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Frequently Asked Questions
Background Info
Editing Issues
Pricing Questions
Why Should I Use Your
Courseware
Miscellaneous
Who
is EZ-REF Courseware?
EZ-REF Courseware was started by
two instructors in 1991. Unhappy with the current crop of courseware
available to independent trainers, they set out to develop materials that
would be useful to both instructors and students. Having taught for a
variety of universities and training companies, they felt that the
courseware industry was heading in the wrong direction and they wanted to
offer an alternative for other trainers in the industry.
Over the past 16 years, EZ-REF
has written over 270 titles that have been sold worldwide to clients ranging
from government agencies to universities to corporations to independent
contractors.
We are proud of the fact that
many of the newer courseware companies have developed their materials
based on our philosophy and have followed in our footsteps of allowing
clients to customize the materials to fit their own particular needs.
A core distinction between our
product and others is that our manuals have always been written by
instructors who know what belongs in a classroom and we do not try to cram
in more material than can be comfortably covered in a single day of
training.
How long has
your company been around?
We are currently in our
16th year. We started out providing printed materials just like the
rest of the industry. However since we are trainers ourselves, we
realized what other trainers really wanted was affordable customizable
materials without those costly yearly renewal fees. So in 1993
at the Training & Support Expo in Orlando, Florida we broke away from the
standard and introduced the first customizable courseware available on CD
ROM. Since that time, the rest of the industry and all of the new
start-ups have followed in our footsteps in offering this format.
Back to FAQ
What's your
development philosophy and how are your materials different than your
competitors?
Each developer has a distinct
way of approaching a class and we, of course, are no different. When
we began over a decade ago, most of the training manuals available from
other developers were oriented towards a "tutorial" format, requiring the
instructor to strictly follow a script. If they deviated from the script or
skipped a section, the end results would not always match the exercise
displayed in the manual,
which threw the students off (and in many cases - the instructor.) Or the
follow-up exercises depended on your having completed the previous exercise
exactly as specified in order to work correctly. And there was so much
material crammed into what was supposed to be a one day class that
instructors felt rushed and could not take their time explaining each new
topic and letting the students really practice what they had just learned.
As a result, the trainer had
simply become a "reader" - meaning you ended up reading the materials almost
word-for-word to the student. As long as students could read, they really
didn't need an instructor unless they deviated from the script and got into
trouble.
If you skipped a section because
you ran out of time or changed things around, students got irritated because
"that's not the way it is in the book!" Therefore, the class was actually
being taught by the training manual and not by the instructor!
EZ-REF decided to bring the
instructor back into the picture. We have always believed that an
experienced instructor - not the manual, should be controlling the flow of
the class. We understand that every experienced instructor has their
own way of teaching a class. They know what exercises are good to use as
examples, when to give them and how long to spend on a topic. If a class is
slower or faster, they can sense it and can give more exercises as needed or
maybe spend a little more time on a topic if the class is a bit slower.
And we know from our own teaching experience
how much material can be covered in a single training session.
In addition, the exercises
contained within our materials are not written "into" the instructions. We
separate the steps for doing a task from the exercises by adding the
exercises at the end of each section. This allows the students to easily
reference a topic after class without having to sift through a scenario
discussing "Johnny's letter to mom". Hence the name EZ-REF Courseware!
Also, this makes it easy for the instructor to replace our generic exercises
with their own customized ones.
Our courseware is written in the
form of a "reference" manual - meaning that the students can use the manual
when they return to work/home as a reference rather than a step-by-step
tutorial. It is important to understand that no matter how good the
training is, students will need to refer back to the manual when performing
tasks that are not routine. If the student must read through unrelated
tutorials or sift through ten different ways of doing the same task, they
will ignore the book and rely on other methods (e.g., calling the help desk
or asking colleagues). When this occurs, you have defeated the purpose of
providing a manual to the student.
Back to FAQ
Why don't you
use color screenshots in your manuals?
First of all, how many of you
can afford to print hundreds of color copies to hand out to your students?
Secondly, color screenshots don't photocopy well in black and white and
instead produce grainy, splotchy, and hard-to-read results.
Our screenshots are
painstakingly cleaned and processed to provide you the best graphics for
quality reproduction.
If I buy,
what do I get?
You'll receive a fully
editable student manual, an accompanying instructor guide, companion EZ-Reference
cards (for MS Office 2000-2007), Skill
Surveys for student placement (for MS Office 2000-2007 and WordPerfect Office versions 10-13) and any applicable exercise files
for the title(s) you purchase. Each title has been designed for a 6 to 8
hour training class. If you purchase a single title (such as Beginning
Microsoft Word 2007), after paying you will be able to immediately download
the class from our website. If you purchase the complete courseware library, we ship the product (at no cost to U.S. locations) via Next Day UPS
Air.
In addition, the complete library purchase
entitles you to any new titles we may add to the library for a full 12
month period after your purchase. It also provides online
support services and immediate access to your titles through the use of a
user name and password that is issued to clients.
How do I edit
the materials?
