Infotech Career College®

Welcome to the Infotech Career College® Online Learning Network

At Infotech Career College, you will learn the critical skills needed to start a new and rewarding career.

We offer hands-on training for today’s fastest-growing careers in the Business, Healthcare and Information Technology.

You deserve a better life and we want to help you get it with the right career education today!

Students....Already enrolled? Login and click Courses in the navgation bar above to get started.

New to Online Learning? Check out Online Learning Essentials

and get answers to a few commonly asked questions about online learning.

Powered by the Generations Learning Network, our learning platform’s flexibility allows for solutions that can be scaled from single-instructor classrooms to robust Private Label Learning Centers capable of serving the diverse needs of more than 50,000 students, instructors, administrators and content builders simultaneously.

First time visiting the Infotech Career College®? Visit the tabs below to learn more.

Student Overview - FAQ's - Tips for Online Learning Success

Student Overview

Students, you will appreciate the uncluttered and seamless layout of the courses in the Infotech Career College®. Our simple and browser friendly interface will allow you to become familiar with our layout, tools, activities and resources and start working on courses in no time at all.

You can consider the courses in our Learning Network as your virtual classrooms. They are a place where you’ll receive messages and course material from your instructor(s), where you’ll meet and interact with other students, and where you’ll work on assignments, activities and quizzes.

Students can study at school, home or the office on their computers or from multiple other locations - anywhere there is an Internet Connection or Wireless Hub. Many activities such as select quizzes or assignments can be completed on your mobile phone or iPod.

When you are ready to start enrolling in courses, simply register as a free Member, then visit our Course Directory. Also, you may access the student guide through various links throughout the Learning Network.

NOTE: Courses offered here are both free and fee-based. Enrollment fees and payment transactions are between the Student and Instructor, not NativeBiz, unless the course is offered directly by NativeBiz. Any course fees are required to be shown on the Course Details page, prior to course registration. If you are ever asked to pay an enrollment fee for a class that is listed as free, click the Help Desk link at the top right of any page and submit a Support Ticket.

The Basics - Things you will need before using our Learning Network

You will need to have access to a computer and have basic knowledge of how to use it, including using a mouse and keyboard, navigating in Windows, and basic file management.
You must have a valid email account and know how to send and receive email messages. You should also have a basic understanding of how to send and receive file attachments by email.
You must have access to the Internet, and be comfortable navigating between web pages or “surfing” on the World Wide Web. The Learning Network works best when you use the most current version of one of the following web browsers:
1. Internet Explorer
2. Mozilla Firefox

The following is information about your current web browser:

The following is information about your Internet connection speed:

Note: Most online courses here are intended for hi-speed (Cable, DSL, T-1) internet delivery. Users who access activities and resources via a dial-up connection, may experience slight to moderate delays when viewing certain presentation, media, etc.

What kind of support is available?

Learning Support

Your course instructor is the key person for learning and content support.

Technical Support

Questions about your course and content should always be directed to your instructor(s), but if you need technical assistance related to the operation of the website click the Help Desk link at the top right of any page and submit a Support Ticket.

Frequently Asked Questions

== Access & Content ==

Is it really free to enroll in the Infotech Career College®?

Answer: Yes. Enrollment in the Infotech Career College® is free to anyone with access to the Internet. Simply register as a free Member at our homepage and you will be automatically enrolled in our Learning Network. You may then search for courses in our Course Directory.

NOTE: While many of the courses are offered free of charge, certain fee based courses are also available. Make sure you read course summaries to determine if there is a registration fee for a certain course.

Does the Infotech Career College® develop the courses?

Answer: While the Infotech Career College® does occassionaly develop courses for use in the Learning Network, most of the courses are developed by third-parties that have licensed course space in our Learning Network.

Why can't I login?

Answer: The most likely thing is that you have simply forgotten your username and/or password or you are entering them incorrectly.

Some other things to think about include:

Do your username and/or password contain a mix of upper and lower case letters and numbers? They should both be entered exactly the way you created them when you registered.
Are your web-browser cookies enabled?

Why don't I see any courses in my homepage after I have registered in the Infotech Career College®?

