Wednesday, December 2, 2009
According to Rori Forensic, the ETA's Director of Education and Professional Development, the LMS is a technology platform that enables participants to start and stop the courses as needed; it also tracks their progress, delivers tests and issues certificates to those who successfully complete courses.
"The ETA selected this system, which is used by many membership associations, to ensure the highest quality and reliable delivery on a 24/7 basis," Forensic said. "Additional course material was based on the live courses taught at the ETA's Annual Meeting & Expo every April in Las Vegas, as well as feedback from payment professionals who requested curriculum on the key facets of the payments industry."
The courses include Sales Channel Development, Introduction to Electronic Processing, Introduction to Sales and Marketing, and Introduction to Operations. These are designed especially for merchant level salespeople (MLSs) and mid-level management. Each course can be completed in approximately 2.5 hours, including time for an exam.
"We not only used feedback from prior course participants over the past several years, but also from leaders and leading companies in the industry," Forensic noted. "And this input defined the informational needs and helped in content development."
Forensic said the skill sets and information covered differ from course to course, and each module has specific, well-defined learning objectives that reflect the essentials required for competence in the subject area designated.
"The key to this is the ETA's ability to engage a broad cross section of industry experts in creation of the content," Forensic said. "The collective knowledge, years of experience and world view that are manifest in these courses provide a well-rounded learning experience that cannot be found elsewhere."
Forensic said these courses are not related to the ETA's efforts promoting an industrywide certification exam for MLSs. However, she added that any knowledge gained through the ETA's educational products, other industry programs and training provided by employers in the payments business can only serve to enhance individual knowledge and help MLSs prepare for the rigors of credentialing.
"Our members understand that to remain competitive and grow, it is critical to provide opportunities for skills enhancement," Forensic said. "However, in today's environment it is also important that training is delivered in an affordable and convenient way that helps to stretch an organization's professional-development dollars.
"That said, I believe anyone would benefit from taking these courses. And regardless of their experience, there are always knowledge gaps that the ETA's Payments Essentials programs could fill."
For more information, including pricing, visit www.electran.org .
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