The Virtual Classroom’s in Software Training Applications
The introduction of virtual classroom technology in software training has been hailed as the savior of many endangered training organizations, which have been challenged with finding a way to keep their training functions alive and well within new cost constraints (Rozmanith 2003). Strangled by air travel bans following 9-11, and then a crashing economy, training programs have been forced to take a back seat to business goals (Rozmanith 2003). It is no wonder that corporations are now being seduced by promises from e-learning vendors of “new heights of learning effectiveness” in technical training, along with assurances that training goals will be met quickly at low cost (What Do You Know about Centra? 2002). Unfortunately, corporations are finding that many e-learning vendors have made promises they cannot keep as they gamble and often lose on untried business models (Harris 2002). The promise of virtual classrooms, especially in software training, has raised expectations beyond what can be realistically delivered (Samarasekara 2001).
