Customer Reviews

Designing Web-Based Training: How to Teach Anyone Anything Anywhere Anytime

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

note: I submitted my review yesterday and incorrectly put the publishers name instead or Horton in the review. I have corrected that error below

Excellent overview and covers the in depth considerations necessary for any successful WBT program

I do consulting in education on WBT and I am a Director of a WBT Consulting Certification Program and consequently usually do not have the time to write reviews. However, in this instance I had to take the time. Horton has done an excellent job of providing an overview of WBT and an in depth study of the instructional design related to a WBT program. He covers most of the issues you will be facing setting up WBT and his book should be on your shelf and one of the first that you read if you are just getting started in WBT or in need of further guidance in this area. He doesn’t go into the practical development side of the how to do the graphics, programming, and Web architecture, but that is OK because that is a separate area in itself. If you need to know most of the considerations involved with WBT, then this is definitely your book. After you have read his book sit down and use his suggestions to plan your WBT program and you will not go wrong. He also addresses very practical issues in the instructional design of the WBT program and the courses within the program, how to set them up and conduct them. I can’t say enough about how well he covers these topics. If you need a book that will give you ideas and make you think about your WBT program and the instructional design and development within your upcoming or current WBT program, his book will do all of that and more. His book will definitely make you think and will provide insightful assistance for WBT program managers, WBT instructional designers, WBT course development teams and WBT instructors alike. I particularly liked the instructional design of his book; it is full of illustrations that are as thought provoking as his words. The book is truly an idea generator. It is an easy read for a newcomer and a must read for the WBT professional.

A friend recommended this book to me when I was beginning to write simple web-based training programs. In buying this book, I thought I would find a list of ways to put the training together. Horton's book brings a lot more to the reader.

First, this book does not give you code to use for building the training. Although he will mention the a helpful hint in using a particular code here and there, he does not give you long lists of things to cut and paste into your module.

This book provides you with a reference for all the things you, as the creator of the training, should be thinking about. It is not overwhelming with theory, but rather is a series of bulleted lists of tips, ideas, and suggestions for preparing your work. This is easy to read and has many examples (pictures) of what he is talking about (there is also a website and each chapter comes with a list of other places to go for information...not to mention the list of references in the back).

Horton explains what web-based training is and helps you to evaluate whether web-based training is the best route to go for your needs. He discusses how to market your training as well as how you can lay it out to make it user friendly. He has his own training programs that he does so all his methods have been tested. This lends a lot of credibility to the author.

Before reading this book, I was still thinking in terms of text and quizzes. Although he does mention these, he also gives you different ideas in how to present the information. This keeps training different and exciting.

I would highly recommend this book for any trainer, or educator, who is interested in pursuing, or experimenting, with web-based training.

Horton does a great job of explaining the pros and cons of web based training and when it should be used. He presents some basic guidelines for developing a business case for using WBT and moves into a detailed definition of well designed courseware. Topics include designing course navigation, course material and exams. Tech tips are scattered throughout for the technical people reading this book, but not in a way that would scare off non-techies. Well written and easy to read. Highly recommended.

One of the most innovative and practical uses of the Internet in recent years has been providing what has been called Web-based training (WBT), to a variety of people online. William Horton has written Designing Web-Based Training to provide us with insight into the immense educational and training potential that the Web has to offer its users.

Horton points out many of the benefits of offering WBT: It can save money in production costs, company employees and college students can save money in transportation and lodging expenses, course material costs are very low, course instruction and materials can be made available to all participants anywhere worldwide at specific times or any time day or night, course content can be easily updated and broadcasted in a timely manner, and so on.

Readers receive detailed instructions for establishing their own training programs. All the necessary ingredients are here, including guidelines to create local and universal course content, log-on instructions, course announcement statements, policy statements, survey pages, course syllabus outlines, virtual classroom instructions, tutorials, interactive classroom exercises, testing, and contingency plans.

Horton provides guidance for formulating and communicating specific hardware requirements for virtual learning. Speakers, printers, microphones, video cameras, scanners, and CD-ROM's and/or DVD players are standard for most learning environments. Operating systems, software programs, monitor size, color coverage, screen resolution, and browser settings involving graphics, cookies, JAVA, ActiveX controls, and page updating are important considerations that cannot be overlooked.

Horton provides an excellent overall view of Web-based training. The planning, the creation of content, necessary hardware requirements, and incorporating new technologies are thoroughly covered. Companies, private organizations, and schools planing to take their classrooms and courses online will find this book both motivating and a good starting point from which to plan their moves. Web developers will find this book to be an essential guide to assist their clients to get online and produce good results. Must reading!

