Mission Critical Networks

As the flow of information between a company’s employees, customers and suppliers grows in volume and importance, the network has become a key enabler of competitive advantage by improving communications, decision-making, and customer service. Driving this transformation has been the rapid advancement in networking technology, increasing product complexity, and continued growth in business investments in networking infrastructure.

The Skills Gap Challenge

As the network gains mission-critical status, a key ingredient of success for businesses will be the ease with which they can implement and manage networking solutions.
This requires that businesses develop employees with the networking skills necessary to take advantage of advancing technology. Running counter to this growing need for skills is a critical shortage of skilled network professionals. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, projects an additional 2 million workers will be needed to fill IT jobs over the next ten years. And businesses are already reporting difficulties in filling networking positions today. To overcome the skills gap challenge, most businesses offer training to help their staff develop the skills necessary to compete.

The Recruiting and Retention Challenge

Beyond the need to train its existing workforce from a capabilities perspective, leading businesses understand the positive impact a strong training program can have on recruiting and retention. Networking professionals, busy and in demand, recognize the need for continuing education and certification as technologies advance and their careers develop. And these technical professional are increasingly looking to their employers to sponsor training that offers them the opportunity to advance and expand their skill set.

Technology-Based Training

Until recently, businesses, often with limited training budgets and IT staff, could only gain the experience and skills required through instructor-led training (ILT) or CD-ROM and video instruction. With the constant pressure to enhance employees skills, businesses are searching for better ways to train their employees at lower costs with improved results. Technology-based training (TBT) has risen to meet this new demand, and is poised for tremendous growth, according to many industry experts.

The MentorLabs Approach

International Data Corporation predicts training will be a $14 billion market in 4 more years. TBT is expected to serve 55 percent of the market.MentorLabs was founded to help networking professionals, consultants, and corporate IS departments manage the increasing demand on their time and resources by developing a technology-based training offering. In 1999, MentorLabs introduced Cisco training over the Internet with vLab, an innovative offering that teaches real-world networking skills. Based on research which shows that people learn best by doing, vLab provides networking professionals access to real Cisco equipment from anywhere and at any time over the Internet or corporate intranet. This approach is unique in the industry and even at this early stage has been recognized for its significance. Sm@rt Reseller magazine, in its November 16, 1998 issue, writes that "MentorLabs is well on its way to revolutionizing not just Cisco training, but all online technical certification training with its hands-on real-equipment approach." vLab combines the best features of both ILT and computer-based training (CBT). It offers the dynamic learning environment, extremely high knowledge transfer and hands-on learning of ILT, without its high costs and low convenience. vLab also offers the self-paced learning and convenience of CBT, but complements those factors with access to real equipment and high-quality Cisco-certified course content that ensures effective learning.

The Challenges of Adult Learning

Studies on adult learning support the hands-on approach of vLab. In an article in the Harvard Business Review titled "What Managers Should Know about How Adults Learn," Edward Prewitt examines the various obstacles to adult learning and proposes some effective ways to overcome them. According to Prewitt, the key challenge most adults face in learning new skills is the difficulty with which adults accept and process unfamiliar information, particularly if it conflicts with prior knowledge. It’s not just "being set in your ways"; there are actual physiological reasons why adults have a harder time learning. David Kinklage, chief of neuropsychology at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts says "As you get older, your brain gets more ‘rigid’, that is you have much more elaborate structures for information storage and retrieval. You have greater biases of belief through which information must be channeled to be committed to memory. A fact that doesn’t match an adult’s belief system is difficult to reconcile." To overcome ingrained attitudes, Patricia Cross, a former professor of education at the University of California at Berkeley, suggests presenting information within established frameworks of reference. Approach an adult in a familiar pattern and their response is much more receptive. For example, technical employees learn best when presented with information on equipment they are familiar with in their own environment. vLab offers users access to the actual networking equipment, including routers and switches,in much the same way that they work with this equipment every day on the job. To vLab users, this environment is familiar territory, and the real-life networking problems encountered through vLab are set in the context of their daily work. The curriculum, mirrored off of Cisco-authorized courses, guides users to master the skills they need to improve the reliability of their networks and upgrade their systems.

