Randy's
book, Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing,
will help you solve some of your toughest testing problems: people
problems!
Rice Consulting e-Learning Center
Rice
Consulting Services, Inc. is excited to announce the availability of
our most popular courses online!
End of Summer Sale!!! Save 25% off all online courses through August 31st!
(To get the multi-course
discount or to purchase a discounted team license, contact us at
405-691-8075 or from the contact
page.)
We know
there are times when you and your team would like to receive training
but because of time, budget and travel restrictions, you just can't
receive the training in person. For those reasons, we developed these
online training courses.
Our
Online Training is almost like having Randy training you at your desk!
"I thought the detail in the presentations and
their layout to be very comprehensive and most useful. I believe that
my level of understanding of testing has increased ten fold and over
the next few years will no doubt increase 100 fold." Basic Training in Software
Testing Participant
You
can now experience the following courses wherever
you have an Internet connection whenever you want
to view them:
Option
#1 - If you want the personal touch for your test team,
for an additional fee of $250 per hour, Randy will conduct Q&A
sessions with your team.
Option
#2 - If you would like a customized case study for your
team, Randy will be happy to develop one at a special rate. Or, if you
would like to develop a case study for your team, we can format it for
the course.
For
more details on these optional value-added services, just contact us!
Benefits
Here's
why you should consider our online training:
Train
at your convenience. If you have to juggle work and training, this
gives you the option to spend a little time on a regular basis for
training without sacrificing your productivity.
No travel. Forget airport security, bad airport food, and
hard hotel beds. Relax and spend time with your family and friends.
You
can repeat lessons. In a live class, you get one chance to hear
something. In our online classes, you can repeat the lessons as many
times as you like. In fact, we give you a full year of access to the course.
Consistent quality - You
know exactly who the trainer is and what they are going to say.
Geographic coverage - You
can train people around the world at the same time without huge time
and expense commitments.
Interactivity - You
have e-mail and forum access to interact with the instructor and other
students. We know there is no substitute for the human touch, but we
try to get as close as possible with e-mail, forums and chat sessions.
High value - The
cost is less than either a public course or an in-house course. Our
team prices allow you to train your entire team at a very attractive
rate.
It's
a great way to integrate new team members. This is true just-in-time
training!
It's
a great way to build your team. Train as a team, discuss as a team and
improve as a team.
Certification Preparation - If
you are preparing for certification exams, the basic training course is
a great primer.
Continuing Education - If
you already have a testing certification and need Continuing
Professional Education (CPE) credits, online training can allow you to
get those credits right away - you don't have to wait months for a
class to come to your city. (Of course, you will need to verify with
your certification provider if our training is accepted. QAI does
accept it for CPE credits.)
Quizes and feedback - There
are exams at the end of each module to help you assess your learning.
You get instant feedback on each question. You can also review the quiz
to see the correct answers versus your answers.
There
are also fun training games throughout the modules to help you
reinforce your knowledge.
Compare
the Costs
Public Course
Online Course
1 day, no travel = $450 USD
6.5 hour course = $59 - $89 USD
1 day, with travel = $1,100 USD
6.5 hour course = $59 - $89 USD
2 days, no travel = $900 USD
13 hour course = $349 USD
2 day, with travel = $1,800 USD
13 hour course = $349 USD
3 days, no travel = $1,350 USD
20 hour course = $395 - $570 USD
3 days, no travel = $2,500 USD
20 hour course = $395 - $570 USD
For traveling, 2 to 4 hours (at a
minimum) in travel each way -
What's your time worth?
No travel time
Cancelled flights, frustrations and stress
Sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy.
And,
this is just for one person! Think about these costs for a
team of five!
If you
do the math, you'll see the benefits add up fast. With the money you
save, you can buy a test tool, buy some books, hire an assistant...
We took
care to try to deliver a learning experience as close as possible
without being there in person. Here's what you will experience:
Deliverables:
Access to the course for ONE FULL YEAR!
A
complete set of course notes in Adobe format, which includes pictures
of all slides, checklists, examples and templates. These are the same
materials that students get in our live courses.
Streaming
slide show presentations of each module in Flash shockwave movies which
allows you to advance or review the presentation to see specific
slides. This slide show is narrated by Randy Rice, just like he would
in a physical class, except without all of his bad jokes.
Exercises
in each module, with sample solutions with which to compare your
solutions. There are links that allow you to try your test cases on an
sample application.
Templates
and examples in electronic format.
Streaming
video clips of supplemental topics, such as taking a tour of a test
lab, how to perform regression testing, etc.
