Having been involved with providing training for over 20 years, I have seen how things have evolved and believe that my experience from both sides of the podium gives me insight into the IT Training industry which I hope will result in positive changes in my organization and increased value for our students.
The challenge: “How do we provide a superior quality training experience at an affordable price?”
Traditional Training Delivery (In Classroom)
Most IT Training Providers today are structured around creating classroom based learning through live instruction. Whether it is a public course held at a location they own, in an area that they rent out, or providing training at a Customer’s location with private instruction. These models are an incredibly expensive way of providing instruction. There are all kinds of costs associated with this model which contribute to the high costs of tuition. Facility costs, labor costs, courseware costs, administrative costs, catering costs, and sales costs all need to be covered before a service provider adds their margin. The result is a very expensive model to deliver training. To be profitable, training providers need several students to be able to make holding the training financially viable.
On top of this, once the training class is complete, the training provider must to do everything all over again. They have to schedule a new class, find students, acquire instructors, courseware etc. This keeps the costs to provide training and education high.
Besides being an expensive course for a Learner to attend, there are requirement that make this a challenge for a Learner. For starters, a Learner must physically be in the same location as the training in order to attend which may require time off of work and possibly could require the Learner to have additional travel time and expense. Learner’s personal time is lost in commuting to and from class whether it is delivered locally or if someone must have overnight travel to attend. Again, adding additional expense to this model.
Online Training (Instructor led)
Some providers offer the ability to attend class virtually which potentially reduces some travel time and expense incurred by the learner but, the course fees are often identical to the in person class because many of the costs to provide the course still remain (the instructor, sales expense, courseware expense, administration expense, and there still be costs associated with facilities)
Computer Based Training
To bridge the gap and lower costs, some organizations offer computer based training (CBT) courses which often are incredibly dry. It seems as though you are having to click through almost endless slide decks viewing dry material about very abstract concepts with little to no interaction with an instructor. It’s like having a book read to you and every so often your required to hit the space bar or clicking your way through flipping the pages. If that was the only value in CBT, you would think it would just be easier to read a book and take some practice exams before attempting the certification exam.
One of the advantages of CBT is that a learner may spend downtime doing training or attend the course after business hours. They can generally attend course from anywhere they have access to a computer or tablet which reduces some of the travel costs though in some cases special software may be required to be installed to use the course.
Pricing for CBT is usually around 50-75% of what it would cost to attend a course in person. This is still a very expensive option and if you are paying for your training yourself, it may be a barrier to your progress.
Video Courses
The best option currently available balances the learning experience with the price is Video Training. The training is available anywhere and anytime so travel cost and time is not a factor. Training is broken down to support passing a certification exam support micro learning which allows search for a specific topics allowing a review just that subject without having to repeat or search an entire course for the information they need.
Advantages of our Video Training are:
- Available on any device at any time whether its a phone, a table, a PC, or even their TV
- Quick access to the course
- Incredibly easy interface that is familiar to everyone
- Cost to attend the training is a fraction of attending an actual course
- Topics can be revisited during the class and after the exam if needed
- Course can be broken up in to more manageable units making it easier for a learner who may not be able to commit to taking days off work to participate in class
- Members of a company are exposed to the exact same concepts in an identical way
- Questions asked by students are answered by an instructor, recorded and made available to everyone
Because the majority of the content and the instruction is recorded and refined, the learner gets a great learning experience completely on their terms.
Ultimately the best training delivery model will depend on the learning style of the student. For the money, video training courses trend to be the best learning mode for the money.