The use of online training for employee education programs has spiked in recent years as scores of companies recognize the flexibility and lower cost of rolling out these types of courses compared to traditional face-to-face instruction methods.

Online education (also known as e-learning) broadly refers to instructions in a learning environment where teachers and students are separated by time or space, or both, and where course content is mainly provided and managed through the use of Internet and multimedia resources.

However, not all online courses are created equal and when it comes to occasionally tactile and skill-driven courses such as health and safety training, finding the appropriate mix of Web-based and in-person teaching strategies is essential.

“Online learning courses are rarely a one-shot-fix-all solution. Different courses require different tools,” says Chris Moore, manager for training and education services at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) a federal government work-related injury and illness prevention centre based in Hamilton, Ontario.

Virtual vs. physical
In the last three years, the number of companies turning to online learning solutions to provide health and safety instructions for employees has increased, says Moore.

For example, the CCOHS which began with a single classroom course, has expanded its offering to around 30 online courses covering diverse topics such as accident prevention, the Canadian Labour Code, electrical hazards, office health and safety and pandemic awareness. The CCOHS now has more than 1,000 organization customers and over 20,000 individual students signed up.

In-person training, however, still has some crucial advantages over online methods.

Depending on the competency of the instructor, in-person learning provides an opportunity for more immediate and closer interaction between student and teacher.

The teacher may be able to better evaluate whether the lesson is being absorbed by the class through visual and auditory cues and feedback. The instructor can adjust the pace of the course to suit the class.

Students, on the other hand, have immediate access to the instructor if they have any questions or need additional assistance with certain issues regarding the course content.

In-person training shines when an education program calls for tactile contact and skills-based learning, according to Alan Quilley, principal at Safety Results Ltd. based in Sherwood Park, Alberta, a firm that provides e-learning and in-person safety training and OH&S certificate course.

“When you’re teaching theory such as why it’s important to have fire extinguishers in a factory, online learning is fine. When you want to teach workers how to properly use the fire extinguisher in your factory, in-person is best,” he says.

For some types of health and safety training, employees need to determine the location of or physically handle certain equipment, Quilley says.

The advantages of e-learning are pretty compelling as well.

For one, instructors or students do not necessarily need to travel to meet at the classroom. This could potentially save companies anywhere from 30 to more than 50 per cent in traveling and infrastructure expenses, says Quilley.

Students can access instructional materials by accessing a course from a website, download a module, play a DVD or CD-ROM course or interact with other students and instructors from different locations through webinars, online discussions of videoconferences.

The online course may be self-paced because students can access material from a computer wherever and whenever they have time to spare. There is no need for complicated juggling of work duties.

“Students can take the course when they need it and not when the instructor is available,” says CCOHS’s Moore.

The course content is fairly consistent because all the students have access to the same material, says Carol Ferguson-Scott, the Atlantic regional safety specialist for Jacques Whitford, a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based international health and safety consultancy and training firm.

Whereas in-person classes are most effective when done in small groups, online instructions can be broadcast to a much larger audience, she adds.

“We have more than 1,600 employees in North America, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Europe. Online tools help us make sure the quality of training logistics for every worker is consistent,” she says.