Streaming
video demonstration of screen video of tests being performed.
Access
to the instructor via e-mail, chat sessions, and message boards.
Access
to other students to share experiences via chat rooms and message
boards.
Certificate
of completion upon completion of the course and submission of your evaluation.
Other
information
The
course is designed to be viewed by people at all connection speeds from
dial-up to DSL and high-speed cable modem.
Before
registering and paying, please view the demo first to make sure you
have the technical compatibility to access the course.
The
course uses an online learning management system (LMS) called Moodle.
This full-featured LMS provides many features and is easy to use. The
whole idea about Moodle is that you can learn at your own page,
interact with others and explore the topics as you like. You are not
forced to follow any particular order.
To see
some of the features of the e-Learning environment, just view the video
below.
If
you are dissatisfied with the course, just let me know before your
third session login and we will refund all of your registration fee or
give you credit toward another online course - your choice. No
hassle. No risk.
But
How Effective is the Training?
I'll be
the first to admit I love meeting people and training in a live
classroom. At first, I was very skeptical that this would even work at
all. In fact, I didn't even want to do all this work to create this
environment. Then on 9/11 our world changed.
I was
supposed to be conducting training across the street from the World
Trade Center in New York City on that day, but the class had cancelled
a few weeks prior. However, after that day companies placed their
employees on travel restrictions, conferences were cancelled or were
poorly attended and basically the public training business was bad for
about nine months. That all caused me to drastically
reconsider the possibility of effective web-based training.
While
there has been scholarly research on the question of e-learning
effectiveness, I'll let some of our past participants give you their
comments:
Basic
Training in Software Testing participants say:
"As
someone with both no experience and little knowledge of software
development/testing, I was rather daunted to take this course -
however, testing is a new skill I'm being required to learn. Despite
the limitations of the online environment (and my own sorry lack of
training), I thought you did quite well. Nothing can truly replace the
actual experience of the classroom, but this flowed well and the
instruction was engaging. I am still daunted by software testing, but I
feel far better armed and prepared to face the challenge after
completing your course. Thank you!"
"The
areas that I needed a better understanding and the modules cleared up
any questions I might of had pertaining to the subject. It was
comforting knowing that I could email or talk to Randy directly over
any concerns or questions I had pertaining to testing in general."
"My background is 'business analyst'; so much of this
info was a refresher for me. However, there were many things that were
different and I found them to be very informative."
"Overall the class was very good. I didn't know what to
expect when taking it and I was greatly surprised. Randy really does
understand what testers go through."
"A nice meaningful learning experience!"
"It
was all valuable...you learn something from everything presented to
you."
"I
thought all was valuable. Easy to listen to."
Gathering,
Documenting and Testing User Requirements participant says:
"I
have been learning this trade by sinking or swimming, and I am learning
that these are the concepts I already follow, as a matter of logic and
good planning, but I am young and have little industry vocabulary for
these concepts. It will make me more effective in my job.
What is the most value to me is that this course has increased my
confidence in my own performance--being young and new to this field, I
have suffered under the bearing of contractors with agendas. They have
much knowledge to offer, but it is usually laden with agendas. So this
course gave me more information that I can use to wage more effective
debates on, for example, how to proceed on particular projects.
It was all good. If there was something I already knew in detail, I was
able to skip to the next slide."
Structured
User Acceptance Testing Fast-Track Course participants say:
"Very
well done. Course is advertised as an 8 hour course -- took me about 16
hours to go through it. It's like packing a college semester into 8
hours. ... It went a long, long way in teaching me UA from QA. And the
whole process is foreign to us -- we will be implementing most of the
Planning processes soon thanks to this course. I've already spoken to
my manager. Implementing it will not mean more work; it will mean
working easier and saving time! I like to work smarter - so thanks!!"
"As
a result of Mr. Rice's training session our QA Team is now displaying a
great deal of enthusiasm and excitement. They are now making
recommendations and suggestions to improve the process. The advantages
of using the online training were: lower training costs, no traveling,
self-paced, convenient access from anywhere in the world.
Randy Rice went above and beyond our expectations. He was flexible and
quick to respond to our needs. The training material he provided was
extremely beneficial and easily incorporated into our program.
Thanks to Randy's expertise and talents our team is on their way to an
improved Quality product!"
Allace B. Buchmelter, Manager of Quality Assurance
CyberMetrics Corporation
Other participants said...
"A
nice meaningful learning experience!"
"It
was all valuable...you learn something from everything presented to
you."