Prior to MS Office 2007, our manuals
are available in either Microsoft Word versions 6.0-2007 format or WordPerfect
6-13 format so that you can quickly modify the materials to provide that
"in-house" look and feel! With Office 2007 and all titles
written after that, the courseware is available in MS Word only.
We use simple tabs and indents to format the
documents so that editing the courseware is made as easy as possible.
Like other courseware vendors, we started out
using macros, tables, master documents, and other more sophisticated
automated editing features. However, we quickly learned that many
users (sad to say - instructors) were not familiar with some of these
features and had trouble editing the documents while other instructors found
the automated editors did not provide enough control. So we switched
back to the most basic format of tabs and indents that everyone knows and
now have virtually zero customer support calls.
We understand that each of our
clients is different. Some want to rearrange the topics, others create
half-day classes and still others simply want to put their name and company
logo on the books to give the "developed in-house" look. All you need to
know is how to cut and paste and if you are a trainer, you should know how
to do that!
If I do cut
and paste, how do I update the Table of Contents?
Again, we do ask that if you are
a trainer that you know enough about the word processor you are using that
you can press the function key needed to regenerate the Table of Contents
page. It's as simple as that and any trainer should know it.
If I want to
customize the materials, do you provide any tools to make that job easier
for me?
Yes, we provide a set of files
and tools for you to easily customize the materials. We have designed
our own EZ-Keys font which is included with all of our training manuals so
that you can keep the same look & feel as you create your own modules or
edit the existing ones. In addition, you receive all of the
screenshots used in the courseware for your own editing, as well as the
basic graphic files used in all of our manuals.
What about
MOUS certification?
Our Microsoft Office 2000-2007 courseware includes the core MOUS objectives.
However, every writer on our staff has a background in education and has
taught hundreds of classes themselves. Therefore, we trust our writers
to determine realistically what can comfortably fit within a one day class and
will not simply throw more material into a course just to be sure that every
single feature is included. That's why people take a class and don't
just read the user's manual that comes with the product. Our
courseware is written to ensure
a quality training session with the most commonly used features of the
program. Our goal is not to re-write the reference book that comes
with the application but rather to write a student manual for a realistic 6-8 hour
training session.
Back to
FAQ
What pricing
options do you offer?
We offer five pricing options to
fit anyone's needs:
EZ-Reference Cards (such as Word
2007) are available for US$50.00/each one time (not yearly) licensing fee!
You are welcome to make unlimited copies of the cards (which are provided in
both a pdf format for easy printing and MS Word format in case you want to
edit them). This option is perfect for
independent contractors who are simply consulting rather than teaching a
class. The consultant can give their client a reference card that
points out the basic commands and shortcut keys for the application.
Single Titles (such as Word
2007 - Beginning Level) are available for US$200.00/per
site one time (not yearly) licensing fee! You are welcome to
make unlimited copies of the materials. This option is great for
independent contractors and those trainers who need to teach just a single class.
Microsoft Office Suite is
available for US$995.00/per site one time
(not yearly) licensing fee! This offer includes 3 levels of Word,
Excel, and Access, along with 2 levels of Project (not available for
Office 2007) and 1 level of
Outlook, FrontPage (not available for Office 2007), Publisher, PowerPoint, a 1 day overview of the
Office suite and MS Explorer . In addition, you will receive one day of Windows
(your choice of version) to accompany the Office product you selected.
This option is great for trainers who will only be teaching one single
suite. WordPerfect Office Suite
is
available for US$695.00/per site one time
(not yearly) licensing fee! This offer includes 3 levels of WordPerfect and
Quattro Pro along with 1 level of Presentations, a 1 day overview of
the Office suite and MS Explorer. You also get to choose one of our Windows
manuals (your choice of version) to accompany the suite and one of our
Internet browser titles (your choice). Complete Courseware Library is
available for US1,595.00/per site one time
(not yearly) licensing fee! In addition, we are including any new
titles added to the library for the first 12 months after your purchase.
This is the ultimate package for training on multiple
platforms. With this CD, you can instantly offer hundreds of classes.
And you will not have to worry about purchasing new courseware for over a
year since we include any new titles we add to the library within the 12
month period after your initial purchase.
Even if you think you'll only be
training on one suite (such as Microsoft Office 2003), you might want to
at least consider this option because of the flexibility of receiving
the new titles added to the complete library for the 12 month period
after your initial purchase. Plus you will have the capability of
offering hundreds of other classes since you will automatically get
everything else we have ever written.
U.S. customers do not pay for the Next Day
UPS shipping - it is included! International clients will have immediate access
to the courseware directly from our site with an issued user name and
password. For an additional $75 fee, a hard copy of the library
will be shipped via Express UPS. International clients are also
responsible for any duty and taxes that their country may impose on the
shipment.
So that you can continue to
offer training on the newest packages without having to spend a lot of
money, upgrades are available (for EZ-Writer Complete Library owners only) for
US$500
after the first year. Simply check out our
current course list and if you feel that there are enough new titles to
warrant an upgrade, just give us a call. No obligations - no pressure. Even
if you upgrade a few years later - it will still only cost you $500!.
