In Review

Jan/Feb 1998

Training On The Web
by Kevin R. Duffy
244 pages, $49.95 + $6 shipping.
Lake Helen Publishing, P O Box 878, Lake Helen, FL 32744

APCO Institute Director Kevin Duffy has authored this unique guide to Internet Web-based training. Along with his colleague Chuck Russo, Duffy has spearheaded APCO's Virtual Institute (see Training Tactics column this issue) in March of last year. In August, a CNN report about training on the Web stated that industry-specific training over the web was still "about two years away." Duffy was clearly ahead of his time.

He passes along what he learned in this excellent volume. In comprehensive but comprehensible text, Duffy outlines the advantages and disadvantages of Web-based training, compares traditional training with that done online, and details equipment and design considerations as well as the operation of a virtual classroom, testing and evaluation, and the promotion of Web-based training.

APCO's Virtual Institute is on the cutting edge of a new kind of training platform. Duffy allows the rest of us to share in his research and his trials and errors and gives us the benefit of his experience. Training over the Internet will surely increase abundantly over the next half decade. Grab a hold of the cutting edge at this early stage.

"The World Wide Web is a wonderful platform for training," he writes. "If it involves cognitive learning, the Web can work. We can reach more people with training, and provide more opportunities to learn."

For more information, surf over to http://www.trainingontheweb.com.

Rescue 911: World's Greatest rescues
75 minute color video, 1997, $14.98
Rescue Enterprises, 800/683-4147 (x112)

At a very reasonable price, this new home video is a compilation of many never-before-seen rescues from around the world. Although without the familiar face of William Shatner, the episodes are amazing and well-put together. The episodes are not recreations, as were most of the segments of the TV series. Instead they are compilations of on-the-scene video footage and voice-over narration. The segments concentrate on field rescuers with little coverage of dispatch with one notable exception.

The video includes an absolutely incredible rescue of a child trapped beneath an exploding gasoline tanker in New Zealand, as well as challenging rescue situations including a car hanging precariously over a highway bridge in Belgium, a woman trapped by terrorists in Russia, a mother and her children trapped in a burning high-rise in France, and a skier trapped beneath a frozen crevasse in Austria. A somewhat sad highlight of the video is the complete footage of the Stuart murder from Boston. Rescue-911 photographers were riding along when Boston State dispatchers received a cellphone call from Charles Stuart, who, along with his pregnant woman, had been shot by a would-be carjacker, but who had no idea where they were. The dispatchers describe their desperate and ultimately successful attempts to determine the location of the critically-wounded couple. The footage, tactfully edited by the producers, is especially troubling in light of later evidence that established the assailant was none-other than Charles Stuart himself, and includes some affecting recollections from the dispatchers involved in the incident.


	Jan/Feb 1998
	Training On The Web by Kevin R. Duffy 244 pages, $49.95 + $6 shipping. Lake Helen Publishing, P O Box 878, Lake Helen, FL 32744 APCO Institute Director Kevin Duffy has authored this unique guide to Internet Web-based training. Along with his colleague Chuck Russo, Duffy has spearheaded APCO's Virtual Institute (see Training Tactics column this issue) in March of last year. In August, a CNN report about training on the Web stated that industry-specific training over the web was still "about two years away." Duffy was clearly ahead of his time. He passes along what he learned in this excellent volume. In comprehensive but comprehensible text, Duffy outlines the advantages and disadvantages of Web-based training, compares traditional training with that done online, and details equipment and design considerations as well as the operation of a virtual classroom, testing and evaluation, and the promotion of Web-based training. APCO's Virtual Institute is on the cutting edge of a new kind of training platform. Duffy allows the rest of us to share in his research and his trials and errors and gives us the benefit of his experience. Training over the Internet will surely increase abundantly over the next half decade. Grab a hold of the cutting edge at this early stage. "The World Wide Web is a wonderful platform for training," he writes. "If it involves cognitive learning, the Web can work. We can reach more people with training, and provide more opportunities to learn." For more information, surf over to http://www.trainingontheweb.com.

	Rescue 911: World's Greatest rescues 75 minute color video, 1997, $14.98 Rescue Enterprises, 800/683-4147 (x112) At a very reasonable price, this new home video is a compilation of many never-before-seen rescues from around the world. Although without the familiar face of William Shatner, the episodes are amazing and well-put together. The episodes are not recreations, as were most of the segments of the TV series. Instead they are compilations of on-the-scene video footage and voice-over narration. The segments concentrate on field rescuers with little coverage of dispatch with one notable exception. The video includes an absolutely incredible rescue of a child trapped beneath an exploding gasoline tanker in New Zealand, as well as challenging rescue situations including a car hanging precariously over a highway bridge in Belgium, a woman trapped by terrorists in Russia, a mother and her children trapped in a burning high-rise in France, and a skier trapped beneath a frozen crevasse in Austria. A somewhat sad highlight of the video is the complete footage of the Stuart murder from Boston. Rescue-911 photographers were riding along when Boston State dispatchers received a cellphone call from Charles Stuart, who, along with his pregnant woman, had been shot by a would-be carjacker, but who had no idea where they were. The dispatchers describe their desperate and ultimately successful attempts to determine the location of the critically-wounded couple. The footage, tactfully edited by the producers, is especially troubling in light of later evidence that established the assailant was none-other than Charles Stuart himself, and includes some affecting recollections from the dispatchers involved in the incident.