In this issue:

1. Over 100 New Courses Now Available to Meet Your Training Needs
2. Earn HRCI Recertification with New Courses
3. Review: Project Scheduling
4. Welcome Aboard



1. Over 100 New Courses Now Available to Meet Your Training Needs

We're pleased to announce that over 100 new titles have been added to our offerings in the past quarter. With these new additions, our total course offerings come to 2,900+ courses! Below is just a few of the new titles. Visit our website for a complete listing:

• Business and Professional Skills:
  Telephone Skills for Business Professionals Simulation
  Financial and Security Management
  Managing Employment (HRCI/PHR)
  Union Work Environments (HRCI/PHR)
  Recruitment and Selection (HRCI/PHR)
  Insurance Industry Overview
  Coaching Personalities and Teams Simulation
  Project Lifecycles and Stakeholders
  Elements of Project Time Management
  Budgeting and Controlling Costs
  
• End User Desktop Computing
  Project 2003 (3 Courses)
  
• Technical General
  PowerBuilder 9 Advanced Development (5 Courses)
  
• Technical Microsoft
  Microsoft .NET Applications MCSD/MCAD/MCDBA 70-316 (APPNET) (3 Courses)
  Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 MCSA/MCSE 70-284 (EXMANG) (7 Courses)
  Visual Basic .NET Windows Apps MCSD/MCAD 70-306 (VBWIND) (6 Courses)
  Windows Server 2003 Security MCSE 70-298 (SRSCUR) (12 Courses)
  
• Technical Web Development
  Dreamweaver MX 2004 (DW04MX) (7 Courses)
  Flash MX 2004 ActionScript 2.0 (AS20FL) (5 Courses)

Browse our complete course catalog and descriptions on our website. Please contact your Account Manager if you do not currently have access to these courses. They would be happy to help you customize your curriculum. These courses are also available to you if you are not currently a CompanyCollege member and would like to try our service for free!



2. Earn HRCI Recertification with New Courses

The Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) has designated SkillSoft, CompanyCollege's content provider for the Business & Professional Skills course catalog, as an Approved Provider of continuing education for its three professional certifications. In addition to our 12-course series HRCI/PHR Certification Program, which helps learners prepare for the PHR exam, the Business & Professional Skills courses can now help HR professionals maintain certification with courses offering over 900 approved hours of recertification credit.

What is HRCI?
HRCI is the credentialing affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). HRCI works to define and maintain the HR body of knowledge, and offers assessments and certification of this knowledge. Human Resource certification demonstrates mastery of the HR body of knowledge and is widely accepted as a symbol of professional achievement.

The Human Resource Body of Knowledge
The HR body of knowledge is a recognized standard set by individuals working in the human resource profession. It is designed to answer the question, "What should a human resource practitioner know and be able to apply to be considered a competent HR generalist?" The body of knowledge is defined by six functional areas that are associated with nearly 80 responsibilities and more than 80 knowledge statements. The following functional areas are what HRCI bases its certification exams on:

• Strategic Management
• Workforce Planning and Employment
• Human Resource Development
• Compensation and Benefits
• Employee and Labor Relations
• Occupational Health, Safety and Security

Certification
HRCI offers three certifications: PHR (Professional in Human Resources), SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) and a new designation, GPHR (Global Professional in Human Resources). To obtain certification, candidates must have at least two years of exempt level HR work experience, as well as demonstrate mastery of the HR body of knowledge by passing a certification exam. To learn more about the certification requirements, please contact us at (888) 432-3077.

We offer a 12 course series entitled the HRCI/PHR Certification Program that maps to the six functional areas and is an excellent tool for helping learners refresh for the PHR exam. It is important to note that the exams are designed to assess a candidate's knowledge already obtained through professional experience.

Maintaining Certification or "Recertification"
PHR and SPHR certification shows that the holder has demonstrated mastery of the HR body knowledge. Through recertification, the holder has accepted the challenge to stay informed of new developments in the HR field.

To maintain certification, HRCI requires HR professionals to recertify every three years. Recertification can be obtained by documenting 60 hours of professional development experience including continuing education, instruction, on-the-job experience, research and publishing, leadership activities, membership in a national or international professional organization such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), or by retaking the examination ("recertification by examination").

How are Recertification Credits Hours Determined for SkillSoft Courses?
HRCI awards recertification credit on an hour for hour basis for all educational time. Re-certification credit hours for SkillSoft courses are established using course durations. During course development, course duration is determined by average completion times of a set sample of learners. Recertification credit hours are noted on the SkillSoft HR related course list.

