Bridging the Distance Learning Gap

• One of the most serious problems our industry faces is how to provide consistent, professional and timely training to all of our employees without pillaging property and corporate budgets.
   
• Employee training is vital - and expensive - but distance learning can be a low-cost, convenient alternative.
   
• According to the American Society for Training and Development, distance education is an "educational situation in which the instructor and students are separated by time, location or both. Education courses are delivered to remote locations via synchronous or asynchronous means of instruction, including written correspondence, text, graphics, audio-and videotape, CD-ROM, online learning, audio-and videoconferencing, interactive TV and facsimile."
   
• Current educational offering can be grouped into two categories - synchronous, meaning simultaneous interaction between the participants and trainer and asynchronous, where there's no real-time interaction. Synchronous offerings include streaming video and video conferencing, telephone-based training, some Web-based training (WBT), text chat and voice chat, while the asynchronous group includes bulletin boards, managed e-mail lists, computer-based training (CBT) and some WBT.
   
• Distance education programs are most valuable when used to supplement classroom training and as a way to reach employees on small and/or remote properties who receive little or no training due to their location and lack of local training resources. Finally, distance education programs are the perfect vehicles for delivering "just-in-time-training" (JITT), which allow us to train new employees the day they're hired or train an entire company on a new procedure, without anyone leaving their office.

Web-Based Training

• WBT can be synchronous or asynchronous and both versions can be very effective, although synchronous WBT requires a DSL, cable or other broadband connection for maximum usability. WBT is accessed via the Internet, on the company's virtual private network (VPN), or a dedicated direct connection to the company servers. Asynchronous WTB can be used at the learner's convenience, since the course is self-contained; synchronous WBT is scheduled and features a "live" presenter.
   
• Most WBT courses feature a placeholder feature, which allow the learner to stop at any point in the course and resume the same point later on. Another useful feature is that supervisors can access the learner's records and determine which courses were taken and what the test scores are.

Computer-Based Training

• CBT means that the training material is on the user's computer instead of on the Internet or on a company server. CBT can be accessed at anytime, day or night, giving the employee the flexibility to complete training at their convenience.
   
• Carol Levey, NALP, CAM, CAPS, co-founded I.T. Partners with Neil Fjellestad in 1993 and introduced the first property management CBT program, "Let's Lease" shortly thereafter. "We remain in a whirlwind of change, said Levey in a recent interview. "We recognized the need for a uniform method to train employees that is cost-effective and allows them to be more productive. With knowledge requirements expanding, combined with ongoing employee turnover, lack of consistent and timely training means, operational inefficiencies, loss of market share and potential legal liability. We felt that CBT was the most professional, cost-effective way to address these issues."

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