ETL's platform
Train-need^TM

The crisis confronting society:

There is an urgent need to make the country's most abundant resource reasonably productive. This is because a country's population can be an asset, but only if it is trained. This is because skill development must precede job formation. But developing skills is not an easy job.

1. Improving literacy at the mass level.
2. Providing training to people who want jobs
3. Providing skills to people who want to be self employed or are already employed.
4. Providing opportunities to people who have to be redeployed in a rapidly changing economic environment.
5. Ensure that the training is cost-effective.

But the biggest problem is an acute paucity of good trainers -- at schools, colleges, universities and even at corporate levels. For instance, in a study prepared for the Office of the Prime Minister of India in 2002, McKinsey pointed out how even the prestigious IITs in India cannot get the quality of teachers they want.

Another problem is the high cost of providing good quality training.

A third problem is ensuring that good trainers are available wherever candidates exist. Conventionally, this has meant that either the trainer travels to the place where the candidates are, or the condidates travel to the place where the teachers congregate. Normally, both parties have to travel. This adds to the training costs, and creates bottlenecks in providing speedy training to all.

The solution:

• Interactive distance learning
  • This allows you to place an excellent trainer in a studio,
  • Broadcast/multicast the training content to the entire country live or offer the same in a recorded state.
  • Make the entire session (both the live and the recorded versions) highly interactive.

    Through quiz sessions
    Through tests
    Through polls
    Through chat sessions – text and voice

It allows you to have anytime, anywhere training:

For corporates: allows managements to

Reduce costs of training
Reduce time to market Standardise evaluation for lower and middle level staff across the country.
Keep the staff upto date with the latest developments;
Evaluate candidates before they are employed, anytime, anywhere

It means that corporates and educational centres will have to set up a training intranet:

ETL has a tie-up with Tatanet to help in setting up such intranets;
ETL is already encouraging corporates to follow the example of organisations like the Royal Bank of Scotland (it trains all staff from receptions to; directors across 1200 centres across the UK and Europe), and Nokia (it trains its people worldwide);
ETL is actively involved in persuading the BSE Training Institute to do so using both lease lines and/or VSATs;
It has successfully persuaded some corporates to do product launches using Train-need^TM.
One can also use this platform to make an important address to the entire organisation -- e.g. the Chairman's address. . .

ETL's platform Train-need^TM

Components of the platform called Train need^TM:

• A media server which takes care of the video, audio and data transmission
• A chat server which allows people to ‘chat’ with the teacher/communicator/trainer.
• An examination module which tracks the performance of the ‘learner’ every 10 minutes or so.
• A database server to keep a record of enrolments, authentication procedures, and tracking the marks scored by each candidate.
• An application server which ensures security, and allows access only to those courses the candidate is eligible to take.
• A voice chat server allowing voice conversations, though it is recommended that voice is disabled and text chat enabled when audiences become large.
• An application sharing server (optional).

Pre-requisites:

• Four servers – minimum specs: P4, 80 GB HDD, multimedia enabled
• Three Windows 2000 Licences
• One additional PC with two HDDs of 80 GB, and two LAN cards (D-Link 538 TX 10/100) for using the same as a Linux proxy. One proxy server will be required at each remote installation.
• A LAN setup both in the studio and at each remote installation.
• An additional server – P4, 80 GB HDD, multimedia enabled, MS 2003 licence – will be required if application sharing is needed.

Basic features:
Excellent video multicast which can be offered in three modes:

• Live
• Recorded
• Simulated live

A slide presentation module which takes all types of files – Powerpoint (ppt), Video (avi, mpg1, mpg2, mpg4), Flash (swf), Images

An examination module which offers:

• Pre-set and randomly generated question papers from a databank.
• Uniform question papers which appear randomly on candidates’ screens.
• The ability to offer as many as 20 choices for answers to any question.
• The ability to incorporate images as part of the question-paper.

A text chat module which allows:

• Private chat with the instructor/trainer
• Public chat with the entire batch
• Pre-censored public chats by the instructor
• The ability to ensure that the earlier part of the chat proceedings are visible even to students who have arrived late to the screens.
• The facility to offer transcripts of the chat.
  
  A voice chat module which we prefer to disable if the student audience comprises of a group involving more than 20 people. This is to avoid the queueing up of “requests to speak” from students to the studio administrator, as only one voice channel can be heard by the instructor/administrator at a time.
  Interactive polling or on-the-fly questions through ‘yes’ ‘no’ response icons.
  A message box which allows despatch and retrieval of answers, questions, notes and suggestions, even in recorded sessions.
  A security feature that prevents copying of content thus protecting the IPR of the content partners
  An accounting module that allows each stake-holder – content partners, franchisees and market-makers – to know of business done during the day and their respective shares at any given point of time. And all this in near real-time basis.
  Report generation modules for students, HR departments and the candidates themselves.

Currently version Train need^TM – MPEG4 – can work on 64 to 200 kbps with no latency except that taken by local MPEG4 player.
Application Sharing:
Train need^TM has an additional module for application sharing, which allows all viewers to see how an application works on a trainer's console. This is an optional facility which can be provided in case the customer wishes to avail of the same.

Options before corporates:

• Take ETL's studio and platform facilities on rent.
• Hire ETL's expertise in areas relating to content development and creating a training network.
• Purchase ETL's Train need^TM.

Examine and evaluate:

• Train need^TM can be used for conducting examinations
• For potential candidates seeking employment
• For evaluating the performance of employees at lower and middle levels
• Can be offered through an in-house server, or even through the internet.

Constant Monitoring:

• Management can monitorwhich candidate has taken (or not taken) a course
• how many courses taken
• how many times has a course been taken to comprehend it
• how many questions answered (or not answered)
• how many answers wrong or right
• marks scored

What corporates can do:

• Set up a corporate intranet for round-the-clock, anywhere, anytime training using Interactive Distance Learning, using lease lines or VSATs, the way Royal Bank of Scotland and Nokia currently do.
• Set up a network for training dealers and for product launch planning.
• Use ETL's certification process for which it has an International Patent from the UK Patent Office.
• Use ETL's content management advisory or creative inputs.
• Use ETL's expertise in setting up franchised outlets for training and certification.

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