Imagine you are the maker of finely crafted violins and also happen to be a music lover. Do you hand your instrument to a tuba player or to someone with no musical background, and expect them to learn, on their own, how to play a Haydn violin concerto? Certainly, given enough time and talent, a dedicated person might be able to pull this off but the best approach would certainly be to provide some instruction to aspiring violinist.

I often think of the "Introduction to Etudes" online course, as a way to provide instructors with a foundation in the art and craft of designing quality online courses using Etudes as the instrument. The instrument, like any, is only as good as the person playing it. It can be used well or it can be used poorly, and the students are the recipients of the well designed or poorly designed course.

I was once a student in the "Introduction to Etudes" online course and now I teach the course. I can't image having to learn all the nuances of this powerful system without having received basic instruction first. The course is an intensive two-three week online session that combines explanations of good uses of the tools, along with structured practice assignments.

There is also a lively forum where students can ask questions about the tools and discuss pedagogy and course design. A frequent comment from participants, at the end of the course, is that it provides a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere and also helps model good use of the system. Here are some of the participants' testimonials:

This course exceeded my expectations. I have worked with Etudes Classic and feel that Etudes NG is far better and I am excited about this. I am always looking for efficiency in teaching online. Not only do we have to teach a subject but we have to make it interested as well and this system gives me more freedom to do this. The assignments and tasks were important because that is how I learn. I enjoyed all the tasks since they are very relevant to what we will be doing as we adopt Etudes NG. I will recommend to my colleagues to take this online training class. Everything about this course was very very helpful. The instructions were clear and the system did not crash (yeah).

--Vilma Bernal

Absolutely - this class met my expectations. I thought the practice in creating tests, publishing a syllabus and authoring modules was most useful. There is nothing like practice, and the only way I could truly understand the system was by actually doing it. I like that there were three or four different tasks needing to be done. That way we explored the system and were free to be creative. I also thought the facilitators were attentive and considerate and generous with their time.

--Joe Pilaro

The training course has met, and at times exceeded, my expectations. As a person who used Blackboard and WebCT, I find Etudes as a CMS quite a reflection of its name. I have found all tools available through Etudes-NG useful. I love the interactivity and interface capabilities of the system. As Director of Distance Education in my institution, I'm relieved that the system is user-friendly and offers a plethora of instructional tools for my faculty to use. As a matter of fact, my faculty echo my sentiments. Thank you all for this opportunity.

--Younes Mourchid, Ph.D., Cogswell College

I thought class was very intense and I learned a lot. I always wondered how someone could teach a psychology course online. I thought I would lose the class interaction, yet now I see that I can have even more in some ways. I am very glad I got the opportunity to take this class and I hope with more practice that I will be able to eventually teach some classes online. There something about teaching while sitting at home in my pajama's that appeals to me.

--Denise Russell, South Lake Tahoe

The class was engaging. The more one works with Etudes, the more one sees the possibilities. The learning curve is comfortable and quick and the exercises actually make retention easy. You have a feeling of a reasonable competence on completion, and the encouragement of the facilitator provides confidence. I look forward to continuing working with the software to support my teaching.

--Kevin Smith

I started this class thinking that I wasn't sure what I was going to learn in an online capacity. I had always felt that the online courses held a stigma of not learning so much. But after taking the class, I now see that a lot of learning does take place. All the reading, and all the modules that have to be understood and especially the hands on activities....all these things were valuable tools in helping to understand the value of online education. Thank you so much for all the well developed modules and online tools and assignments that helped me to grow and better understand the value of online education.

--Blakely Hume, Reno, Nevada

The introductory training course provides a basic understanding of the tools, features, and functionality of Etudes, but it would be useless without application and practice that the hands-on portion offers. Just as the new violinist must practice to perfect her craft, so must the new Etudes user.

I find that I am still learning new things as I use the system, and I began using Etudes and training others since early 2005. Now, my energy is not focused so much about learning how the tools work, but rather how to use the various tools most efficiently and effectively to support teaching, learning, and collaboration, and manage my sites.

Like the accomplished violinist, I now know the instrument very well, but I am only recently establishing my own unique way of working with the system. I no longer have to think about how to accomplish a simple task, like posting a syllabus or unpublishing my sites, but, instead, I can focus on the larger picture of how to make the system as a whole perform its magic in my courses, by contributing to learning and retention.

If you have taken "Introduction to Etudes," offered through the Etudes Project, you have seen the ground rules that help establish a safe learning environment from the onset.

"Have BIG FUN!" was contributed by one of the participants early in the course and is a nice reminder for facilitators and participants to make teaching and learning fun. After all, if we do not invest time to learn how to support our teaching with new and emerging technologies, and do not enjoy the process of learning and un-learning methods of interaction, course management, and teaching, why be in the business of education?

Are you having fun yet? I am!