Thanks for the article Howie. First, I am a current full time online student; enrolled at the Art Institutes of Pittsburgh. In my opinion, I think it is up to the student, and how motivated they are, that will tell his or her success. I do not have the time or money to attend a university in person although at times I wish I could. The one thing I think online class lacks is the human factor and the ability to see each peers' creativity in real time. As a really passionate artist, I believe in my case I will succeed given I do not rest on my laurels or slack in personal studies. At this point I do not have the luxury of logging on at my leisure. The school has a rigorous schedule with real deadlines and participation. I say, GO online education, as long as the student is dedicated, motivated, and most of all passionate in what they do.

Great article Howie, and I think you hit on a great point about most online learning. Many online learning experiences leave people frustrated, just as you described, because they are missing a key ingredient: interactivity. As you mentioned, webinars or fasted paced videos do not provide personal interactivity. You are merely “watching” and not participating, making learning very difficult. We (at Prepress Training Solution) have found that repetitive interactivity is integral to the online learning curve. You must “do it” to “learn it” and then “practice it” repeatedly until mastery is gained. Another component to consider is testing. If you can’t prove your mastery of the learned skill set, then you need to continue the learning process, whether it’s in the classroom or online (as your son found out the hard way).

Howie is dead on this trend... I have found that on line training is fine for many things but it is not "interactive", it does not allow the presentor to "read or get feedback" that the student is getting it... let alone on the same page! It is cost effective and fits for many things, but when you need to ensure people are buying in to the message or are being "touched" - use a real person

Wow.. 3 very interesting points. A student says that it is only as effective as the motivation of the student. Debbie from a web training company says repetitive interactivity is the key to software learning. And Gene says when you need to get the "buy-in" then you need face to face. Clearly different opinions and experiences. Lets face it online training is the new kid on the block and maybe, hopefully it will get better. But after listening to a boatload of webinars - I usually walk away saying, either "That was a sales pitch for a product" or "That was nothing new". And more often then not, I conclude "That was not worth an hour of my time".

Yes, Howie, you and anyone else with your opinion are "old-fashioned." I am, too. My kids don't watch television and the reason is because the simple act of watching television shuts down large parts of the brain, and we become literally addicted to it. Trust me on this--I've done the research and been to the experts' seminars on the subject. It's not just television. Staring at a computer screen does the same thing--it's the two-dimensional RGB color that really takes its toll on our brain and our ability to learn as we do in a classroom setting. Bottom line: on-line learning can never be as good, and in most cases will be far less effective than humans teaching humans. P.S. My last job was a W2P Project Engineer, so I am not some nut. THANKS!

I spend much of my time training people to use several different products as well as workflow consulting. I was asked by an online training company to build one of their online training modules. After looking at how "boring" the previous version was I thought "People pay for this??". Then I saw what kinds of time allocations for each section that they were looking for. You simply can't train someone "well" in under 2 hours by watching a video. You must have an engaging session and for that you need an engaging human. Whether that be online via webinar or in person. I've even done it straight over the phone without the benefit of a computer on my end. I do both, I charge the same for both. But what you come away with is a much deeper understanding of the product(s) or topics. And that doesn't really have anything to do with being online in a webinar, on the phone only or face to face. That has to do with the student/teacher interaction. That's where the real learning occurs. Video training is a way to "get your feet wet". But don't count on much learning *value* from it (for the most part). You get what you pay for. A real person might be a bit more expensive but the ROI is much better in the end.

From the education side of things, I have some concerns with on-line training. For me, I think the most important thing I learned in grad school was how to teach myself things, cuz as a researcher, by definition, I'm having to learn things no one has figured out before. So for someone like me, online training is effective and cheap. ---------- BUT ------------- Most online training/education I've seen is oriented not to the highly-skilled learner, but to the lower end. I don't mean to sound snobby -- we all start in the same place. But I know that I never could have made it without experienced/trained LIVE instructors.