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June 2003 Issue

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By Marv Nelson, Vice President of Technical Programs, SCTE

SCTE Offers Convenient Online Learning

Recently, I completed a course of study in information systems management via a local university. What was particularly interesting about this class was that the entire program was conducted in an online learning environment. I never met my fellow classmates or the instructor, but I still had to prepare for class each week. Similar to most university classes, there were textbooks to read, assignments to submit and papers to write, but the big difference was the way in which our class discussion took place--we communicated exclusively online.

The attractiveness with this type of class was the flexibility that it offered. Rather than building around a week-to-week format of the traditional classroom, I was able to work through the class as my scheduled allowed. There were certain weeks when I might have additional time to devote to class work, based on my work schedule. Because I knew when certain projects were going to be due, I could work ahead and build some buffer ahead of the due date.

Beneficial partnership

SCTE recently partnered with the New Jersey Institute of Technology and AM Communications to offer the same distance learning opportunity to those wishing to study different aspects of cable telecommunications. These courses contain outside reading and instructor-led training via streaming video. Students in the class interact with the professor in an asynchronous fashion, which allows them to weave their course work in and around their day-to-day schedule. This gives students the best of both worlds--the depth of a professional development training course led by an expert in the field and the flexibility of online learning.

Five courses have been completed and are available online: Cable101: Introduction to Cable Telecommunications; Digital and High-Speed Data; Broadband Telephony; Cable Telecommunications Installation; and Customer Service for Technical Personnel.

Three of the courses--Digital and High-Speed Data, Broadband Telephony and Cable Telecommunications Installation are recommended study resources for individuals pursuing SCTE's Broadband Premises Specialist (BPS) certification and endorsements.

In addition to the NJIT courses, SCTE recently unveiled a new series of Web seminars--called SCTE Live Learning--designed to provide cable telecommunications engineers and managers with a comprehensive roadmap to deploying video-on-demand (VOD).

There are five sessions in SCTE's Live Learning VOD series that will address different aspects of VOD and deployment. Each session is one hour in length and includes tools that participants can use during an actual VOD deployment. In addition, content in the VOD series may be used to help prepare for SCTE Certification. SCTE Live Learning was created through a partnership between SCTE and Maher & Maher, a consulting, training, e-learning and organizational development firm based in Neptune, N.J.

With life as hectic as it can be, both of these new online learning resources offer you a convenient and affordable alternative to traditional classroom learning. Course descriptions and registration details for both the new distance learning courses and SCTE Live Learning are available at www.scte.org in the "training and certification" section under "online learning."

Marv Nelson, BCE, BCT, is vice president of technical programs at SCTE. Email him at .

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