Online Training: Everything You Need to Know

HELLO, ONLINE TRAINING!

We’ve already received a lot of questions about these new offerings and we wanted to take a few minutes to deliver all of the information that you need to know in order to decide if these options are right for you.

The Quick List

• Classroom Experience, No Travel
• Session Structure = More Flexibility
• 5+ Classes to Begin, More on the Way
• Tech Requirements
• How to Sign Up?
• General FAQ

Classroom Experience, No Travel

With the introduction of modern technology into the workplace, we’re moving rapidly towards a world of instant answers, reduced travel, and increased collaboration. Driving 2 hours to a training facility isn’t always an option for the workforce today. Our online training was introduced as a way to address some of these needs and give our students a little more flexibility. 

At the same time, we didn’t want to simply provide videos and quizzes. We want our online training to match the experience of our award-winning classroom training. Our online classes will consist of live lectures (hosted by an instructor), and we’ll be working with you on all of the exercises. We even use tools for screen sharing to be able to work with each student individually, should a problem arise.

Session Structure = More Flexibility

Classroom training and an in-person experience often means stepping away from the office for several days at a time. To make the timing more manageable, we’ve decided to split our online classes into sessions of 2 to 4 hours each. Although this means that an online course may take a few more days, this also means that you have more time between sessions to get back to your work and also practice a bit more before the next day’s lessons. 

These Classes to Begin, More on the Way

Keep in mind that this is only the beginning. As 2019 continues, we’ll be adding more classes to the list as online offerings. We want to offer this flexibility for as many of our courses as possible, so stay tuned for updates throughout the year.

Tech Requirements

With an online course comes a little bit more responsibility on the student’s end. As you’ll be using your own computer, not a computer provided by GSC, you’ll be responsible for your own technology. If you aren’t sure about this, you may want to have IT ready to assist with any issues that might arise.

• Software:
  • The tools being taught will not be provided for the class. If you are attending a SOLIDWORKS class, you must have it installed on your own PC if you intend to complete the exercises.
  • Although the differences in the books tend to be minor from one year to the next, if you choose to take the class with a different version of the software than the version being taught, you may experience some slight differences or be unable to complete portions of the material.
  • Our online training tools do not require any installation, but it is best experienced if you have Chrome installed and set as your default browser.
• Connection:
  • Because the training will be provided over the internet, having a high-speed internet connection is required. Our applications typically require at least a 3mbps connection. If you have less than this or are sharing a slightly larger connection with other users, you might experience lagtimes, disconnections, or other issues.

We are more than happy to help point you in the right direction with any technical issues you might have. If you have any questions about these topics, please feel free to reach out at 800-454-2233.

How to Sign Up?

If you’re hoping to sign up for one of our current online classes, you can do so in a couple of ways. You can pay online with credit card when you select your class or you can call us at 800-454-2233.

General FAQs

If I purchased a bundle or a credit for a classroom course, can I use that for online training?

Yes. Because our online training is sold at the same cost as our classroom courses, you can use any credits purchased for either format.

Do I receive a book with a training course?

If a book is provided for the in-class format of a course, you will receive one for the online course. We’ll require a shipping address as part of online course registration. There will also be an online-accessed digital version of the manual available for classes.

What if I experience technical issues and am unable to complete the class?

As with any of our courses at GSC, our online courses are “Training Guaranteed.” If you attend a training session and are unable to complete the course or don’t feel that you were able to grasp everything throughout the course, you are welcome to retake the class as many times as it’s available over the course of the year.

Hopefully, you’ve found this information to be useful. If you have any additional questions about online training or training in general, feel free to reach out to us at GSC. We can’t wait to see you in class!