ACT Center™ E-learning Advantages over the Competition

Seminars

Seminar costs average from $295 for a one-day session to $1,595 for a three-day session. If we assume a seminar runs for eight hours a day, the one-day seminar’s cost is about $37 an hour and the three-day seminar averages $66.45 an hour. When you see one-day seminars offered at a local hotel for $99, you can assume that they are very general in nature and that little actual training takes place. Often the mass public seminars are the way a vendor prospects. The main goal is to interest attendees in taking additional, longer training programs or in buying associated materials at the end of the session. These one-day public sessions, in most cases, are more of an “infomercial” than a training program.

Seminar Disadvantages

Seminars require employees to be away from the job for the length of the seminar, usually from one to several days at a time. Seminars are offered on fixed schedules, and they may require travel and per diem. They also may cover topics that attendees have already mastered, wasting time and money.

ACT Center Advantages

Many ACT Center courses can be taken at the ACT Center or the customer’s site, when appropriate technology is available. The training will never require travel or per diem. Most courses allow users to test out of what they already know and to proceed at their own pace, cutting training time and saving money. Also, employees can take the program when it is most convenient and has the least impact on their job-related productivity. Studies by Training magazine, ASTD, universities, and the U.S. Army have shown that individualized, criterion-referenced training can deliver training in less time and with a better retention rate than traditional methods.

CD-ROMs

The private sector sells CD-ROM programs for about $795 to $1,595 per station. They sell intranet/internet versions of the same programs through a license or on a per-user basis. User charges can range from $99 (usually for an end-user computer course) to about $350. Most CD-ROMs contain about three hours of training, so the hourly user charges range from a low of $33 per hour (for a $99 course) to a high of $117 per hour (for a $350 course).

CD-ROM Disadvantages

Costs can be lower if a vendor sells the customer a large volume of the product. However, to get the lower per-hour or per-trainee price, the customer must spend a lot of money up front or make a major long-term commitment to use the product. In either case, the customer must commit major resources to get better per-person pricing.

ACT Center Advantages

The ACT Center network has one of the largest courseware libraries in the world, with quality courses from major vendors at competitive prices. The delivery flexibility will allow customers to take just enough training, when it is needed. It is not necessary to purchase large contracts to get competitive pricing. Web-based programs can be taken onsite, at an ACT Center, on the web, or through the national network. In many cases, a customer can decide to use the “pay as you use” method or design and pre-purchase a training program in advance.

Web-Based Courses

Offerings on the Internet are expanding rapidly. However, one should note that many web-based courses are not individualized or interactive. Individuals can enroll for a program and test on the web, but much of the actual course/instruction is delivered by traditional means.

Another constraint is the technical capabilities of the user. While many good technical and management skill courses have been developed in a multimedia format, they cannot be delivered over the web unless the user has a large “pipe” for transmission. Many personal users and companies do not have adequate technology to run these courses. An ACT Center can provide the courses on site for users who do not have the technical capabilities to receive quality multimedia courses via the web.

Pricing on the web is complex and ranges from taking a certification curriculum for several thousands of dollars to buying an annual unlimited use subscription.

Web-Based Courses Disadvantages

Many web-based programs are dependent on a user’s technical capabilities for successful delivery. In some cases, vendors will send different versions of the same program, depending on a user’s “pipe” size. If a user has a large pipe, they will be sent the multimedia version. If they have a medium-size pipe, they may get sound and graphics. If they have a small pipe, they will only get the graphics version of the program.

ACT Center Advantages

The programs in the ACT Center library are individualized, interactive, web-based programs. The ACT Center’s sophisticated technology ensures that multimedia programs can be delivered in their entirety, directly over the web. Most courses include text, audio, and graphics.