STEP 3: Your learning, the Training System

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What is TMS?

If this is your first try at e-learning, you could be forgiven for being a little apprehensive. Don’t worry, we’re with you all the way and if what we tell you here doesn’t make any sense, we’re always on the end of the phone ready to talk you through it. By the time you’ve completed your first course, you’ll be an online learning expert, because there really isn’t that much to it (just don’t tell anyone we said that)!

Terminnology

OK let’s start with terminology: Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) or Managed Learning Environments (MLE) aka Virtual Classrooms –etc ours is called the Training Management System (TMS). - they all mean the same thing. They exist on the Internet (actually on a big scary black box somewhere in a darkened room in non-descript building) and hold details of all the training materials, online quizzes offered. At the same time they record your movements as a learner everytime you take a course/quiz is it is recoreded in you Learner Record.

We won’t fool you, they are brain meltingly complex and can do wonderful things, but you don’t need to worry about that. After all, when you buy a flight you don't learn any about jet turbine engines; you just need to know where to sit and what movie you want to watch. As much as possible it’s the same with our TMS.

You will have a Learner Record and there are a limited number of buttons you need to click to start training. Of course, you can play around adding photos, changing passwords and sending messages if you wish – you can’t break it, so when you’re feeling more confident, have a go; but in the meantime we’ll just show you the bits you need to get going.

Getting going – In the email we send you confirming your purchase has gone through, you will be given a link to click on, that will launch the login screen. Simply type in the username and password we send you in the email, click the submit button and hey presto! - your very own virtual classroom will appear before your eyes! You are now part of a global virtual learning community!

Here’s an example of what you will see:

Getting Started

All you need to do is click on the training button to launch your training course and begin learning. A few things you might want to note as you are going through are:

• You will get a better learner experience if you have sound enabled. Most computers come with speakers these days; but the narration will be written in text at the bottom of the screen for you to read if you don’t have sound enabled.
• The course is interactive and you may need to click on parts of the screen before the green arrow will flash and allow you to advance. This will be obvious as the narration will tell you what to do or the links will pulse and flash.
• The system will remember where you left off and take you back there, but you can go over any part of it as many times as you want to and take as long as you want.
• Some courses allow you to write your own notes for each page and print them off at the end or simply store them to access later any time you log in to your record.
• When you get to the end, you will be presented with an assessment to check your understanding. Don’t worry; you can take this test as many times as you need to pass. Our only concern is that when you have finished you are competent. After all, you get to take your driving test as often as you like – eventually you will be competent to drive!

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