April 2008: Virtual Training Tips (Part 2 of 3), iBATIS Courseware, IT By-The-Numbers

Virtual Training Tips, iBATIS Courseware, IT By-The-Numbers

In this issue, we have:

• Techniques for improving virtual training delivery (part two in a three part series)
• Information on a featured courseware title - iBATIS Courseware
• Some interesting numbers on the IT industry

If there are topics you'd like to see covered in the newsletter, drop us a line at info@intertechcourseware.com or call us at 1-800-866-9884 +23.


Virtual Training Tips (Part 2 of 3)

Continued from last month, here are more ideas around how to improve virtual training delivery.

• Lecture materials are comprised of no more than 50 percent Power Point slides



• Frequent polling of the students to keep them focused and engaged. Polls can be done to get an answer to test their understanding, to get an opinion, or to build consensus.



• There is “edutainment” through the insertion of jokes, brain teasers (that may not be related to the content), or animations. When students sit in front of a monitor and listen to a voice on the other end of the phone, like it or not, the instructor is competing with mediums like TV and sites like YouTube.



• Materials include evaluation break points where the students’ understanding of the material is explored to make sure they are fully engaged. VanSickle (2003) recognized that a new online instructor should understand how the Internet has changed student expectations. These student expectations, described by Lansdell (2001), include increased levels of feedback, increased attention, and additional resources to help students learn. . . To successfully challenge the online student, increased communication is required between the instructor and student (White, 2000).

iBATIS Courseware

iBATIS is an open source "data mapper" framework. Data mappers do not tie classes to tables or class fields to columns. Instead, a data mapper maps parameters and results of SQL statements to classes and fields.

Intertech Courseware's iBATIS course exposes students to this open source framework while also teaching awareness of some real-world memory, performance and other issues that are associated to any persistence framework.

This title is available today.


IT By-The-Numbers

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the ITTA:

• Employment opportunities are expected to be good in the IT industry as demand for computer-related occupations increases due to rapid advances in computer technology, continuing development of new computer applications, and the growing significance of information security.



• 92% of all IT workers are in non-IT companies, 80% of which are in small companies.



• More than 90% of IT workers are employed outside the IT industry, which makes it necessary for them to have both IT and complementary training in their respective business sectors such as health care, manufacturing, or financial services.



• Employers are also looking for well-developed soft skills, transferable IT skills and adaptability in their workforce.