Answer: Once you have enrolled and you login, you should visit the 'course directory'. Your My Courses section will be 'empty' until you begin to enroll in courses.

To find courses that you are not currently enrolled in, you can 'search' by name and/or description or simply 'browse' courses in our Course Directory.

How do I navigate between my courses?

Answer: Once you have completed the free registration and are logged in you may easily navigate to courses by:

Using the Course block if it has been added to the course you are viewing.
Click the 'Homepage' link in the top left navigation trail and then use the main course block.

How do I find other courses to enroll in?

Answer: To find courses that you are not currently enrolled in, you can 'search' by name and/or description or simply 'browse' courses in our Course Directory.

== Emails & Forums ==

Why am I not receiving emails and forum notifications from the Learning Network?

Answer: Chances are the email address you listed in your profile is either wrong or currently disabled. Check these setting in your 'profile settings'.

It may also be that you are not subscribed to any forums that are generating email notifications at this time.

== Assignments & Grades ==

Why can’t I access certain assignments, activities or elements?

Answer: It may be because:

The assignment, activity or element is not available yet.
The assignment, activity or element is closed and no longer accepting submissions.
You have already uploaded something and the course, assignment, activity or element settings prevent resubmissions.

== Quizzes ==

Why don’t all my quiz scores count toward my Course Average?

Answer: Instructor’s have the option of adding several different types of quizzes to a course.

While many quizzes will track student scores and accumulate them for the overall Course Average, many quizzes are intended as stand-alone quizzes.

Note: You will still receive scores for all stand-alone quizzes taken in a course.

Overview - Features - Technical Overview - Testimonials

Instructor Overview

Your information here....

Features

The Infotech Career College® offers an aggregate of powerful e-learning tools. We provide and manage fully functional e-learning systems with innovative training and testing options (self-assessments) and advanced conferencing applications.

Integrated conferencing with a collaboration whiteboard. Record events and view later.

Groupware tools such as discussion forum, chat, etc.

Quiz module. Features include Ajax-style quiz-taking; tracking of results; question pool; 8 types of questions.

Surveys allow you to easily create professional surveys, collect information and analyze data.

Collaborative resources include live conferencing, real-time chat, discussion forums, email and announcements.

Efficient production. Allowing organizations to create and maintain their courses and content in a simple and intuitive manner.

A balanced solution. Provides a balance between broad functionality, ease of use and a cost effective offering.

Learning paths. Import SCORM packages with powerful and customizable learning paths with embedded media and built-in quizzes.

Interactive content. WYSIWYG editor for preparing course content.

BlackBoard converter. Your system manager can export courses from BlackBoard into your learning center.

Reporting and tracking system. Activity reports for each student are available with graphs and details about their activities in the various course modules.

Document tool. Upload and publish many types of documents; documents can also be steps in a learning path.

Reliable help. With a designated site manager you only have to concern yourself with course and content development. We monitor your learning center around the clock for technical issues and provide support to your users for technical related issues.

Earn money with your learning center. Using your established 'online merchant' or 'PayPal' account users can self-register for courses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, you can also offer an offline payment option.

Multiple subscription options. If you have multiple courses that you wish to offer as a package, no problem. Your site administrator will setup as many subscription options as you wish. Maybe you want to offer a discount to students who purchase special 'package' subscriptions?

Easy to access online help guides for instructors and students.

Certificates. instructors can create custom certificates/diplomas for courses.

Integrated mailbox. Possible to send emails between students and instructors/trainers; mass mail function available to instructors/trainers for sending emails to select student or instructor groups.

Reliable, fast and easy access to your course(s), content and data from any computer with internet access.

Announcements. Keep everyone informed.

Grade book. Easy management of grade book items.

Multiple Instructors per Course. Any number of instructors can teach in a given course.

No Java Plug-Ins. Our LMS has no need for client-side Java, which eliminates the need for users to have Java installed on their computer.

Student/instructor toggle modes. Instructors can toggle between instructor and student views in order to preview the course and any content from the student's perspective.

Payment features. Course and subscription pricing can be updated by your system manager at any time.

