“This vehicle always has been a very convenient way to deliver content,” said David Porritt, President of National Lab Network (NLN) (www.nationallabnetwork.com). “We as consumers are used to getting our information this way. Everything is driving toward the Web. This is just a natural progression.”

A subsidiary of the clinically focused National Dental Network (NDN), the NLN offers streaming video presentations on a wide range of technical topics (waxing, esthetics, occlusion, model and die, casting, and CAD/CAM) as well as management subjects (marketing, laboratory design, and productivity) from a virtual who’s who of the dental laboratory industry (Lee Culp, CDT; Peter Pizzi, CDT, MDT; David Lesh, CDT; Mike Bellerino, CDT; and Nelson Rego, CDT).

“We gather a lot of good, concentrated information in one location for laboratory professionals who want to enhance their education throughout the year and keep a broad perspective,” said Porritt. “We continually seek the input of the laboratory community to help us develop curriculum for the most current, relevant content. We also work very closely with the manufacturers in the industry regarding what they’re pursuing for new product lines and new development. We ask them for input on what would be relevant to the laboratory community.”

In addition to gathering content for its programs, NDN teamed up with Heraeus Kulzer on a unique delivery method (www.heraeusipodinfo.com). The partnership involves a series of video podcasts of NDN programs pre-loaded onto an Apple iPod media player offered free with the purchase of Heraeus Kulzer products, with additional programs available for download. Professionals can view the programs at their leisure—anywhere or anytime—to earn CE credits through the NBC as well as the American Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry.

While marketed primarily toward dentists, the promotion also has attracted the interest of laboratory technicians. According to Sonny Serreno, Heraeus Kulzer’s Director of Product Development, some laboratory owners who receive the iPods as part of the promotion provide them to select clients as gifts while others keep them for their own educational purposes. “We felt that this allowed them to learn on their own time, in their own private way. They can rewatch things very easily. That was one of the keys,” he said.

Building content also is a driving force behind the National Association of Dental Laboratories’ initiatives into new digital media. According to NADL Co-Executive Director Ricki Braswell, the organization looked at its extensive video library and decided that it could help NADL members with education by making the video content available on-demand through online streaming video (www.nadl.org/online.cfm).

As such, since 2004 it has updated its “Managing for Profit” business management video series and developed a new “NADL Online Infection Control Seminar” featuring Mary Borg. In addition, the NADL developed an online study system to help technicians prepare for the NBC’s CDT/RG written examinations. Braswell estimates nearly 900 laboratory professionals have taken one of the NADL online courses this year and expects a total 1,100 participants—all of whom are first-time, unique visitors—by the end of the year.

“We have embraced the idea that the technology to deliver education or training in another medium is available,” said Braswell. “There is not just a need, but a desire by people in our industry to access it in that manner.”

The next-generation online technology also has been embraced by the Dawson Academy (www.thedawsonacademy.com), the prestigious dental training facility in St. Petersburg, Fla., that has set a high standard for clinician and technician education for nearly 30 years. After re-establishing itself from the Dawson Center earlier this year, the Dawson Academy also developed a channel on the ubiquitous YouTube Web site (www.youtube.com/thedawsonacademy) to provide streaming video content. According to Greg Sitek, Dawson Academy Communications & Technology Director, the Dawson Channel is a “grassroots way to get out and get another touch on the online world. Within 60 days of launch, we had over 1,000 views and about 15 people subscribe to be updated when changes occur.”

And Sitek does expect changes with a new, expanded Dawson Academy initiative next year that will include video Webinars and audio podcasts. “The bulk of our development has been toward relaunching our whole online footprint. The goal is to start to become more online-dependant, especially when it comes to our students, because the information is readily accessible 24/7,” said Sitek. “I would anticipate 2009 is going to be very exciting for us online.”

“We don’t purport to train people how to do all of these procedures,” said Porritt of NLN and NDN video programs. “This medium—distance learning—serves a very clear purpose in elevating people’s fundamental and base knowledge on a topic.”

Gail Johnson, CDT, is such a technician who balances half of her personal education through digital media with live training either through travel to workshops or by bringing speakers to her 10-person Perfect Impressions laboratory in Plano, Texas.

“I’ve always traveled to different courses,” she said. “It was expensive, but I am also the owner, and I needed to keep up with what was going on.” She added that while she also sends the technicians who want to go to CE hands-on courses, others either have difficulty getting away due to family obligations or are more introverted.

Johnson says Perfect Impressions keeps a library of educational DVDs from NLN and other sources for technicians to view at home, which allows them to watch at their pace, stopping and repeating as necessary. “A lot of my technicians like that type of format,” she said. “Our most popular DVD is Russell DeVreugd’s anterior restorations. You can watch that five times and still get more information each time.”

She has not participated in any Webinars, but sees the advantage of the online format as a “mini introduction to a hands-on course” that would allow the viewer to sample the course content before packing up to travel to a scheduled live workshop, with the expenses and time away involved.

Rivas also emphasized the need for professionals to partake in a combination of online and in-person education. “I see the Webinars as a complement to the live presentations, and never as a replacement,” he said. “You can’t compete with the dynamics and the interaction of a live presentation or even trade show floors. This is just another option that’s available.”

Added Porritt, “Distance learning is very effective in helping people to understand what they don’t already know. The best learning experience anyone can have is side-by-side with a teacher in a hands-on program doing this under direct tutelage of somebody who knows how to do it.”

According to Braswell, when the NADL began its online programming, there was some concern it would take away from technician attendance at industry meetings. “Some people will have to take advantage of another medium because they cannot afford to travel or because they can’t afford the time away from the laboratory. This is the opportunity to offer another product or service to capture a segment of the marketplace for whom in-person meetings are not accessible. It’s a totally different value equation.”