and bytes are replacing bricks and mortar

Like other segments in the automobile industry, tool and equipment manufacturers face an imminent challenge: Education and training needs to evolve - pronto. Pertinent data continues to ramp up, both in terms and complexity. Training must evolve so that your customers are able to assimilate it, access it when necessary, and use it in a time-efficient and economical manner.

In-field and classroom training still have their place and value. But attendees cannot readily take it with them, let alone have it at their fingertips as a resource when faced with an automotive challenge. So the question is: Are you investing in yesterday's technology or in the technology your customers need and in many cases use first?

"Of all types of changes that we face and have to assimilate, it is technological change that is growing fastest." — Futurist Ray Kurzweil (Image — Kurzweil Technologies Inc.)

Education Should be More About Learning and Less About School
"For technicians at all levels, a basic understanding of vehicle systems and how they interact electronically will be as critical for someone doing brake work as it is for troubleshooting a driveability issue," says Tony Molla, vice president for communications for the National Institute Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). "The difference will be the increasing complexity and depth of knowledge required to do maintenance and light repair jobs vs. driveability diagnosis. Either way, ongoing training will be a fact of life for anyone engaged in automotive service and repair, but how that education is delivered will change over time."

"The recently launched Industry Education Alliance is designed to help develop the infrastructure to build a pipeline that will help the industry meet its evolving manpower needs now and in the future," he continued. "It combines the expertise, methodology and technologies used by many educational organizations and industry partners. But the Alliance needs more manufacturers, suppliers and automakers to get onboard by lending material, financial support and active involvement for this initiative."

"Besides better support from industry stakeholders for career education, another area that really needs attention is providing consumers with confidence that, as an industry, our only goal is to provide our nation's motorists with safe and reliable transportation," said Bill Haas, founder of Haas Performance Consulting LLC and a longtime advocate for automotive education and training. "Some segments of our industry send confusing and unsubstantiated messages to consumers. It is really time for the industry as a whole to create a singular message with only the best interests of consumers in mind and perpetuate the message."

"I believe the educators of the industry's future technicians are doing a good job of providing aspiring technicians with exposure to the technological resources and advancements in the service and repair environment," he continued. "But as an industry, we need collaborate and focus on improving technicians' access to information and how it is delivered to them. Technicians need to have diagnostics, repair procedures, even training modules in their hands with mobile devices, so that they are not spending time leaving their work area to go to print or to use electronic resources located elsewhere in the shop."

The technology used to deliver education and training to the automotive industry has evolved over time to deliver both the quantity and complexity of information required by users. (Image — Morgan Stanley)

Hass said he is less concerned with technicians holding themselves back than he is with shop owners and managers holding them back. "They impose restrictions on technicians' use of mobile devices on the job. In reality, shop owners and managers should encourage their use and realize the benefits of improved technician productivity. My concern is that many shop owners have not embraced new educational technologies. As a result, tech-savvy entry-level technicians coming out of a vocational career program see a disconnect between the exposure to fascinating, intriguing 'techie' stuff and the realities of what is available or provided in the work shop by employers."

Education is an Evolutionary Process
Automotive training, including the use of equipment and tools, was once delivered in brick and mortar environments, such as classrooms, shop floors, and trade shows. In the past decade, many providers have shifted to eLearning (electronic learning), delivered to a laptop or personal computer. More recent, the use of Web video services, such as YouTube, has increased.

But conventional eLearning still falls short, despite offering advantages compared to brick and mortar education, such as anytime, anywhere training on a computer. However, eLearning hasn't the capability to be sent to and used with all of the devices that are used today - smartphones and tablets.

