by Jenny Watt

Created on: February 07, 2009   Last Updated: February 28, 2009

There are plenty of online resources, tutorials, self-paced classes and books available for those who want to learn Visual Basic on their own, but the limitations of those resources include:

- No one to answer questions - No experienced user to let you know if you are using the best techniques - No way to know if you are really understanding it

Learning in a traditional classroom environment may be difficult for those who don't have the time to commit to attending class and in a traditional classroom you are only able to progress as fast as the instructor or your classmates' understanding will allow.

Another alternative is to look for instructor-led online training. In an instructor-led online training class you get the best of both worlds. You can learn when and where it is convenient for your and at your own pace. With an instructor available, you have someone to turn to for more explanations when needed, someone to check your work so you are sure that you are coding effectively and that you really are understanding and applying the concepts correctly.

Lifetime to Learn (www.lifetimetolearn.com) offers instructor-led online classes in Visual Basic as well as other topics. Their classes are designed by instructional designers who are experienced in designing online classes. The classes include a variety of activities to appeal to all types of learners. By completing all the activities in each lesson, a student has the opportunity to approach the subject matter in a variety of directions, ensuring they are learning and will be able to use what they are learning outside of class.

The instructors are trained to teach online and are required to access the class at least once a day during the week and at least once on the weekend. That means you are not waiting around for days for answers or for feedback on your classwork. The instructors participate in discussions and provide constructive feedback to the projects the students turn in.

Students are encouraged to interact with the instructor and the others in the class. Each person in the class can be a resource to the others by sharing their own experiences and perspectives. Instead of just seeing how the book applies what is taught or the instructor's perspective on the subject, students can share their own experiences.

Students are encouraged to work on their own projects. There are projects that test the students' understanding of the topics covered, but students also apply what they are learning to a project of their choosing. This way students work on a program that they understand. They can also leave class with a project that they can use in their own work.

Lifetime to Learn offers several class in Visual Basic: Visual Basic .NET Introduction - this course gives the new VB programmer an overview of creating applications in Visual Basic and working with the controls and events. Visual Basic .NET Advanced - this course is a continuation of the Visual Basic Introduction course and takes the experienced VB programmer through creating classes and interacting with databases in their VB applications. ASP.NET using Visual Basic .Net - for those who want to use Visual Basic for web programming, this course introduces the basics of using ASP to create web-based applications. VBA Programming - this course gives the Microsoft Office user an introduction to using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) for creating macros and automating work in Excel, Word and Access.

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