LearnKey for university?

By Adam Gifford

Auckland University is considering incorporating courses and tools from United States computer training specialist LearnKey into its Cecil on-line learning project.

The associate professor of management science and information systems, Professor Don Sheridan, has held talks with LearnKey president John Clemons and New Zealand distributor Laurence Day about the proposal.

"We'll run one of their sites on our network to understand what value is here. They have significant strength in the software training side, which is appealing," Professor Sheridan says.

"The other side of the coin is the tool set. With their methodology they're cranking out three hours of course ware a week with a team of six, so the up-front costs are not huge."

Mr Clemons says LearnKey started in 1987 making instructional videos, and video production still forms the basis for its CD ROMs and Internet products.

"My expertise was to make people look good in front of the camera, so I found people who knew how to teach a subject and that became our mantra - 'Learn from the experts'," Mr Clemons says.

"From day one with our videos, customers said 'I can't understand the manual. I just need someone to show me how to do it and then I'll take it from there'."

Mr Sheridan says Cecil adopted a similar approach, using Lotus Screencam.

"Monkey see, monkey do stuff is really good. We all learn from observation."

Mr Clemons says putting LearnKey content on the university network will relieve pressure on tutors to teach students how to use standard software like Word or Excel, and allow them to concentrate on course content.

LearnKey produces more than 500 titles on video and CD Rom. It covers mainstream computer packages, including Microsoft products and MCSE certification, Word Perfect, Lotus Notes, Novel Netware administration and A+ training. Its latest release is Cisco certification.

LearnKey teamed up with RealNetworks to put its most popular courses on the Internet, using its RealSystem G2 streaming media technology to delivers video and sound at very low data rates.

They are available for free evaluation at www.OnlineExpert.com

"The exciting thing is that a lot of what is on the Internet is text-based. You might as well be reading a book," Mr Clemons says.

"Our product features whole media, video and audio and streaming over the Net, and you can do it at your house at 28.8Kbps."

Mr Clemons also looked at a LearnKey training centre set up by Mr Day in Hamilton, the first such centre in the world.

"It's something we have been thinking about, but Laurence has gone ahead and done it. We're here to see that and talk about the long-term implications."

Mr Day says traditional class-based courses move too fast or too slow for most students.

"We thought why not use CD Rom in a training centre. We can have six students doing different courses in the same room," he says.

He asked LearnKey to write linking software so the students can use two linked screens, one with the CD Rom running and the other with the application open.

"We tried it in a small way in Hamilton and found trainees really liked it. It's a big business opportunity if we do this right."