In addition, eLearning is also restricted in the functionality that can be delivered to users. Simply put, the ability to deliver eLearning to all smart devices - regardless of brand, operating system, Web browser, etc. - is hamstrung by the underlying architecture, bandwidth, content management systems and other factors. Given the growth in data, vehicle complexity, innovative tools and equipment, ever-emerging new service procedures and more, the resources technicians need most at their fingertips are not provided by eLearning, let alone in-field or classroom education.

mLearning training solutions have already been deployed or are under development by most automakers and some aftermarket organizations. (Image — Pacific Technology Solutions)

Fortunately, mLearning (mobile learning) has arrived. "mLearning can be defined as any activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting with or creating information mediated through compact digital portable devices reliable internet connectivity - such as smart phones and tablets - that individuals carry on a regular basis," explained Tony Rotundo, principal and director of development for Pacific Technology Solutions LLC (PTS). "mLearning technologies are enabling a sea change in what and how education and training is delivered to existing and aspiring technicians, service advisers, managers and owners in the automotive industry."

"HTML5 and Flash clients, cloud-based storage, advanced mobile-specific learning content management systems (LMS) and other mLearning technologies now facilitate training solutions to integrate a wide range of rich educational multimedia," he added. "These include formal training manuals, e-learning courseware and video podcasts; informal text messaging, mobile surveys, mobile blog, and social networking capability to enable data sharing and feedback from peers and others; as well as user-directed interactive learning, reference and performance data. "

Bottom line: These innovations enable full cross-platform capability for organizations and manufacturers that employ mLearning to deliver training and education to any device, any operating system, and any Web browser - be it a home computer, laptop, smart phone or tablet. For example, in an earlier ETI newsletter article, I-CAR Reaches Out to ETI, I-CAR Technical Director Jason Bartanen shared that I-CAR is conducting a feasibility study regarding using a new mobile-specific LMS that could replace existing older architecture, which would enable quicker course development, more efficient updates and delivery to a wider range of mobile devices.

Near Field Communications and 2-dimensional QR bar codes can be used by mLearning applications to launch training, call up service information, wiring schematics, and access repair procedure tutorials that are part or system specific. (Image — Pacific Technology Solutions)

Mobility and Connectivity Are Poised to Revolutionize Automitve Education and Training
"Conventional classroom instructions and eLearning face some daunting challenges - such as scalability, effectiveness and interactivity," said Chris Chesney, CARQUEST Technical Institute's senior director for professional markets. "When you get 35 technicians in a classroom or on a shop floor, who range widely in age and experience, you can see those who readily interact and those who don't at all. You can also distinguish those who are tech-savvy from those who are tech-averse."

"For example, younger technicians tend to diagnose differently than older technicians. Young technicians play a lot of video games and are more techie-like - not intimidated by emerging technologies. They learn to try things via simulations. If it works, great; if not they try something else. In contrast, older technicians tend to go to more traditional resources, such as service manuals, service info, technical bulletins, etc."

"The trick is to marry the best of both into training and education, and then deliver it anywhere, anytime, on any device the technicians use," Chesney explained. "mLearning technology does this. It allows the use of animations, video and other multimedia to demonstrate key concepts more effectively that traditional classrooms or eLearning can. For example, movement and technical system accuracy, as well as actual repair procedures cannot be completely conveyed in a manual, photograph or screenshot. mLearning technology allows us to demonstrate concepts and techniques in a course anywhere by using interactive simulations, while also enabling access and reinforcement afterwards, be it in home-study, follow up at the fender, hands-on clinics, or repairing vehicles in shop or dealer service bays."

"There are already devices that offer instruction on a video monitor integrated in a cap visor or an attachment to eyeglass frames," Haas noted. "Several automobile manufacturers already support their dealership technicians with mobile learning that is delivered to mobile devices in service bays, counters and parts departments. But I have not seen this available to technicians in independent shops yet."

"Compared to aftermarket industry stakeholders, many OEMs are ahead of the curve when it comes to mLearning solutions," Rotundo pointed out. "PTS has already developed training solutions that have been deployed for Honda/Acura, Hyundai, Mazda; it is also developing training solutions for nearly every other automaker, with the exception of Ford and Chrysler."

"Acura, for example, has already deployed a PTS solution that is used in their training centers, in dealerships and to help improve the customers brand experience. We're currently developing a training solution for Mazda that integrates many mLearning components into their training portal. The completely integrated solution improves the serviceability of vehicles with less time being wasted looking for resources. The solution is also dynamic; it is continually updated."

