Kern describes a knowledge library (or
base) as “pretty much a rolling Q&A.”
Whenever anyone in the system poses a
question and receives a good answer (for
example, how to repair a piece of equipment,
or how to perform a specific type of
remediation), that answer is added to the
knowledge base for all to use. “Now
everyone in the system benefits from that
research,” he says.
Caveat builder
As they work to develop the program and
its various components, executive team
members are acutely aware that merely
creating a distance learning program—even an
excellent one—is no guarantee of its success.
“You certainly want and need a medium for e-learning, but it’s not to be confused with a
methodology,” says Gerson. “You have to be
careful, because what happens in a lot of
training systems is that just because training
occurs, it doesn’t mean people are learning, nor
that are they learning the right things.”
“We can provide a brilliant system that
won’t work in every case,” says Kern. “Our job
is to provide the best resources possible for
those who are out in the world and want to
“We don’t want to spend all
this time putting together
everything only to have the
franchisees come back and
say, ‘This doesn’t work.’”
–Dale Kern,
director of information technology,
Purosystems
take these resources and use them to either
teach or learn.”
Several areas exist for exercising caution and
restraint. First, says Gerson, before starting to
develop e-learning technologies, it’s critical to
have a good training system in place. “If
they’re built on flawed training systems, you
are destined to failure.”
Second, even with a great training system
and technical success in putting it online,
there’s the human factor to consider. That
means knowing something about how
people learn.
“Before Dale [Kern] was allowed to jump
in there and take content and apply it, Will
[Southcombe] had to take the time to look at
the implications of different learning styles,”
says Gerson. Some people, for instance, prefer
personalized attention from a teacher, and will
not do well online. On the other hand, he
says, studies tell him some will do better online
than in a classroom.
And there are expectations to manage as
well. “I’ve been in technology for a while,” says
Kern. In that time, he’s seen many cases of
people becoming overenthusiastic and viewing
technology as the ultimate answer to whatever
problem they’re attempting to solve. “From that
approach, I’ve never seen it work efficiently.”
Instead, he says, “We’re incorporating
technology into existing systems; and
improving touch learning by offering online
resources for facilitators or franchisees to use
themselves, for self-guidance or to teach their
own employees.”
“A franchisee is not necessarily an expert
trainer,” says Gerson. “So the best type of
system is one where you have training modules
that are overseen by a franchisee or designate.
That basically takes and marries high tech with
high touch.”
This approach, says Kern, combines 1) the
franchisor’s system approach with 2) the
