Interactive Learning Case Studies

Client: Application:

Pennsylvania State Fire Academy (PSFA) Instructor Led Training (ILT) with video and interactivity

Situation: As drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale increased, a series of blowout accidents occurred in Western Pa. and West Virginia in late 2009. It became apparent that First Responders were inadequately prepared to manage these incidents. Action: In just 10 weeks, a Pittsburgh and Houston industry experienced team of EKT Interactive, Inc delivered a customized set of interactive train-the-trainer (TTT) workshops, to help implement a Wellsite Emergency Response Training Program across Pennsylvania. A toolkit was provided to the PSFA trainers to make them self-sufficient and confident in explaining the complexities of managing wellsite emergencies in the Marcellus Shale. Result: The program has been rolled out to over 3,000 First Responders in active Marcellus Shale counties. Gary Fulton, the leader of the PSFA effort, recently informed us that the firemen safety and confidence has been significantly improved with the training. The PSFA offered our course to the NY State First-Tier Firemen in early 2011. See www.osfc.state.pa.us the Marcellus Shale Training and Resources Tab

Welcome a
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Welcome to

Interactive Learning Case Studies

Client: Application:

Shell Upstream Americas Houston, New Orleans, Denver For a system implementation, capture & distribute ILT classes

Situation: Shell is implementing an important new system in their Gulf of Mexico operations, called Energy Components (EC). The effectiveness of the new system depends on accurate and timely data, input nightly by production operators - located on platforms in the Gulf. The system is complicated and not as user-friendly as the current one. The operators need to adjust to the new (EC) complexities quickly. Many operators may not touch the system for 14 days after the training, and could naturally forget some of the unfamiliar EC nuances. Action: Shells 120 offshore operators will attend a series of 8 hour Instructor-led (ILT) sessions -- designed and conducted by trained EKT Interactive, Inc. audio-visual and instructional design staff. Shell subject matter experts have been trained to lead the sessions. Our team of AV experts will capture, record and catalogue the ILT classes. The technology integrates all power points, videos, student interactions/exercises and white-board examples. Finally, a set of AV tutorials will be produced - organized by specific topics. This allows the students (and new hires) to learn or refresh the EC system concepts on their own time. Result: To date the concept has been tested on respected Shell operators, and they like it better than the classic operating manuals. Rollout of the EC system is set for September, 2011.

ILT: Video
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Interactive Learning Case Studies

Partner: Application:

Trinity Consultants, Inc - HSE Compliance and Reporting

True web-based learning (TWBL) for global distribution.

Situation: Founded in 1974, Trinity Consultants is an environmental consulting company that specializes in industrial Health Safety and Environmental (HSE). They help organizations optimally comply with environmental regulatory requirements for long-term sustainability. Since inception, Trinity has been committed to providing superior professional training on environmental topics. Their annual schedule includes more than 200 courses. With offices nationwide and now in China and the Middle East, Trinity wants to explore more cost effective ways to deliver their valuable HSE content especially in the Middle East. Action: Bring EKT Interactive, Incs instructional design and industry expertise to help standardize the approach to design, delivery and evaluation of Trinity's 200 different instructorled (ILT) course offerings. This would enable multiple staff to teach a course and provide classroom quality, independent of the individual instructor skills. Result: The EKT Interactive, Inc. web learning and technical staff have delivered a prototype version of a Trinity class called, Compliance Requirements for Ozone Depleting Substances. It is being evaluated by the client. It builds on a series of web learning modules developed for plant operations that EKT Interactive, Inc. developed in 2009/10. See www.trinityconsultants.com for extent of HSE training offerings

Web Learn
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Interactive Learning Case Studies

Client: Application:

Shell Upstream Americas Houston, New Orleans, Denver For a system implementation, get the field operators engaged

Situation: Shell is implementing an important new computer system in the Gulf of Mexico, called Energy Components (EC). The effectiveness of the new system depends on accurate and timely data, input nightly by production operators - located on platforms in the Gulf. The EC training is an intense 8 hour day of instructor-led (ILT) lectures and hands-on terminal experience with the new system. The system is complicated and not as user-friendly as the current one. It was determined that a pre-work module could help get the operators prepared for the challenge before they arrived at the training classes. Action: Prior to attending the instructor-led (ILT) classes to learn EC, all offshore operators will have access to an interactive, web-based introductory module. In 20 minutes, they will: (1) learn the key features of EC, (2) get the logon mechanics and (3) most importantly, see and hear observations about the system strengths-weaknesses from respected peers. Result: The module has been tested on a dozen Shell operators, and they like it better than the classic kickoff management communications. Rollout of the module starts in August, 2011.

