BANGALORE: Now, Wiproites can learn their favorite application or computer
language sitting in front of their computers. Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd. has
introduced ‘virtual campus’, an e-learning center for its employees. This
new virtual campus creates a learning environment that includes content and
community. The e-learning process encompasses coursework, class work, lectures,
student collaboration, mentoring, guest experts and informal community
communication. Currently, the company is providing 13 online courses such as
C++, Visual basic, OOAD, Oracle 8i and Java.
Speaking about the objective of the virtual campus, Wipro Technologies chief
executive-operations Sudip Banerjee said, "The objective of this center is
to build a vast learning community on the Web. This center provides 'training on
demand', enabling the individual to take charge of the learning experience. The
virtual center integrates multimedia, instructor led and real time learning
techniques into a facilitated, collaborative learning environment. The driver
for setting up such a center is that in the e-business world, the old learning
models may no longer be very effective. E-learning not only allows people to
learn from one another but also allows self paced learning, connecting learning
with experts, colleagues and professional peers inside the organization. This
ensures continuous learning and enables the participants to be in touch with the
subject even after they get back to their respective jobs."
On the content part, Wipro has tied up with Smart Force, an e-learning
company based in Redwood City, CA. Along with this, in order to improve the
effectiveness of the center, the company has introduced value-added tools. These
tools are like bulletin board for offline interactions, chat software for
synchronous learning experiences and virtual discussion rooms for collaborative
discussions facilitated by an online mentor.
According to the company, virtual campus provides training on demand, it
covers the entire base of employees in the organization and it will address real
world problems. Over the last couple of months, there have been about 27,000
hits on the site, and 1,700 registered users for the virtual programs.