Q: Which customers would MODL appeal to most?
A: MODL provides a learning experience to customers who want the guidance and expertise of an instructor without attending consecutive days of training at a training center. MODL is ideal for customers and consultants who can’t afford to take time out of work to attend training. MODL also benefits Enterprise customers who have limited competent resources and travel budget — who need to train a geographically dispersed workforce.
Q: Does MODL Qualify for Minimum Volume Requirements (MVR) and Software Assurance Training Vouchers?
A: MODL is Microsoft Official Curriculum for Distance Learning. It qualifies for Minimum Volume Requirements (MVR) and Software Assurance Vouchers (SA) per the particular program guidelines.
Q: What is the price comparison of MOC student kit vs. MODL student kit?
A: MODL student kits are more expensive; however the costs can be offset by savings in instructor utilization and lower facility requirements.
Q: How effective have the early deliveries been?
A: MODL “Metrics That Matter” (MTM) scores have been consistently higher than any other method. Currently, the scores are coming in at an average of around 9.5+/10 (although MTM is measured on a scale of 9 we have normalized on a 10 scale for ease of interpretation). In addition, MODL is getting nearly unanimous results regarding students’ highly positive opinions on recommending a MODL course to others.
Q: How does MODL help me to grow my business?
A: MODL allows you to reach a new customer base that could not previously attend your ILT-classroom training due to time, resource, and/or travel constraints. In addition, it allows you to consolidate students from other CPLS partners guarantying delivery of distance courses.
Q: How does MODL help me grow market share?
A: MODL allows you to extend your geographic reach and provide weekend and evening classes, adding to your bottom line without using your brick and mortar classrooms.
Q: MODL looks great! How do I get my manager to see the importance of adding this into my work day to help me be more productive but not expect that this is like any other e-learning that I can do on my own time?
A: MODL is designed to give you the flexibility to get the training you need while remaining productive on the job without dedicating the large blocks of non-productive time and expense required by traditional classroom training.
Q: Is there any way students can get into a classroom and try the course before taking it so they know MODL is a good solution for them? They have been so used to classroom training that they may be unsure of the approach offered by distance based e-learning.
A: Try a Test Drive. CPLS partners are running Test Drives all the time! Call your nearest MODL authorized CPLS and schedule time in a class. It will take an hour of your time and show you firsthand just how great the experience is! MODL is not E-Learning. Let us show you how interactive, fun and beneficial the GEAR approach is to delivering IT education. No matter how you learn, MODL will allow you to “get what you need, when you need, where you need”.
Q: One of the things students really like about instructor-led training is the ability to get one-on-one coaching from the instructor. How does that work in MODL? Also students wonder if they have to compromise their ability to ask questions of the instructor and gain the benefits of networking with other students.
A: Students benefit by being able to learn the way they like to learn: one-on-one with the instructor but also with the attendant benefits of group collaboration to fully leverage the collective knowledge and experience of all student participants. The instructor guides the student through the materials with hundreds of interactions with, and between, the students and then works through a personal assessment to assure each student is acquiring the knowledge and skills they require. This results in more positive student experiences, better knowledge retention and more successful classes (with fewer retakes, dropouts or unhappy clients).
Q: Who is the Target Audience?
A: Sales opportunities for MODL fall into three general categories:
- Clients with a large and specific mission-critical project. The project most likely includes the upgrade of existing technology and requires training as follows:
- Upgrade or “What’s new training” for the team performing the technology upgrade
- Full technical training (specified by the client) for new team members with less experience
- Prescriptive training for help desk and other support functions
- End user training
- Some form of ongoing reference guide related to the training material
- Possible on-site MCT mentoring/coaching or project management consulting and support.
- Clients performing employee performance reviews / annual skill assessments that demonstrate skill gaps.
- This process is identified as important but not mission critical and occurs on a regular basis
- The general skill upgrade process is often requested to be customized for the client in order to meet the restrictive “training time” and budget.
- These individuals often own multiple technologies and require bridge training related to the differences, similarities and integration of these technologies.
- Clients seeking professional upgrade through certification.
- Corporate clients continue to select individuals with career potential and support their certification process.
The corporate sponsor often assigns constraints on the individual employee requiring that most of the training be done outside of normal work hours and be spread over time in order to manage budgets.
Q: What are the best MODL marketing approaches?
A: Leverage the CPLS Web Site Marketing Engine
- Focus special pages on the new MODL product
- Evangelize the unique nature of the learning experience
- Identify the instructional design best practices
- Share the depth and experience of the trainers, along with their unique training to qualify them for this new product
- List all of the Value Adds for corporate and individual users, such as saved time, flexible delivery, continued ability for content review after class, engagement factor, and community building aspects of the experience
Use Promotional Ideas
- Tie “test prep” and “test cost” subsidy to post-training certification.
- Create ties to existing MOC by identifying additional E-Learning and Instructor-led courses which can be linked together. Offer these as packaged offerings.
- Offer Microsoft Press books as post-training reference and reinforcement.
- Scenarios and E-Learning are available for 90 days from the student activation date. Leave the portal up for 90 days so the students can access these as well long after the class ends.
Expand Your Market Reach
- Geography is no longer a barrier to growth! Leverage channels and trade associations, industry groups, trade press vehicles and web avenues
- Move to more advertising for mid size and small companies as well as your EA and large company accounts
- Re-target the individual career changer who has been using alternative training resources outside of the CPLS channel.
- Host One-to-Many seminars on MODL with demos to attract mid-market and small companies.
Q: What is the MODL Product Roadmap?
A: MODL is Microsoft’s unique Official Learning Product type that extends the facilitated learning experience beyond the classroom to enable IT Professionals more options and flexibility to get effective instructor led training. This new product type includes a catalog available on key Microsoft products, including: Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista, and .NET. Windows Server 2008 and ASP.NET will be available in 2008.
Q: What are future plans for localization?
A: Localization of MODL will depend on regional pilots and uptake potential within each region. Initial regional pilots have been successful using English language content with local language instruction. This is largely due to the flexibility of the design and authorized MCT which enables the use of English content while running live sessions in native language.
