Macromedia has added Mac courses to its offerings at Macromedia University, the company’s online school for mastering Macromedia products and overall Web skills that was launched last fall. The new courses were announced at this week’s Macworld San Francisco.
“The university has had thousands of participants, and we’re seeing about 100 new ones each week,” Karina Jensen, Macromedia’s online training manager, told MacCentral. “And over 90 percent of the ones we’ve surveyed have had high praise for the courses.”
Macromedia University Mac courses are now available for Director 8, Levels 1 and 2; Dreamweaver 3, Levels 1 and 2; FreeHand 9, Levels 1 and 2; Flash 5, Levels 1 and 2; and Fireworks 3, Levels 1 and 2. Additional online training courses for Mac users will be introduced in the first quarter of 2001 including Dreamweaver 4, Dreamweaver UltraDev 4, Fireworks 4, and UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio. A sample Macromedia Flash 5 lesson is available for Mac and PC users online.
Macromedia University’s are delivered using Macromedia Flash and Shockwave technologies, which enables students to have the same user experience within their Web browser as they would within the actual desktop application.
Element K — a company that specializes in creating interactive online learning — is Macromedia’s partner in the university. Courses are offered and priced on an annual subscription basis across three libraries. They are Basic, Complete, and Web Professional and are priced at US $99, $249, and $399 respectively.
Both self-paced and instructor-led courses are available for most Macromedia Web publishing products. The latter usually last about six weeks. Macromedia University students get unlimited access to all Macromedia product training courses for an entire year, as well as online resources and forums.
“It’s a fun way to learn,” Jensen said. “The courses can not only be used as online learning tools, but also as online references while using a product.”
If you want to see how you’re progressing in a course, there are online assessment tools that let you test yourself. There’s even an online “learning advisor” that can help you plan future courses based on what you wish to accomplish.
A free, 30-day introductory online training course for Macromedia Flash 5 is available at the Web site.