Just-in-Time, Skills-Based Training

A second major obstacle that Prewitt found in his study is that the relevancy of new information to someone’s current knowledge and situation is often quite low. When an employee learns new techniques or strategies, he suggests, they should be able to immediately begin using that new information in their job. "If learning isn’t purposeful in the corporate setting, it doesn’t stick," says Harvard Business School professor David Garvin. This concept is popularly known as "just-in-time-learning." The idea is that adults will be more motivated to pay attention to their training if they are planning to use it on the job right away. The real-world application reinforces the training and employees are more likely to embrace the new strategy. A just-in-time learning advocate, Les Garner, president of Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, notes, "It’s critical that adult employees get training on the subjects they need, when they need it." Because people can access vLab anytime and anywhere, they can take the labs when they need them most. For example, if a networking consultant is asked to upgrade a client’s network, he can take the appropriate labs to practice skills just before having to solve the real-life problem. If he is surprised by a network error that he cannot solve on his own, he could use vLab in real time to learn how to solve it. vLab was designed because people learn best by doing. Each lab presents the student with actual networking problems on Cisco equipment. During the lab session, the student solves the problem and is supported by multiple layers of help and mentoring. This experience becomes part of the student’s skill set and a resource they can tap to solve a similar situation in the future. Students can also expand their knowledge by experimenting within the confines of the MentorLabs system. vLab offers users an opportunity to experiment with new configurations, new products and new protocols on a remote, non-production network. Practicing on Cisco equipment through vLab eliminates the risk to the in-house network and minimizes the capital investment in test equipment. vLab’s training system is available through the Internet or a corporate intranet 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Students can select exactly which skills they need to learn. Users can work through a variety of courses to address increasingly complex networking problems, honing their skills at each level before moving on. Sm@rt Reseller calls vLab "the closest thing a student will ever get to training on the job without putting a production network at risk." Interacting with vLab Typically, a student will select and purchase a lab track from MentorLabs’ catalog based on the student’s learning goals, networking experience, and the lab learner objectives. Once bought, the student schedules a time slot for each lab and should follow the recommended next steps which include reading the Scenario and developing a Plan. Review of this material before taking a lab makes the entire learning experience more productive. When the scheduled time is ready, a student will enter the console to configure and monitor the actual routers in the assigned equipment pod. At the completion of the lab, a student can de-brief to help reinforce the new skill acquired. Students can buy labs from MentorLabs Catalog or buy Track Packs through Chesapeake. Simply select a lab, add it to your shopping cart, and process your credit card information over a secure transaction system. You will be sent an order confirmation via e-mail that will contain the electronic keys to your purchased labs. New users will have to Register with MentorLabs to set up their vLab Locker, here the electronic key numbers are entered into the field provided to load the lab(s) into your Locker. Our authors have embedded "mentored" support in each lab. From their vLab Console, students can access suggested approaches, sample solutions, hints to exercises and references to background material. Students can follow the on-screen instructions (Suggested Approach) as they configure the equipment groups. As needed, students will follow links to background material expanding the principles involved, as well as a step-by-step guide (Sample Solution) that will show how to solve the problem. In addition, students can ask questions of our authors via e-mail. The schedule for new lab offerings is aggressive. MentorLabs has a team of authors developing labs that support Cisco’s Career Certifications as well as new existing internetworking technologies. Currently, we are focusing our development on ICRC, ACRC, CVOICE, Switching, and CCIE-prep labs. Students can submit suggestions for new labs on our Web site or via e-mail.

Training for the Future

Keeping abreast of critical developments is what will enable companies to grow and succeed. The conscious and continuous commitment to training is a commitment to the future. According to Just-in-Time learning advocate Les Garner, "Companies that don’t think about education intentionally find themselves left behind." The trend in both corporate and consumer markets supports the need for effective technology-based-training. Demand for technology workers is increasing while the pool of talent is already short. Companies are aggressively pursuing ways to train existing employees and upgrade their workforce. As the use of computers and networking becomes more widespread in all industries, workers with traditional skills must be trained and "re-tooled" to function in a technologically driven workplace. At the same time, the Internet is becoming a "traditional" tool at work and home. In a study of corporate designers, educators, managers, and executives at more than 1,400 organizations, 78 percent have an intranet, 76 percent budget for training and 71 percent plan to implement web-based training. The Information Technology Association of America predicts that 50 million households will be online by the year 2000. Technology-based training is the next generation of training because it combines the need and the delivery system. It offers interactive training over the Internet, resulting in Just-in-Time skills development of the workforce at its convenience. In the Cisco-training arena, vLab is the innovator. Sm@rt Reseller magazine called vLab "well on its way to becoming the pace-setter for online certification education." It was developed to meet the needs of network professionals on their own terms. It provides anywhere, anytime access to hands-on learning that is self-paced and available on-demand. The vLab practice environment reinforces skills transfer through real-world scenarios preparing students for real-world challenges. It increases the opportunity for Cisco certification for more employees and maximizes a company’s training investment by making training readily accessible and available to all.

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