JA Launches Online Education Program
(January 24, '07, 3:51 IDEX Online Staff Reporter)
Jewelers of America’s new educational initiative, J-Biz, launched its online course at the JA New York Show. The online courses will enable wider access to JA’s education programs, which until now have been available only at live seminars and in-store.
The J-Biz online program has been tailored to the schedule of a busy retail sales associate. The courses are typically divided into 45-minute modules. The modules are then sub-divided into 15-minute segments, to facilitate even faster learning opportunities. Maximum learning flexibility is the key. The online courses will be available to members on JA’s website, www.jewelers.org.
“We recognize that many JA members have only limited access to our live seminars. Online access makes it possible to provide just-in-time education to members wherever they are,” says JA Director of Education David Peters.
According to JA President and CEO Matthew A. Runci, “Continued professional training is no longer dictated by one’s ability to travel to an industry event or trade show. Now, JA education is available to anyone with a dial-up Internet connection.” The online program provides an opportunity to reach tens of thousands of retail jewelers and their sales associates with focused courses they can turn to when they want basic information quickly, Runci added.
Students can also choose take the entire training course at once. Completion times will range from three to six hours, with some courses lasting as long as 10 to12 hours.
Among the first online courses from J-Biz are communicating color; the basics of selling diamonds; ethical selling and relationship selling. J-Biz will also adapt some of JA’s best-known in-print training programs – such as Counter Intelligence and Jewelry 101. A Beta launch of the first online courses is scheduled for early February.
J-Biz also plans to offer its members existing educational courses through partnerships with a variety of other associations and groups. For example, JA has already partnered with the Jewelers Education Foundation of the American Gem Society to offer JEF’s Graduate Sales Associate course online.
To make the J-Biz education program accessible to the widest audience possible, the majority of the new online courses will be available to JA members at an estimated $20 to $50 for most courses. Access is also designed for narrow-bandwidth delivery, meaning courses will work just as well on dial-up connections as on high-speed broadband Internet connections.