Payment gateways. Students may elect to pay online or offline for course(s) and subscription(s); automatic payment validation for online instant payments; real-time payment statistics are readily available from your system manager.

Plans/Pricing

The first step to getting started is to identify the plan that best suits your needs.
Think of your online course space as a DVD player. 1) License your course space. 2) Create content or license pre-developed content to play for students in your course space.
While the free authoring tools in our Services section provide all the multimedia tools needed to create dynamic, engaging and interactive course content, fee-based Professional Course Development Services are available to you at anytime. Mouseover the Services tab to learn more.
It is the responsibility of the plan licensee to renew their Plan annually and prior to the expiration date, and/or notify students of the expiration date and their intent not to re-license the course space.
IMPORTANT: We do not refund student enrollment fees. All fees and refunds are the responsibility of the plan licensee.

PRO I

Students: Up to 250 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 2 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 25 **

Annual licensing fee: $4,500
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 20%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 25 Simultaneous Connections
- 10 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 512 kbps per connection
- 500 mb Disk Space
- 15 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

PRO III

Students: Up to 1,000 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 6 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 100 **

Annual licensing fee: $13,000
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 20%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 100 Simultaneous Connections
- 100 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 1.5 mbps per connection
- 3 GB Disk Space
- 100 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

ENTERPRISE II

Students: Up to 2,500 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 10 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 250 **

Annual licensing fee: $22,500
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 15%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 250 Simultaneous Connections
- 300 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 2 mbps per connection
- 50 GB Disk Space
- 500 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

STARTER PLAN

Students: Up to 100 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Customer Service
Web Cam Connections: 10 **

Annual licensing fee: $2,000
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 30%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 25 Simultaneous Connections
- 10 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 512 kbps per connection
- 500 mb Disk Space
- 15 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

PRO II

Students: Up to 500 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 4 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 50 **

Annual licensing fee: $7,500
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 20%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 50 Simultaneous Connections
- 50 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 768 kbps per connection
- 1 GB Disk Space
- 40 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

ENTERPRISE I

Students: Up to 1,500 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 8 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 150 **

Annual licensing fee: $16,500
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 15%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 150 Simultaneous Connections
- 300 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 2 mbps per connection
- 10 GB Disk Space
- 250 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

ENTERPRISE III

Students: Up to 5,000 concurrently enrolled *
Courses: Unlimited
Instructors: Unlimited
Support: Designated Account Manager
Development/Design Team: 12 hours free
Web Cam Connections: 500 **

Annual licensing fee: $35,000
Per enrollment fee (paid courses only): 15%

* Site members enrolled in course(s).
** Web Cam Connections - Used for live presentations and meetings, live chat support, conferencing and video chat.

- 500 Simultaneous Connections
- 500 mbps burstable streaming bandwidth
- Up to 3 mbps per connection
- 250 GB Disk Space
- 1,000 GB transfer / month

*** Additional web cam connections are available in blocks of 50 for $175 per month.

Need pricing for 5,000+ students?

Contact Us:

Infotech Career College®
A division of TVD, Inc.
P.O. Box 326
Banning, CA 92220 USA
Contact: Chris Grant
Toll Free: 1-888-849-7778 ext. 8

Partner Program

Do you have knowledge to share with tribal communities?

If you are an experienced instructor - with a passion for education, a commitment to excellence, and a sincere desire to share your expertise with Indian country; we have a program for you!

The Infotech Career College® is seeking instructors interested in offering their course(s) in our Learning Center. Qualified candidates should be an expert in their field, with appropriate credentials for the course being proposed. We are interested in offering courses covering many areas of interest to tribal communities, including but not limited to:

Financial Management
Tax Planning and Preparation
Starting a Business
Career/Vocational Training
Buying/Selling Real Estate

We are especially interested in courses that are or can be developed in 'native' languages.

If you have a course you are interested in developing and teaching, we invite you submit the form below after completing the following steps:

Register as a free Community Member at the top right of any page on our site.
Read the Instructor guide.
Visit the Instructor Demo Course and familiarize yourself with the tools and resources. Make at least (2) posts for others to read in the course forums.
Check out our list of Requested Courses that have been submitted by our students and get a feel for the type of courses that are in demand.
Read and accept our Partner Agreement.

