Technical

What are the technical requirements for the courses?

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. The main website works with most browsers, but the courses require IE 5.5 or higher.
  • Screen resolution of 1024 x 768 for the Sales courses.
    The Grammar Skills courses run at 800 x 600.
  • Windows Media Player 6.0 or higher.

What bandwidth is needed to run these courses?

We recommend broadband, especially if you use the audio option.

If you use the text options, the courses can run at 128K, although there are some delays.

Do the courses use audio?

All courses use audio.

You can turn the audio off and display the text of the audio.

The audio plays through the Windows Media Player. The Media Player itself is hidden and not visible to students.

Do the courses use any plug-ins?

No. None of the courses requires a plug-in.

Linking to This Site

Can I link these courses to my Learning Management System (LMS)?

Yes. The courses can connect to external Learning Management Systems.

The courses follow AICC and SCORM standards and will communicate with any LMS that follows those protocols.

When the courses are connected to an external LMS, the courses send data both to your LMS and to this site; i.e., the data are stored in both places. Managers can monitor data on their own LMS or on this site.

Is there a fee for linking the courses to my LMS?

There may be. Without charge, we will provide links for AICC compliant and SCORM compliant Learning Management Systems. If your LMS does not follow one of those standards, or if the links we provide don't work with your LMS, we may ask for a setup fee.

I don't have a Learning Management System. Are there other ways to link to the courses?

We provide several types of "customized links" to our site so that users can login more quickly.
  • Automatic account link. This link takes students directly to our site and allows them to login or create a new login without knowing the name / password of their account. The link includes information about their account. As an option, you can require that students enter the account password. Only Account Managers can access this link.
  • Automatic login link. This link automatically logs students into this site. By clicking on the link, students immediately launch their menu of courses. As an option, the login password can be required. This link is available to students and Account Managers, and it only works for logins that have already been created.
You can paste the link as a desktop shortcut or into an email. Or you can also create an HTML file on your intranet that launches this site.

Prices

Are there discounts available?

Yes. There are discounts available for both the eLearning versions and the CD-ROM versions of the course.

Discounts on the eLearning versions are cumulative. Once you reach a plateau of usage, you receive discounts on all future courses. Discounts are also offered for prepayments.

I have a limited budget for eLearning. How can I control how much I spend?

The Account Manager menu has options that let you specify:
  • Monthly, quarterly, or annual budgets. Students are prevented from starting new lessons when any of these budgets are exceeded.
  • Number of students who can enroll in your account.
  • Account expiration date. Students will be prevented from taking new courses after that date, but previous students can complete existing courses.
  • Courses on menu. Students will be able to take only the courses specified by the Account Manager.

Can I try the courses with my people before I commit to buy anything?

We offer a 30-day free trial period for qualified organizations. During that time, you can have as many students take as many lessons as you wish.

What if someone I don't know takes courses in my account?

We will remove the charges on a case-by-case basis.

Courses

How are these courses different from other courses?

  • Interactions. We believe that people learn when they are doing things, and we have designed these courses with frequent interactions that are linked to the objectives of the course.
  • Content. Our partners have refined this content over 20 years of experience in teaching these areas.
  • Easy to use. Administrators can set up and administer an account without hassles.

How are the courses designed?

Courses are divided into sections. A typical course includes 5-8 sections.

Most sections take about 8-12 minutes to complete. These short segments allow students to take breaks at convenient places. Students can exit a course at any point and return to the same place later.

All courses have tests. In general, the passing criterion is about 85%, but that varies slightly based on the number of questions in the test.

If students pass some sections and fail other sections, they must repeat the test, but they are tested only on the sections they have failed.

Students may take a test as many times as necessary to meet the criterion. There are several features that make it difficult for students to simply repeat the test until they learn it:
  • Item banks. There are typically 3 questions available for every question on the test. These questions are cycled so students do not repeat a question until they have seen the other two questions in the bank.
  • Randomization. Questions are presented in random sequence, which makes it difficult to track the correct answers for each question.
  • Early exit. Tests are stopped as soon as students reach a failing criterion. This prevents exposing questions to students who are failing.

Is student data kept and reported?

For each section, we track:
  • Status in section—not started, incomplete, complete, passed
  • Total time in section
  • Date section passed
  • Score when section passed
  • Number of tests taken on the section
  • Cumulative score for all tests
For large courses, the Status Reports group section data into modules.

Can I preview an entire course instead of just one section?

Yes. You can request a login that will enable you to see an entire course (one or more) as a student.

Are the courses certified by ASTD or AICC?

Not at this time, but we plan to submit them to those organizations. We have followed their guidelines and expect no obstacles in the certification process.

Privacy Concerns

Why do you need the emails? What do you do with them?

We promise not to use the emails for any purpose unrelated to taking courses at this site. We will not share the emails with anyone else.

The primary use of the email is to send a "forgotten password." When a user selects the forgotten password option, we can get them a new password in one of two ways:
  • If an email address has already been entered as part of the login record, we will send a new password to that address.
  • Otherwise, the user must call 1-800-298-7070 and request a new password.
We may also use an email address to contact a user who needs help.

Email addresses are encrypted on our site. It would be difficult (but never impossible) for a hacker to copy our list of email addresses.