A Hitchhiker's Guide to Learning Portals


The next site is easy to navigate: SmartForce http://www.smartforce.com.

I find a 3-hour project management course listed in the e-catalog, which includes a description of the intended audience, prerequisites, course outline, aim and learning objectives. The course incorporates testing and hands-on exercises. It meets the requirements for Project Management Professional Certification (PMP).

The vendors are described as technical publishers and authors of management courses.

Courses at SmartForce are available for rental. I can't find a price list or a shopping cart, but there is a customer service phone number.

Here's a portal where I found a course on defensive driving! It's Learn2.com, http://www.learn2.com.

Learn2.com is an e-commerce site that offers a catalog of online courses on a subscription basis. The project management courses focus on a client/server environment. Learn2.com also features tutorials for those who want to learn an everyday skill immediately. For corporate customers, Learn2.com offers Learn2 University featuring interactive, online courses for business & professional skills.

This next site is like a training superstore: TrainingNet, http://www.trainingnet.com.

This e-commerce portal covers all types of courses. Project management online courses vary widely on duration, cost, and type.

Here's a list of vendors:

  • ODonline.com offers a 4-week course for Organization Development practitioners that is 50% synchronous (same time, any place) and 50% asynchronous (any time, any place) and includes online participation with special coaching from a faculty member. Price tag: $1,095.00.
  • SkillSoft offers a 4-day course for $99.95.
  • eSocrates - Environmental Intelligence, Inc. offers a self-paced self guided course by subscription for less than $100 per course.
  • MindLeaders.com (formerly DPEC) offers licensed courseware that ranges from 8-16 days for $120.00.

    All this traveling is making me hungry. Let's stop at Hungry Minds http://www.hungryminds.com and see what's on the menu.

    At this site, the courses are academic. Here's a project management course from Oregon Graduate Institute priced at a whopping $1,401.00. University of California Berkeley Extension offers a Project Management course for $465.00. For the bargain hunter, emind.com offers an online course for $20.00. Hungry Minds provides a description of each course, but it is still working on a way to provide course reviews.

    Did I find the right project management course? I really don't know after being faced with all these choices.

    What is the best learning portal? From a consumer's perspective, a good learning portal is well-organized, easy to navigate and provides basic information on each course (duration, publisher, pricing, license, content type and review or rating). The learning portal concept

    The copyright of the article A Hitchhiker's Guide to Learning Portals in Training & Development is owned by Audrey Choden. Permission to republish A Hitchhiker's Guide to Learning Portals in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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