Like many software engineers, Robert Antonellis lost his job during the dot com bust. Fortunately, instead of investing his money in soon-to-be-defunct technology stocks, he saved it. Which meant that he had the funds to launch Texsel Training LLC as soon as he saw what a crucial need it could fill.

Texsel Training was established to solve employee learning problems generated by the same faltering economy that had cost Antonellis his job. The human resources director of a large corporation had told Antonellis that the company no longer had the time or the money to send its employees to traditional seminars, but still needed to somehow provide them with cutting-edge training.

Antonellis' response was to combine the webinar concept with teleconferencing. A webinar is a seminar conducted online. The Texsel Training system allows students in a variety of locations to follow an instructor's lesson over the Internet and listen to the instructor's voice, over the phone, at the same time. Students can even ask questions and participate in discussions during a question and answer period. The technology solution comes from Rain Dance Communications, a company which provides tools allowing online participation from any Java-compliant browser. Rain Dance is normally used by companies for online marketing projects, but its system translates seamlessly into the e-learning field.

The Texsel Training webinar system is ideal for clients that can no longer afford traditional seminars. Not only does it provide all of e-learning's convenience and efficiency, but the ability to interact verbally with world-class instructors gives the format a more familiar feeling that might win over many otherwise reluctant e-learning newbies. Texsel Training hopes that this level of interaction, far greater than can be achieved through a regular e-learning system, will keep them coming back.

"It's overdue," Antonellis says. "It was always needed, but now there's a solution for it. You can get information from a leading expert in the field from your cubicle or office, and you can do it without buying plane tickets or standing in line."

Andy Olsen is one of Texsel Training's first Author Trainers, the author of a number of programming books published by Microsoft and Wrox. "I'm excited by the possibility of delivering interactive training over the Web," he says. "This mode of training combines all the best features of traditional classroom training and self-based Web learning. Students can ask questions in real time, just like in a classroom, but without the administrative difficulties of organizing and attending onsite training. All students need is an Internet connection, a few hours, and some enthusiasm for the subject!"

2002 Copyright, Aaron Emmel, Printed with Permission.

About the Author
Aaron Emmel is the music reviewer for afterfive magazine and President of the MeteorCity record label. Email him at aaron@meteorcity.com. His site is http://www.theunknownworlds.com.

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