Online Training: The Gain Without The Pain

How It Works

Using a combination of live audio (using ProSysPlus's own Virtual Talker sever), chat (using a free Yahoo! Messenger) account, and live video, with PowerPoint, live desktop, live web surfing, and live polling (provided by Placeware, participants have all the benefits of live instruction: because the instruction is in fact entirely live. While PowerPoint presentations, distributed in advance to students, guide the presentation, nothing is "canned."

Class Size

 Class size is limited to 9 participants, in order to maximize individual learning.

Spaced Learning

 Because there is no need to cram learning into a short period of time, participants can absorb information more effectively. Classes range from 3 to 4 hours per day, and all courses run over a 5-day workweek.

What You Miss

 Travel expense and time; time out of the office, away from home; hotels, rental cars, airports, planes, traffic.

What You See

You see a live presentation, such as the screenshot shown here:

What You Say

Virtual Talker is used for audio. Yahoo Messenger is used for Chat and for backup audio.

What You Need

For equipment, you should have a computer that can run (at least: bigger is always better) in 1024x800 resolution, with an internet connection. In order to do class exercises while still watching the "how-to", having two computers is suggested. The "exercise" computer does not have to be connected to the internet computer.

If you have a slow (modem) connection but have two phone lines available, one recommendation would be to have the live video on one computer, and the audio plus development tools for the exercises on the other computer, with each computer individually connected to the internet. You should have at least Win98SE installed: the TCP/IP stack was rewritten for that version, replacing one originally written, well, long ago. You could update to the new TCP/IP stack, but there is enough better performance to at least move to Win98SE. Having enough memory is critical: at least 128MB for Win98SE; 196MB for Win2K. Win2K/XP will give you 10-20% faster performance than Win98SE. It's not just your connection that limits the speed of browing: the computer has a major impact.

A $15 Labtec headset, or equivalent (I got mine at Wal-Mart), makes listening/speaking easier. The benefit of a headset is that the mike is always the same distance from your mouth, which is very important in keeping the volume of your speech even: otherwise you are likely to be too soft or too loud for easy comprehension by others.

PlaceWare Instructions

You will receive by email a PlaceWare "invitation" which is just a URL that will take you directly to the class conference. When you get the URL, you can follow the URL and download the PlaceWare applets that you will be using during class.

It is highly recommended that you have the latest version of Internet Explorer installed, as cacheing has improved with each version. In addition, to Tools/Internet Options and set your cache to be at least 100 MB. Before each class, Delete Files..., so that the cache is clear. This is the dialog where these settings can be accessed:

Yahoo! Messenger Instructions

Yahoo Messenger is used for messaging; and in case the voice server has a problem, as a backup for voice chat. The instructions here cover both scenarios: please set YM and Virtual Talker up a few days before the first class. Send an email to the me if you have trouble getting set up and I'll give you a hand. The class will start on time, whether you can connect or not, since it is your responsibility to have this in place and working beforehand.

You can get YM here. I would not recommend installing Yahoo! Companion when asked (it takes real estate in your browser, for functions you probably will never use). It can be uninstalled if you already put it there and are tired of it. You will probably want to make sure you don't get blitzed by the Yahoo hordes (it is not called Yahoo for nothing). You can access this dialog from the Login/Preferences menu:

The next step is to use the Audio Setup Wizard (Help Menu).

During the class, do not make yourself Invisible, as the instructor won't be able to invite you to the Voice Chat.

Once installed, you will need to "Add A Friend" using the UserID I send you by email. I will issue an invitation to an "invitation only" voice chat room at the time of the training.

When Class is ready to begin, you will receive an invitation to a chat. Once in the Chat, press the Microphone Icon to enable voice. If you don't see the Microphone Icon, then go to Friends/Enable Voice.

During class, you will be able to speak at any time. If you would rather use the Yahoo EMote function, a customer emote_user.dat file is provided here: install it in your Yahoo/Messenger directory, and you will have custom emotes for Question, Repeat, and Slowdown. You are urged to use Emotes to provide feedback to the instructor.

 

Virtual Talker Setup

After setting up Virtual Talker following their instructions, there isn't much to do. You will receive the name of a forum to join, and the password to use to join the forum, prior to class. The same information will be available when you have signed into Placeware. The key with all audio installations is to test it out: try out your sound in the Echo chat room, where you can hear yourself, at least 3 days before class, so you can iron out any bugs. 9 out of 10 will have no problem; if you're that 1 out of 10 (we all have days, weeks, months, or years like that <s>), giving yourself time to find a fix will remove a lot of stress from your life. The VU techs are wonderful: they really mean it when they say call if you have a problem.