Web-Based Training Helps One Family Man Move Up |
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JIM TOSHACK faced a dilemma last year. He wanted to earn a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification, but between his job, family, and 120-mile round-trip commute, he didn't have enough time. So 17 years after he dropped out of college, Toshack became a virtual student, taking a standard six-module MCSE training course. Now, having passed the MCSE certification test on the first try and switched to a new job, he is delighted with the new browser-based approach to learning, especially the schedule flexibility it gives him. "It makes no difference where I am in the world -- whenever I have time, I can attend," says Toshack, now the senior computer systems technician at Antelope Valley Hospital, in Lancaster, Calif. Toshack first looked into online education around the end of 1997, when he was the network administrator at Woodbury University, a small private college in Burbank, Calif. Toshak had already upgraded Woodbury from a single VAX computer to a five-server network, relying mostly on his hands-on experience, which extended back to 1981, when he dropped out of college to open a computer store. He wanted both the formal training on Windows NT and Microsoft Exchange and the credential, and the university was willing to pay for it. But most computer training courses seemed logistically impossible. Commuting 60 miles each way between Burbank and his home in Lancaster left him little time in the evenings for his wife and two children, and he could not leave Woodbury for several weeks at a stretch for daytime classes. "I was the only NT administrator -- I couldn't leave them high and dry," Toshak says. Toshak also wanted self-paced study, so that a busy week at work wouldn't make him fall behind the rest of the class. The only remaining option was online training. Toshack enrolled in CyberState University. Students access CyberState U., as it is called, through a password-protected browser, and access class-related e-mail bulletin boards. Lessons are delivered via the Web, textbooks, worksheets, and videos. Students practice their skills in an online lab that simulates actual networking. Unlike in traditional college courses, there are no regularly scheduled lectures. Instead, "Professor Wire," the pseudonym for a team of instructors, answers students' questions -- after they have struggled with them for a few character-building hours first. Threads on the message boards take the place of classroom discussion, and more advanced students are encouraged to help newcomers. "I found this extremely helpful," Toshack says. "I enjoyed listening to real-life scenarios." The payoff was getting the MCSE certification that helped Toshack get his current IT job at a hospital, only a mile from his home. But his studies paid off even before he took the licensing exam. For example, at night Toshack would read about how to fine-tune server communication across networks, or to operate NT security, and would put it into practice at Woodbury the next day. He took about eight months to finish all six modules, about as long as it would take in a brick-and-mortar setting. But the online course was less time-consuming, with each lesson taking about five hours of study per week. He was so impressed with Cyberstate University that he is now enrolled in its Cisco Network Engineer program and plans to go on for certification as a Cisco Network Administrator after that. The experience has opened his eyes to the advantages of Web-based training. | ||||||
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 08 March 2009 ) | ||||||
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