Video Education in the 21st Century

Back in the 1890s, when Thomas Edison patented the device that would give birth to the motion picture industry, he truly believed that the real value in motion pictures would be in education. Even after movies caught on for entertainment, he continued to believe that they were a passing fad and that one day movies would be used primarily for education. I guess that just goes to prove that no mater how brilliant you are, you still don’t know everything. But today’s DVD technology is finally making at least a part of Mr. Edison’s dream a reality for more and more people.

I’ve been at the forefront of video education for locksmiths since 1988, when I started Tech-Train Productions. I can tell you from personal experience that video education for locksmiths is getting better all the time. The advent of cheap DVD players and DVD players that are built into almost every laptop computer is giving us all access to unprecedented educational opportunities, if we will only take advantage of them.

The real beauty of the DVD system over the older VHS tapes is the “random access” feature. A well designed DVD will include a menu structure that will let the viewer jump to any point on the disc in seconds. With this one powerful tool, you now have the ability to quickly pull up specific segments of educational videos, either at home or on the job. You can also pause and review the material as much as you need in order to get the information that you want. It’s almost like having an expert in the truck along with you to answer your specific questions.

As an example “Safe Deposit Locks Volume 3 – Box Opening” has a three-level menu. When you launch the video, you can choose to watch the video from the beginning, or to jump to any part of the disc. The menu will let you select the type opening procedure that you want to see, such as door pulling, nose pulling, or picking, and then you can select from a list of the most common types of locks.

Suppose that you had never opened a safe deposit box that was equipped with a Mosler 5700 lock. With this video, you could quickly see how the job is done, and the best tools to use for the job. Or suppose that you had to unlock 20 Diebold 175-70 locks for a bank. With this video, you could quickly check out different methods for opening these boxes. You would find that a picking tool is available for this lock that does not damage the lock in any way, and you could see exactly how the tool works. You would also learn that another method of opening the boxes would be to pull the door and destroy the lock. After viewing the video, you could decide whether it would be better to open the boxes by pulling the doors, or to invest in the picking tool. You could learn all of this in the comfort of your own living room, or in the front seat of your truck if you have a laptop that will play DVDs.

As the founder of Tech-Train Productions, I’ve published more than 50 educational videos. Now that I’ve joined forces with Lockmasters, Inc., I’m able to provide more and better educational videos, as well as update and improve on my earlier work. Recently, I’ve completely revised and updated several of our more basic videos, including videos on GM 6-cut locks, GM steering columns, and VATS. When these videos were first made, they were intended for VHS and therefore had no menus. In the process of revising and updating, I not only fixed the imperfections, I also rearranged topics and built elaborate menus so that you can quickly pull up just the information that you need. I’ve also elaborated on the original information by adding on-screen graphics and text to clarify anything that I thought needed a better explanation.

Our newer videos include an “Introduction to Transponders” and several DVD instruction manuals for our various tools. All of these titles were designed with menu-driven DVD features in mind, and have an easy-to -use menu structure built in. With these newer videos, it’s easier than ever to teach yourself or your employees to handle the new technology that is driving our industry. In an hour or so, you can get the basics of transponder technology, but more importantly, and you can go back and brush up on your knowledge at any time.