... For Web-Based Training".

This is what the book will give you, many considerations and thoughts surrounding web training. It does excel in that department because the average trainer wouldn't be able to think of all these details and possibilities themselves. It's a GOOD reference of ideas... "if you are going to do "x" you should consider "y".

On the downside it teaches you nothing of "best practices" or "how-to", which is more of what I was going after. In many cases the author will go over a segment and then states that most "packaged" systems will have that piece in place already. Ok, what are good "packaged" systems to consider then? There are no answers for this because the author wants to remain "vendor neutral".

Quite honestly I don't know who the target market is for this. I am a developer needing to put together a corse and this hasn't helped me in the least. Actually this books has left me with more questions as to how to proceed next as it has answered.

And don't even bother going to the authors website for help. It is the same type of "presentation" information and if you want the juicy "how-to" details you are directed to one of his seminars ....

But the author is emphatic about the fact he is a consultant and this is typical of many consultants... long on "considerations" and short on "how-to".

And I don't know why all the other reviews are raves... did they read this book or just browse it only to be impressed by all the diagrams? I'd like to know how these people are incorporating the info within to their business.

I for one would like to have my $$$ back for it.

Designing Web-Based Training comprehensively teaches just what the title suggests, distilling the design experience of hundreds of hours of CBT/WBT. It will not take you to the cutting edge of web technology (which changes too fast, so no book will), but you will emerge with a rock-solid foundation. The technical level is probably optimal, and therefore a bit low for an engineer. The style is quite light and enjoyable, and I appreciated the humor.

I was particularly impressed that an entire chapter is devoted to localization: here in Europe, a constant complaint is that Americans neglect the needs of other languages and cultures.

Note that there is nothing here about the business of WBT, e.g. project management, vendor management, selling projects to internal management, or the business of training in general. A few other books cover those topics admirably; this one focuses on design.

Horton gets out of including design and development methodology by calling it a religious issue. Maybe so, but that will affect your design. Chapter 5 "Organize Learning Sequences" hints at a learning object being part of a bigger picture, but I found little to help me with large-scale courseware production, in which databases are needed for tracking objectives, test questions, and even content. Why do these books always assume that you are making just one course in a vacuum? The IEEE, IMS, and AICC learning technology standards are mentioned a few times, but the newer SCORM not at all.

I am a corporate trainer who seeks to convert much of his highly successful classroom-based training to the Web. This book was EXACTLY what I was looking for and met my very demanding criteria for a 'how-to' book.

It succeeds in that it:

1. Takes the reader step by step by step through all of the big-picture considerations (and several subtle but important nuances) one must undertake to create an e-learning program from scratch, or convert an existing training program to one that can work on the Web

2. Is written clearly, concisely and simply - - an absolute rarity in a world of technology handbooks that are muddled and/or require the reader to already have a Ph.D. in computer science to understand.

3. Introduced me to small and large ideas that I had not considered but that made perfectly common sense when I thought about them.

This book made me a disciple of William Horton, and gave me the confidence that if I wanted to, I could transform my classroom training to the Web yet avoid a lot of errors I would have committed had I not read this book.

This well designed book is chock-full of practical examples of how one can design for and use web-based technology in training. One of the reasons this book is so useful to me is because it offers many references and examples, both online and offline, for further research. Horton mentions that this book is intended for designers and not "tool operators", so if you want a web cookbook then you should look to other resources.

A great reference book written in the classic William Horton style. William Horton produces clear, concise descriptions and advice in this refernce. He "walks the talk" by organizing the text with classic documentation organization techniques. You always know where you are, and know where to find stuff.

The content is basic, but gives both traditional instructional designers and technical developers a common platform from which to work together.

I used this book to bring these two facets of WBT development teams together, as technical and instructional design (ID) people need to be able to work together to produce sound WBT. By giving the technical folks an ID primer, and the ID folks a technical primer, they are communicating better.

Of course, there is risk printing a book on such a dynamic, ever-changing subject. The text could be stale before long- I would have liked to see a web-based version of this!

A great reference for basic WBT concepts and use.

I believe I have read practically every book on Web/Internet Training-Education and "Designing Web-Based Training" is head and shoulders above the rest.

The instruction provided in this book breaks down the many various skills and considerations in designing online training/education clearly and logically. It then supports these concepts with practical examples.

Combining the book with the accompanying website is the best example of coordinating print and Web based instruction I have seen. Together they provide an excellent resource to draw ideas from.

Do yourself and those you intend to deisgn Web based training/education and read this book BEFORE you start your own Web-Based training. Remember the mantra, "Content is King". Mr. Horton has provided an excellent example of this guiding principle.