Web Introd
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The importa

Interactive Learning Case Studies

Partner: Application:

Professional Development Institute (PDI), University of North Texas

Virtual classroom with remote, 2-way, interactive delivery

Situation: Since 1973, the Professional Development Institute Inc. (PDI) at the University of North Texas has provided education, information and training to over 500,000 students. For PDI and other training providers, its not always convenient or cost effective to have client staff attend a class or program. PDI is experimenting with a suite of online programs and certificates that are convenient for the learner. However, many clients still prefer instructor-led (ILT) delivery because of the team building and class Q/A interchanges but there are always a few stragglers that cannot make a class. Action: EKT Interactive, Inc. recently conducted an interactive, Virtual Classroom Studio (VCS) remote classroom demo with 4 USA locations and a group of related class attendees. The EKT Interactive, Inc VCS technology was developed at a global technology implementation provider with many similar challenges. Result: The interactive VCS distance learning advantages were immediately recognized by the PDI sponsor. VCS is especially applicable for global locations where foreign nationals have a time consuming process to get visas and need elaborate travel arrangements to get to the US. See www.pdi.org to see their online course offerings

Virtual Cla
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Interactive Learning Case Studies

Global Oil & Gas Clients: Technical and Support Staff On-boarding Situation: College graduates and experienced new hires often know the technical aspects of their job but have no idea of the business drivers and key success factors of the companies that they join. Action: EKT Interactive, Inc. staff have developed and deliver a participative-interactive customized training course covering upstream, midstream and downstream oil & gas operations. The focus of the materials is the industry business drivers, specific company terminology and the goals and targets of the support group management team. In Houston, the training courses use videos, exercises and hands-on access to equipment at the Wiess Energy Hall to re-enforce concepts and maximize retention. The Industry Overview portion of the on-boarding class material is presented as part of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) New Hire Orientation program. See www.SPEgcs.org for details. Result: Management has commented that the graduates are better prepared to be immediately useful additions to their operating teams. This approach also gets consistency across the organization and reduces the amount of management/supervisory time needed to bring staff up the curve. Students have commented on the EKT Interactive design as follows: I learned a lot today. Good knowledge across downstream. Class projects and working problems helped a lot.

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Interactive Learning Case Studies

Situation: A mid-sized distributor of industrial refractories located near Pittsburgh, PA had grown rapidly but relied on an old Excel spreadsheet design to track their orders and inventory. They used a variety of filters and sort criteria to extract information from the large spreadsheet about specific customers or specific refractory types. The spreadsheet created a bottleneck whenever several of the staff needed access to current order status or inventory information. In late 2004, the company decided to replace their large spreadsheet with a more structured database design but had limited funds available for the upgrade. Action: Dupree & Associates studied their spreadsheet layout and present business procedures then proposed to replace the spreadsheet with a database-driven web site. This new private web site would provide forms for inputting data at each stage of the order - delivery process. It would also generate customized reports showing the status of each order and the quantity / location data of each of the 100's of refractory types they stocked. The proposal was accepted and the new system was delivered a few months later. Additional routines were developed to show the amount of inventory at each of 50 warehouse and customer locations in both a summary and a detail format. Utility routines also allowed them to view and edit all of the fields for each of the 1000's of pallets of brick in stock. The web site is password protected and there are several classes of users with different levels of access privileges. Both a usage and a change log are provided to track all system logins and database changes. The system was developed on a commercial web hosting site, but it uses industrystandard PHP web page scripts and a standard SQL database interface so it can be hosted inhouse later, if desired. Result: The new system is being run in parallel with the old spreadsheet for a few months to verify that it functions exactly as desired. Staff can access the web site either from their desks or from off-site locations, making it easier to respond to customer inquiries even when the office is closed or when they are traveling to customer sites. Later, the web site might be opened up to field sales agents who need current order and inventory status information but only for their specific customers.

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