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There is no published schedule of courses, since all courses are run on
demand.
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Every in-house course is a group or one-on-one single day course,
either in your offices or ours. We use rooms at the University of
Adelaide Research Park at Thebarton, South Australia or in a facility in
Canberra.
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Our whole focus is on
helping you come to terms with the software of your choice in the
shortest possible time. Our aim is to have you leave us at the end of a
day competent enough to 'drive' your software.
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We have developed a unique,
flexible and efficient
learning system to help do this. We provide you with a PDF version of a detailed workbook
which we have written; embedded in its pages are on-screen movies. We
use these movies to first demonstrate a technique and then get you to repeat the exercise
using your software following
detailed instructional steps from our workbook. Click
here for more information on our
learning system.
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Class size for in-house courses varies from one (when you
have opted for group or one-on-one training) or to a
maximum of three where your company has opted to send a group of students
to us. We do not takes students in a group if they come from different
companies.
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If you want to take a course with us, it is just a matter of
synchronizing our respective diaries. Each Design Cad course is delivered by a
qualified, experienced tutor and all tutors hold tertiary qualifications. Most
tutors are booked about 2.5
weeks in advance, so we can usually fit you in at reasonably short notice. Just
send an email to
info@designcad.com.au with some possible dates which suit you.
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Costs: We offer three different pricing models covering
the same material:
1.
Online learning via broadband - fast Internet connection required.
The most popular option is to take a course by online
learning at
http://www.softwaretutor.net. The cost is $AUD250.00 for >30
hours of high quality training. These broadband leaning courses feature rapid enrolment,
multi media materials, online forums, multi choice reviews, questionnaires,
submission of assignments etc. This is an enhanced learning experience at an
affordable price. Click
here to visit our
broadband online
learning site and click on the blue information button to sample a
course.
2. CD-ROM based distance learning
The majority of courses are available via
our CD-ROM based
distance learning program at
a cost of $AUD280.00. We post a personalized CD-ROM containing
the complete course which runs in your web browser without the
need for an Internet connection. The whole course can be
completed at home or at work at your own pace.
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As part of our continuing drive to reduce our
carbon emissions by using digital delivery, a discount of $30 is
offered if you elect not to receive a printed workbook with your
CD-ROM [The course can be read as many times as you like from
your CD-ROM]. |
There is an additional charge of $30.00 if access to the broadband learning
version of the course is also required. Many students take this
option and use it when it is convenient to make an Internet connection as
the broadband learning version of the course contains various
forums, quizzes and the opportunity to submit questions.
When ordering (by
email to info@designcad.com.au), please be specific about
which option you wish to take.
3. group or one-on-one courses (Adelaide or Canberra - in our offices or
yours).
Each course takes one day and
costs $AUD750.00.
As part of our continuing drive to
reduce our
carbon emissions by using digital delivery, each participant in our group or one-on-one courses is
automatically enrolled at no extra cost in the broadband
learning version of this course. This would normally cost an
additional $250.00.
In this way, students get a double benefit - personal tuition
and the ability to access any of the written instructional
materials online, replay any of the demonstration movies,
download sample files, log questions, take quizzes and submit
assignments for review.
We usually work group or one-on-one, but can take up to 3 students in our
training room. ** Please note that we only run groups if all students come
from the same organization.**
We stress
that all participants must be from the same organization. we
have found that teaching a group with different backgrounds is
counter productive.
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Our terms are payment
by check, money order, direct deposit or credit card via PayPal within
14 days. Of course, we accept payment in advance. We encourage the use
of the
PayPal system provides secure credit card
facilities across the Internet. PayPal is now an
Australian operation and is an eBay partner.
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We do not charge a
fee for a late withdrawal from a course.
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You can 'try before you buy'. Links to samples of our course materials can be found
at our broadband learning site
softwaretutor.net. These links provide examples of text material and sample
'movies' which will play on your computer (monitor) and illustrate a concept.
The movies will not play on Macintosh computers unless you download
Windows Media Player into your Mac. We do offer
training in some software applications the Macintosh environment.
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We are located in a commerce campus of the University of Adelaide, South
Australia. The suburb is Thebarton, just behind the Southwark brewery on
the western side of the Adelaide Central Business District.
Visiting us.
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We are a commercial tenant of the University of Adelaide. However our courses
are not subject to endorsement or certification by the University of
Adelaide.
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Design Cad is not what is called a Registered Training Organization and
we have no plans to become one. Our focus is in providing short, one-day
software training courses which will bring you up to speed in the use of
the software application of your
choice. We do offer advanced training in most applications, but this is
always group or one-on-one, requires preparation by us for your visit and focuses on a particular task that you
want to
carry out.
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Our training hours are 9.15 am to 4.15 - 4.30 pm, Monday to
Friday. These times are set to facilitate child care. Our tutors are
happy to start earlier or stay later if you require it.
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Unfortunately, we are not able to offer out of hours training.
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We do provide off site training for companies, however
this service is subject to the availability of a suitable training room
in your organization and sufficient numbers of participants (usually 5).
We have provided off site courses in the Barossa Valley,
Canberra,
Adelaide CBD, Mt Gambier and Millicent. Don't forget that the majority
of our courses can be taken as part of a
distance program.
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Our method of teaching is we believe unique.
Here is a movie which
explains how our learning system works.
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As part of every course, we provide (free of charge) tea, coffee and a light lunch
at a nearby cafe.
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Each participant receives a
certificate of achievement.
Some institutions have accepted this as evidence of prior learning, but
we cannot guarantee that this will happen. We can endorse your
certificate with an extra achievement level if you request it and submit
all assignments for review. Again, this should carry more weight with
other institutions, but there can be no guarantee.
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The syllabus for each course we offer can be found at
www.designcad.com.au/courses/courses.htm
and at softwaretutor.net by
clicking on the blue information icon alingside each course listing.
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After you complete a course, we offer additional help via
our web site support forums
www.designcad.com.au/support/support.htm.
The broadband learning courses have the advantage of support via user
forums where you can ask questions. We have recently used the forum
methods to support a group of 100 students from the University of South
Australia who were taking the 'Introduction to Access' course.
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Modules in our distance courses are protected by a
password. You simply type the password when you want to take the module.
The password is written on the CD which we supply and on your invoice.
The password is always your name and is burnt into the CD. We ask that
you respect our intellectual property by not copying the CD and giving it
(and your password) away to another party.
