The people whose job it is to shovel information into our heads have
come up with an even easier mechanism, and this is subscription-based
e-learning. You don't have to go to the computer store to buy a set of
CDs, and you don't have to decide ahead of time what you want. Just sign
up for a subscription and take all the courses you want.
In previous issues, I reviewed System X
(http://www.systemx.biz/index.lasso?num=1031118112), a
subscription-based offering with over 800 courses and, something far
more important to cheapskates like me, a free trial period. In this
issue, I'll take a look at New Horizons (http://www.newhorizons.com),
another subscription-based offering with some nice-looking courses and
features.
New Horizons' course catalog includes a good selection of courses to
help you learn how to operate general productivity applications, as well
as courses that are more geared towards developers and programmers or
are specific to certification. If you're thinking of starting an
Internet business, there are courses for that, too. There are also some
courses offered in foreign languages, so if you want to take an Excel
course in Norwegian, you can. Besides general IT courses, they also have
courses that lead to certification, including Microsoft, Internet
Professional, CompTIA, Cisco, Oracle, Linux, Novell, and Lotus.
The Online ANYTIME Learning option gives you access to online courseware
from a catalog of 1,200 courses. The courseware interface is convenient
and easy to navigate. It has exactly what it needs, and is not bogged
down with a lot of flashy graphics and talking heads. A simple but
worthy addition is the "notepad," which is accessible through the top
menu bar, which lets you take notes as you go through the course.
A nice bonus here is the online library, which gives you access to the
full text of over 500 recently published books. Another is the "Student
Union." When I first started college at Indiana University, the student
union there was a small town unto itself, and freshmen had been reported
to have gone in and never come out. It had everything, including a
bowling alley. The various radical student groups to which I belonged
held meetings there. New Horizons' student union is almost as
impressive, with a nice collection of community forums. The vLab is a
virtual lab, which allows you to do practice exercises remotely using an
actual lab, not a simulation.
New Horizons, besides having the online courseware offering, also has
instructor-led online courses and live training centers around the
country. Learn more about New Horizons at http://www.newhorizons.com, or
jump to http://onlineanytime.newhorizons.com for specifics about the
online learning option.