Google Launches Open Source LMS

"If you look at any industry that goes through a radical change, the leaders of the new industry are usually not the same ones who lead the old industry,"says Education Stormfront blogger Andrew Barras. He shared that in May 2012, Google introduced a free, open source learning management system (LMS) named CloudCourse. According to the search giant, CloudCourse "allows anyone to create and track learning activities." It's designed to provide a course scheduling system that is fully integrated with Google services, such as Google Calendar. CloudCourse also provides the ability to customize training solutions with: The ability to sync CloudCourse data with your internal systems. Room info service to schedule classes in your locations. A user info service to look up employee profiles, including titles, pictures, etc. "By releasing CloudCourse as open source we hope to help developers who want to port or build enterprise applications on App Engine," according to Google developers. "Digging into the source code, you will find many examples of how we addressed challenges like long running processes, locking, synchronizing with external systems, high performance transactional workflows, and more. All the techniques that we used can easily be applied to other applications." Click here to learn more about CloudCourse.

The Aftermarket is Waking Up to the mLearning Opportunity
"Although behind OEMs, aftermarket organizations are adopting mLearning, as evidenced by our work with the U.S. military, Bosch, CARQUEST, Sears Automotive and others," said Rotundo. "Expect the education and training programs in the automotive industry to be using mLearning solutions extensively within two to three years; they'll be the norm by 2020."

"Our goal is to deliver effective and efficient training and associated support just-in-time and whenever needed," he continued. "Designing applications that are easy for technicians and service advisors to navigate and are simple to use is essential. So is retention. Together they trigger faster adoption, regular use, and time and cost efficiency."

Rotundo noted that one of the biggest challenges faced by mLearning providers is to be able to design the delivery of solutions to whatever smart devices a partner specifies. This makes it critical that PTS and its partners discuss this in advance, so that the resulting solution launched meets expectations.

"For example, the Adobe Flash client is used for delivery to desktop or laptop computers and most smartphones, but tablets and some phones require that HTML5 be the design client. In addition, the Web browser used by a partner can present another challenge. Internet Explorer 8 does not support HTML5 and hence delivery to tablets. To be deliverable to all possible devices, the solution must first be created in Flash, then converted to HTML5, followed by other proprietary adjustments."

Trends Don't Lie
Diagnosis, service and repair will continue to be increasingly technology dependent. In just a few years, technicians may not even have to lift a wrench or use a traditional piece of equipment for some tasks. mLearning is here to stay, and it isn't just going to be confined to integrated training solutions delivered en masse to a smart device.

Locative technology, such as QR codes, embedded in vehicle components and systems, will enable technicians to point their smart device's camera at a particular part to call up relevant information. Near-field communication technology will allow low-cost strips attached to vehicle components to be scanned by a smart device to access setup instructions, service and repair instruction and more -without having to leave the service bay. Paper tablets that fold like a piece of paper, are less expensive tablets or phones, and deliver the same or even improved functionality are now on the radar screens of mLearning developers.

"Almost all OEMs have or are developing wireless Bluetooth or WiFi OBDII networks along with wireless scan tool solutions," Rotundo noted. "Some vehicles, notable more electrified vehicles such as the Tesla Model S can already transmit DTCs wirelessly and accept wireless software patches."

Training and educational tools have changed over the history of the automobile. Hands-on training yielded ground to training movies and written manuals, which have morphed increasingly to computer-based eLearning. The advent of advanced Internet-related innovations and smart devices has moved mLearning to the frontline, state-of-the art form of training.

Being averse to inbound technology can no longer be tolerated, whether it's a module on a car, new material, or educational strategy. The pace and weight of change will continue to impact training and education — how content is designed and delivered. Equipment and tool manufacturers are not exempt from this. They would be well-served to develop mLeaning solutions for their products and services, both on their own and in conjunction with the OEMs, educators and other organizations they partner with.