Business & Professional Skills Courses Have Been Approved
Being an HRCI Approved Provider gives recertification candidates a ready reference to quality continuing education. The Approved Provider program eliminates the guesswork when taking continuing education courses by allowing individuals to know before they register if the activity will be counted toward recertification and if so, how many recertification credit hours will be awarded. To view a list of HR related courses that can be used toward recertification requirements, see the HRCI Course List.

The Business & Professional Skills courses have been approved for 993.50 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org



3. Review: Project Scheduling
by Jon Aleckson, owner of Web Courseworks

Course Title
Project Scheduling

Course Group
Business & Professional Skills Catalog

Would use of critical path variance analysis, a three-point estimate technique, or resource leveling improve your project scheduling effectiveness? Do you think applying project management skills to implementing training projects will lead to higher quality training?

Most executives familiar with project management would vote in the affirmative. Seeking out employees who can manage project activities and schedule competently is a top leadership priority. Training departments have relied on detail-oriented individuals to get things done by using commonsense to manage projects. However, many high-cost software projects and construction endeavors demand a more educated project manager.

SkillSoft, the content provider of the Business & Professional Skills courses, is a leader in providing expertly written asynchronous e-courses on a multitude of business subjects. Taking e-learning courses has many advantages over conventional methods of study. Project Scheduling deserves three-and-a-half stars because it maximizes these advantages by providing multiple exercise worksheets (learning aids), real world scenarios, continuous use of check-on-learning assessments, and content that is thorough and aligned with the Project Management Institute's recently revised third edition of the PMBOK (Project Management Book of Knowledge). However, a word of caution: you will be entering a zone of content complexity reserved for serious professionals.

The course is well organized into three lessons covering the following topics: inputs, outputs, and tools to estimate activity duration, develop a project schedule, and control the schedule. Simple enough? As a generalist in the development of project management training, I found the content to be targeted to committed pencil pushers. Yet, this is beside the point because the series is specifically aligned to the Project Management's PMBOK and the new material found in its most recent edition.

The Business & Professional Skills courses reflect a disciplined, well-managed e-course development effort. The use of templates for interactivity and the consistent user interface results in more effective e-learning. Most users should be able to navigate the main menu buttons with ease. To their credit, SkillSoft has invested generously in expert writing of multiple problem-based learning scenarios.

I would have appreciated additional characters and voiceover styles similar to another course I reviewed on project manager ethics (Project Management: Ethics and Professional Knowledge). I would have also liked to have seen more in-depth examples on how project management software (or simple spreadsheets?) makes this easier for me. The inclusion of a study guide review sheet would come in handy when cramming for the exam, especially for memorization of term definitions. Because this material is beyond “soft,” the level of complexity of this subject calls for more on-screen questions that relate and tie into the worksheet exercises and more diverse on-screen challenges beyond the overused drag and drop (match term with definition). Here, the efficiency of the e-course template may fall short.

It is difficult to evaluate the learning effectiveness of a single SkillSoft course, considering it often comes with a wealth of supporting material. When taken as a whole—the entire project management curriculum, the SkillPort LMS, Books 24/7, the mentoring capability and links to PMI material—SkillSoft provides a real value and turnkey solution to preparing for the PMP exam.

Things I liked
Here are the most effective course features:

• Pre-test and scoring on main menu
• Use of audio on each page
• Multiple real life scenarios
• Several check-on-learning questions per topic
• Links to job aids or more complex exercises
• SkillPort features like access to over 600 PM books
• Mentor program

Things I didn't like
Here are features of the course that could be improved:

• Not enough “in course/on-screen” tie-in with the job aid exercises
• Check-on-learning limited to using drag-and-drop term definition exercise
• Complex content demands customized interactivity
• Drag and drops require sensitive mouse work
• Voices needs more variety

Recommendation
I highly recommend Project Scheduling to anyone interested in furthering understanding of what it means to be a professional project manager or pursuing a PMP certification.

Product Ratings
Project Scheduling

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Jon Aleckson, owner of Web Courseworks, speaks and writes on the topics of project management of e-learning development and e-course quality standards. As CEO of Web Courseworks and Madison Productions, Jon assists companies in developing customized solutions using technology for education and training initiatives. Copyright © 1997-2004 TMR Publications. All rights reserved.



4. Welcome Aboard

Business Training Library would like to welcome its newest e-learning clients! Your BTL team stands ready to support you throughout this new endeavor.

• Becker Holding Corporation, Fort Pierce, FL
• Blue Cross & Blue Shield of OK, Tulsa, OK
• LA Care Health Plan, Los Angeles, CA
• McCarthy Building Companies, St. Louis, MO
• Ohio Public Employees Retirement Systems, Columbus, OH
• Tybrin Corporation, Edwards AFB, CA

Business Training Library
285 Chesterfield Business Parkway
Chesterfield, MO 63005
(888) 432-3077
(636) 534-1001 (fax)
www.bizlibrary.com