Back to FAQ
Why are
your materials so reasonably priced? What's the catch?
There is no catch! We
simply have never forgotten the original intent of the courseware and,
therefore, have always kept our pricing as competitive as possible.
While we now sell to major colleges and universities, as well as
corporations and government agencies, we pride ourselves in the fact that
independent trainers can also afford our courseware and know they are
receiving a quality product for that low price.
And we have always licensed our courseware
for a one-time price. There are no yearly renewal fees.
Can I apply a single
title purchase or a suite purchase to the full CD ROM Library if I decide I want the whole
thing?
Yes. As long as you purchase the
complete library within 30 days of your original single title or Office
suite purchase,
we will apply that amount to the price of the complete library.
This allows you to test a single title or suite to see if it meets your
requirements before investing in the complete library.
Back to FAQ
How quickly
do you release the latest titles?
We take our cue from the PC
market as well as client requests. For example Microsoft Office
applications are typically in great demand so we make it a priority to release the
beginning levels of the major applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Outlook, and Access) as quickly as possible after they are officially released by Microsoft.
Shortly thereafter, the intermediate and advanced titles are released.
Back to FAQ
What are the
instructor benefits to using your materials?
Students pay attention. Since
they do not really know what you are going to be doing next, they have to
follow your instructions. This keeps you in control of the class instead of
having students in different parts of the book.
You can alter the speed of the
course as required. As you know, each class progresses differently depending
on the various experience levels of the students. If you find you have a
faster group, you can give additional exercises or go into more depth for
each topic.
Again, you are in
control. You can speed up or slow the class down as you see fit. You can
expand or condense the amount of information covered on a topic as required.
We do not cram an unreasonable amount of
information into our manuals. Since our writers are also experienced
instructors with a background in education, we know what can be comfortably taught in a 6-8 hour training
day and do not try to exceed that.
You can customize your courses
without having to do all of the development work yourself. Simply change the exercises
to topics that relate more closely to the client. This makes them feel as if
you are "customizing" the course for them!
We do provide sample exercises
and files for most courses, but if you don't want to use them -
delete them or add your own! It's your course!
Back to FAQ
What are the
student benefits to using your materials?
Easy to read reference guide. If
a student needs to know how to do something, they don't have to read through
pages and pages of "Johnny's" letter to mom to figure it out!
Once students leave your class
and are dependent upon themselves, they need something where they can
quickly look up a command or function. Our manual discusses each major topic
separately in an easy-to-follow format.
Student notes are in the same
book - not written on some pad of paper that they just grabbed for class and
will misplace later! How many times have you seen students leave their notes
in class after writing down all the information? But how many manuals are
ever left behind?
The left page of our manual is
set aside as a note page for the student to be able to write down in their
own words what they understand and also any additional information that you
might be giving. And it can be written right across from the page of the
topic actually being referred to.
Since we cover an appropriate amount of
information in each title, students are not overwhelmed by learning too much
in too short of a period. Instead, they leave the class confident in
the topics that have been covered.
Each course can be tailored to
the class. Many of the sample exercises provided in "tutorials" are boring
and have absolutely nothing in common with the client. Although we do
provide generic exercises for the student to work with, they are only provided as
"additional" exercises to follow your own examples. Without predefined
exercises, the instructor can tailor the course to the client using their
own examples that
have developed over the years.
Back to FAQ
What are the
client benefits to using your materials?
The client is assured of having
qualified instructors. Since there are no step-by-step "follow me" type
exercises, the instructor must really know the material in order to use our
courseware.
How many times have
you heard from other instructors how they "winged" it through class by
simply reading the manual. It doesn't take much for someone who does not
know the program well to still "teach" a course if they have a step-by-step
tutorial to follow or the answers to every question posed in the student
manual! But, be honest, would you send that instructor to one of your
clients?
We here at EZ-REF all started out as
trainers so are very clear that the key to a successful class starts and
ends with a qualified instructor. The manual is simply a tool to
help facilitate the learning experience and work
best for trainers who actually know and understand the application they
are teaching. We are not in the business of training a novice how
to quickly teach a class but, rather, we provide quality courseware to
quality instructors.
More productive students. Since
students actually have to pay attention, students absorb more of what
they do so the training money is well spent.
What type of
support do you offer?
We offer
the usual phone and e-mail support If you have any questions
concerning our product and would like to contact a representative during our
business hours, simply visit our website and access the
Contact Info page. In
addition, we have an extensive online support center where current customers
can immediately download the latest courseware and updates.
Can I use
the materials for training other than instructor-led?
Even though our courseware was
written for instructor-led training, many of our corporate clients have
created intranets in which they allow their employees to access the
materials when a class cannot be taken. Many customers have reported
that our product actually works quite well as a self-paced tutorial.
What formats
are available for your courseware?
Prior to MS Office 2007, all of our courseware is
available in Microsoft Word and WordPerfect format for standard
editing and customizing purposes. With the release of Office 2007, all
new titles will be available in MS Word only.
Back to FAQ
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