Wonderful, you make the decision to go with WBT. Now what do you do? Should you design your own WBT, or go out to find a vendor who can supply it for you? How sophisticated should it be?

Look again at your situation and your goals; simple text and graphics courses may be the most appropriate, especially if you have a limited training budget, limited technical experience or resources, or when your targeted audience is not going to be comfortable with training delivered solely over the web. And, text and graphics programs are generally the most accessible to large audiences and do not require plug-ins for the training to function properly. But, text and graphics programs have been described as “less engaging” by some, especially when they are compared to interactive forms of WBT. Many times these “courses” do not amount to much more than the static delivery of information.

So, maybe you want to deliver a learning experience with more interactivity? We will show you how to use WebCT, a fairly robust course tool you can use to create interactive learning environments without a lot of technical “know-how.” In fact, you don’t need to know a thing about CGI scripts!!! WebCT is similar to TopClass, or Web Course in a Box, products often employed in academic settings for course delivery on the Web.

WBT can also take the form of “stand-alone”, self-paced training, with integrated animation, graphics, and video (i.e. How to Screw in a Lightbulb). If you are interested in creating multimedia training, you may want to research these leading companies; each has released high-end applications for creating, delivering, and managing CBT or WBT:

Allen Communications ~ http://www.allencomm.com/
Designer's Edge, Manager's Edge, Quest.

Asymetrix ~ http://www.aimtech.com/
Toolbook II, IconAuthor.

Macromedia ~ http://www.macromedia.com/
Authorware, Director, Pathware Attain, Flash, Dreamweaver.

And finally, you might decide it is easier to have a vendor provide the training you need, especially when the training is performance-based and geared towards a popular application (i.e. Microsoft Office). Some of the larger names on the market right now who provide online learning solutions are:

CBT Systems ~ http://www.cbtsys.com/

Course Technology ~ http://www.course.com/

DigitalThink ~ http://www.digitalthink.com/

Gartner Group Learning~ http://www.gartner.com/

NETg ~ http://www.netg.com/anytime1.htm