This week I have been delivering an IT Manager Institute to managers in Croatia and Slovenia, , , all from my home office via webinar. The class is hosted by Housing Co., a Slovenia based company who has hosted three of our past IT Manager Institute classes.
I’ve been thinking of doing this for some time but was always concerned about the length of time students have to sit in front of their PC to receive the considerable amount of material I cover in the 5-day IT Manager Institute.
We have met for 5 to 6 hours each day this week and will complete the program on Friday. From my side, it is much easier because I don’t have to stand up all day. I’m interested in seeing the survey results to see how they match up with past students who have participated in the classroom version.
A webinar is more of a “one-sided” experience with less interaction, and I can tell there is not nearly the same energy level as I experience in the classroom. It is simply harder to get to know your students in this format. This is the biggest downside I think.
My sense is that webinars are better when they are no more than 1 to 2 hours in length, but our students expressed a desire to work through the program in one week rather than spreading it out over several weeks.
The upside is that we can deliver the class at a lower cost, , , requires no travel for students or myself, , , no airfare, hotel or food expenses, , , and it is less wear and tear on one’s body when you eliminate long plane trips.
Some of the students are working most of the day and attending the class in the evening, , , they are 7 hours ahead of me so when we start at 8:00am my time it is 3:00pm their time. This may be an additional benefit for students I haven’t thought about, , , or maybe not. 🙂
In 2012, I have plans to deliver a whole series of webinar classes on specific topics to help IT managers achieve more success. If the survey results are positive for this class we may add IT Manager Institutes to our webinar plans.
ITLever™ 
Congratulations on your first virtual ITMI course Mr Sisco!
Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to you and yours.
May the New Year bring you many blessings and even more success!!!
Salvador.
Thank you Salvador. I appreciate your comment and wish you a Merry Christmas as well. Hopoe your New Year is one of your best.
Mike
Hello
I was a member of this class and I must say it was my very best education ever. I’ve never felt such a motivation for listening since the program was bringing exactly what I was looking for. I was attending the class from a comfortable sofa over the TV in my living room. Luckily I had the environment ready. You can’t compare this to sitting on a chair in a conference room. And I heven’t mised the personal contact. We are introverted, remember?
Thanks Martin. I appreciate the positive comments and will be adding the class to the Photos Page soon.
Best of success,
Mike