When Phoenix-based Nationwide Vision first used the beta version of the Pointmaker CPN-5600 annotation system with iPad control by Tucson-based Boeckeler Instruments, its vision on how to run its future training sessions completely changed. On a spring morning in 2013, trainers and learners were able to draw over multimedia images networked across several iPads in the room, as well as to a projector and screen. According to Sheri Mayes, field training specialist for Nationwide, “It brought us into the new age of engagement.”
Nationwide Vision is the largest optical retailer in the state of Arizona, and currently ranked as the 15th largest optical retail chain in the U.S. With 62 stores in Arizona, new hire training takes place in Phoenix and Tucson several times a year. Typically, 10 technicians and trainees gather in a hotel meeting room, with a minimum of two trainers present, who introduce the basics of eye anatomy, optics, common eye conditions, optical measurements, insurance details, and more. The challenge is to keep everyone interested and engaged for the daylong session of technical drawings, formulas, and forms. “It’s not a fun thing to learn,” admits Nationwide Southwest District Manager Debbie Tremblay. “The presentations are complicated. So if there’s a way to interact with each image to get a clearer picture of it, I think that helps with understanding.”
The Eye of an Idea
In the past, Nationwide’s presentation set-up included a single projector connected to a laptop running PowerPoint or a simple whiteboard with felt markers, depending on the topic. The trainer would draw an eye on the whiteboard, marking where a particular symptom appears or how a certain lens redirects light. Then the trainer would erase the drawing and notes, and draw another eye for the next point. Nationwide medical trainer Russ D’Amico says, “It got to where it might not even look like I was drawing eyes anymore.”
But what if he only had to make one PowerPoint slide of the eye and draw over that, erase just the markings and draw on that same eye again? After D’Amico saw a demonstration of the Boeckeler’s Pointmaker CPN-5600 annotation system, an idea inspired him that would change his entire presentation.
“I woke up in the middle of the night,” says D’Amico. “All of sudden, it dawned on me what I could do to change my presentation to implement it with the [iPad] and the Engage app.”
If he could draw over and over on only one slide of an eye, it would replace about 20 to 30 eye anatomy slides. And when he finished talking about eye anatomy, D’Amico could switch to a new template that showed a blank form for a lens prescription, then spend time writing and clearing over that slide, discussing different scenarios.
In the morning, he got the green light to try his idea out at the next new hire class, and Boeckeler, just a few miles down the road, agreed to lend Nationwide a new Pointmaker CPN-6000 and a few extra iPads to help him out as a beta test. D’Amico’s own team had several personal iPads to add to the set-up.
The Set-Up
Early in the morning before the training session began, D’Amico and a Boeckeler Pointmaker advisor set up the room. The Pointmaker CPN-5600 connected to a VGA projector and large projection screen. Because a network was needed to connect with all the iPads in the room, the CPN-5600 also was connected by Ethernet cable to a router. In addition, each iPad had downloaded the for-now free Engage Pointmaker app. Once launched, each tablet then was signed in using the meeting name D’Amico set, and the connections were live.
Now, D’Amico could call up his PowerPoint presentation and draw in the details as he discussed each topic during the class. Using the app, he also could pull up images from his Camera Roll, attachments from e-mail, or items from Dropbox. In addition, any student sitting near an iPad could use it to mark on the image to ask a question or illustrate a point right from his or her chair. It would be collaborative in a way not available previously. The class was ready to begin.
The Results
A few observations made during the new hire meeting:
- Presenters could be seated in the roundtable discussion with students rather than in front of projection screen or at a podium.
- Presenters could change images easily, annotate each image, then send the annotated image to all the iPads when ready or they could annotate the images live.
- A second presenter could annotate in a different color over the image shared by the primary presenter, keeping the continuity of the presentation fluid.
- Students could save the shared annotated images and PowerPoint outlines to their iPad Camera Roll for later reference. Those not using an iPad had more notes to take.
- The image of a sample prescription form could be filled out by a student on the iPad and then corrected by presenter.
“It’s pretty simple to set up and operate,” D’Amico noted after presenting the first half of the day. Sheri Mayes, Nationwide’s field training specialist for the state who was present at the workshop, says the Engage makes her trainers 40 percent more efficient. “They used to draw each image and then talk about them. But now they use a template, draw on it, discuss one point, erase just the notes, and then draw on the template again to make the next point.”
And how was it for the student? “Every time Russ was drawing, it was so interesting,” she says.
This is a second key factor the group experienced next to efficiency: greater interest. And this affects interaction and comprehension.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, I would rate the Engage a 10,” says D’Amico. “The student reaction is definitely different with the product.” Before, he says he only saw a fraction of the class busy writing notes. Now, he sees everyone writing notes and looking at their individual iPads.
“This has just taken my teaching to a different level. It helps me get my message out a lot easier and more comprehensively. When I have more students saying, ‘Oh, yeah, that makes sense,’ then that’s cool. I want them to know the basics. I want the presentation to become fun for them, and if they can learn at the same time, I’ve met my goal.”
The Future
D’Amico says that the Pointmaker CPN-5600 and iPad app will be used for his more medically intensive classes, as well. He might not even have to hold a class. Now, he can take the iPad with his presentation on it and the Engage app and go directly to busy technicians at their lab and show them a few training details while on the job. “I can draw on the images and just show them right there while they’re sitting at their desk,” he says. “This ability to draw on images has a great visual effect—it is worth a thousand words.”
He says Nationwide Vision also is finding value in using the product with Skype for training sessions that don’t involve sharing confidential patient information. He’s based in Tucson, and with two other medical coordinators in Phoenix, he wants to be able to stay in his office and watch their Phoenix presentations, joining in as needed—and vice versa. “They can stay in Phoenix and watch my presentations,” he says. For this, the set-up will change slightly so that instead of using a router to create a local host area network in a hotel meeting room, he connects the CPN-5600 into the Internet at his office “Using the two apps together creates a low-cost, effective video conference, with almost the effectiveness of being face to face. It’s well worth the trade-off, when the number of participants is too small to make travel practical.”
Mayes sees countless other uses for the product. “We have two meetings a year to train opticians for the ABO-NCLE certifications,” she says. “We plan on using it for these meetings [and others] to engage our audience better.”
Phoenix-based trainer Tracy Jacobs says the company looks forward to using it in other applications, “such as in our doctor roundtables when we discuss eye diseases. This will allow them to be interactive over clinical images rather than just talk about them.”
Founded on precision measurement in 1942, Tucson-based Boeckeler Instruments Inc. expanded its technology during the video age to support the video measurement and marking needs in science and industry. In 1993, the company streamlined its video marking ingenuity in the launch of the Pointmaker line of video markers used today by both the presentation and broadcast markets. In 1995, the Pointmaker video marker made its national television debut in a famous courtroom trial, and continued to be used in many applications, ranging from Monday Night Football to National Hurricane Center warnings. Other applications include those in education, military training, distance learning, videoconferencing, and boardroom presentations. For more information, visit the Pointmaker Website at www.pointmaker.com or call 800.552.2262.