You will be required to submit a resume and detailed description of the course you are proposing to develop and teach.

Note: Not all submissions are accepted. If we do not accept your submission, it is no way a reflection on the course or you. Acceptance is based an many factors including but not limited to, course content, types of activities and resources needed to complete course, student demand for content, existence of courses with content similar to your submission.

Thanks for your interest. We look forward to working with you.

APPLICATION AVAILABLE SHORTLY

Technical Overview

High Availability

Our Learning Management System is robust enough to serve the diverse needs of thousands of students, instructors, administrators and content builders simultaneously.

Our usage patterns will vary, but in general, the Infotech Career College® presents a high-availability web-based interface, allowing students, instructors, tutors, administrators and content builders to routinely log in and carry out their daily tasks. See the scalability section for other relevant information.

Scalability

The infrastructure has the capability to easily expand or scale to meet future growth, both in terms of the volume of content and the size of the student body.

The Infotech Career College® is run on a variety of web servers and database technologies. To ensure the system can cope with constant levels of high demand, we have carefully refined the choice of hardware, operating systems, and database systems that we utilize.

Each Linux-based web server runs Apache, with PHP installed as well as a PHP accelerator and currently has the capacity for approximately 50,000+ students and 7,500+ courses.

We load-balance our platform which allows for easy increased scalability when necessary. Basically our separate web servers have the ability to query the same database and refer to the same file store area, also there is a complete separation of the application layers which makes this kind of clustering feasible. Similarly, the database could be a cluster of servers (e.g. a MySQL cluster).

Basically, the Infotech Career College® architecture makes it easy to respond to future demand, by adapting the technologies upon which it already operates. This is possible even in a live setting, allowing us to improve and upgrade services without major disruption to site users.

Usability

To support a host of automated and personalized services, such as self-paced and role-specific learning, the access, delivery and presentation of material is easy-to-use and highly intuitive - like surfing on the Web or shopping on Amazon.com.

Perhaps the best sentence to describe the Infotech Career College® usability is: "simple and powerful".

Interoperability

To support content from different sources and multiple hardware/software solutions, the Infotech Career College® exchanges data using open industry standards for Web deployments.

For authentication, the Infotech Career College® supports authenticating against LDAP, which is the most widely-used standard protocol for this purpose. It also supports authentication based on direct database lookup (e.g. in an external Oracle database), or on the Shibboleth protocol, or alternatively using IMAP, NNTP, CAS or FirstClass.

For enrollment, the Infotech Career College® supports the use of an LDAP server (e.g. Active Directory), and the IMS Enterprise standard (via downloadable plug-in).

For content, there are a number of aspects:

The Infotech Career College® supports the import/export of Reusable Learning Objects packaged according to the SCORM/IMS Content Packaging standards.

Quiz questions can be exported in the international standard IMS QTI 2 format.

RSS news feeds can be integrated into a Infotech Career College® site or course.

Forum discussions can be accessed as RSS news feeds, and therefore integrated into other RSS-capable websites or systems.

The use of XML for import/export is standard in the Infotech Career College®. The "web services" method of exchanging data with other systems (e.g. via SOAP or XML-RPC) is not yet standard - but is in active development.

Stability

The Infotech Career College® infrastructure can reliably and effectively manage a large enterprise implementation running 24 x 7. This is the same issue as discussed in Availability and Scalability above.

Security

As with any outward-facing collaborative solution, the Infotech Career College® can selectively limit and control access to online content, resources and back-end functions, both internally and externally, for users in the community.

Our current system of roles includes administrators, instructors and instructors without editing privileges (sometimes called teaching assistants), students, and guests. Each has a clearly defined set of privileges and cannot act beyond those privileges.

The basic unit of organization is the course. An administrator can assign any number of instructors (with or without rights to edit content) to a given course, which has its own file area as well as its own discussions forums and other activities. instructors can decide whether content is visible or hidden to students.

The Infotech Career College® is designed and audited to be secure for its purpose.