Microsoft’s Online University (MOLI)

Microsoft has teamed with severalonline classroom providers (OCPs) to create MOLI, an online campus for technicaltraining. MOLI works like a clearing house where different OCPs offer onlinetraining to anyone who wants to learn about Microsoft products or technologies.

MOLI combines self-paced training from a student's computer with thebenefits of an instructor's guidance. The benefit to such training is itsconvenience. For businesses and individuals, MOLI is an alternative totraditional classroom training and saves you time and money.

The Campus
Microsoft launched MOLI on MSN in August 1995 and is moving MOLI to theInternet--just in time for the fall term. (MSN subscribers will be able toaccess MOLI from MSN, but spawned to the Internet.)

In late April 1996, more than two dozen OCPs offered classes through MSNand the Internet. Table 1 lists the OCPs and the classes they offer. New OCPsand classes are popping up all the time.

The Curriculum
Microsoft divides the MSN classes into three categories: OSs (Windows NT andWindows 95), development tools (Access, SQL Server, VB, Visual C++, and VisualFoxPro), and application tools (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint). The MOLI classeson the Internet include additional titles such as Internet ApplicationDevelopment and Web Authoring for Microsoft's Internet InformationServer. These new courses target students who want to pursue Webmeistercertification or learn how to create and maintain intranet sites.

Initially, most MSN courses were online versions of Microsoft certificationclasses. Although Microsoft didn't force the OCPs to use Microsoft OfficialCurriculum (MOC) materials (e.g., manuals, disks, and CD-ROMs), many early MSNcourses did. Microsoft certifies all OCP training materials, and most OCPs areactively developing their own content to supplement MOC materials. Notsurprisingly, Microsoft is developing new curriculums for Hypertext MarkupLanguage (HTML) and CD-ROM delivery.

The Classroom
MOLI offers students a modern-day version of correspondence classes. Onlineeducation enthusiasts point out that online classes take place in realtime:You don't have to submit assignments and wait for corrected results via snailmail. And online classes let you receive training without setting foot in aclassroom. (Some OCPs offer combination classes, mainly online, but with ashortened version of classroom and lab training.) For now, most MOLI classeshave definite start and finish dates, and you have to participate in online quizsections (or chat sessions) once or twice a week.

The online chats let you interact with other students. In the MOLI classesI've taken, the online sessions are a combination of questions that the onlineinstructor and students ask. These chat sessions help prepare students forcertification exams. Besides the chat sessions, MSN's MOLI classes combinereading assignments, hands-on labs, and downloadable instructor notes, quizzes,and/or sample certification exams. As MOLI migrates to the Web (phase 2 betabegan June 18), more content will be online, and 24 X 7 training will become areality.

Tuition and Fees
Students pay OCPs for materials and training, a fee that's generallycompetitive with the cost of a live class. Tuition includes course materialssuch as Microsoft's self-paced training materials and a CD-ROM. If you accessMOLI via MSN, you're responsible for the online charges that can add up duringthe chat sessions. Consider signing up for the heavy user option ($19.95/month)for the duration of the class and revert to normal user charges ($4.95/month)afterward. MOLI classes don't require travel or time off work, so the MSN costsare usually more than offset. Microsoft charges OCPs a program fee that letsthem use the MOLI toolset.