WestLake Introduces Jam Sessions

Washington, DC - July 20, 2006. WestLake Training and Development, has decided to turn its training up to "11" and offer its clients true blended learning that will keep 'em dancing in the aisles.

WestLake's Jam Sessions include short instructor-led virtual classroom sessions that may be delivered on specific topics at any time during, before or after the business day. These short sessions are followed by lab-intensive, self-study segments that students may do at their own pace and during their own time. Once the self-study is completed, the instructor, once again, delivers a live, virtual two-hour recitation to evaluate the student's work, clarify concepts and answer questions. According to Jill McKay, WestLake's Vice President of Business Development, "We've seen situations where clients are reluctant to take their people away from billable work or deadline-driven deliverables to attend several days of training. And that's caused a major problem both for our customers and for WestLake. What we have with Jam Sessions, however, is a true blended learning solution that combines self-paced training, with very effective instructor-led sessions. This approach keeps students billable and meeting their deadlines but still makes time for important training."

Jam Sessions take advantage of several new trends in professional skills-based training including live virtual classroom. WestLake has been offering live virtual training since 2002 and has developed its own best practices. Charlie Fink, WestLake's VP of Training and Delivery says, "WestLake constantly refines and improves its methodology for virtual classroom delivery, with a focus on keeping students engaged and participating. All of our trainers must understand and adhere to our best practices, and that gives us a competitive edge". According to Mark Rogers, WestLake's president, "Our largest client, Lockheed Martin, asked us to provide live instructor-led virtual training several years ago, back when no one else was doing it. "Because of all that experience, we're better at delivering it than anyone else." In addition to virtual classroom training, WestLake's Jam Sessions offer a self-paced element giving students a mix of live classroom and self-paced training. "We've traditionally been big believers in the instructor-led experience but there's definitely something to be said for the efficiencies of asynchronous training and self-paced study" says Fink. "Our new Jam Sessions combine the two delivery methodologies nicely by giving students upfront live instruction , self-paced labs and exercises, and instructor follow-up to be sure students complete self-paced work correctly."

About WestLake Training and Development. Founded in 1995, WestLake is the only company focusing exclusively on applications development and Enterprise application training. Course and certificate programs are offered in all aspects of web and applications development, from beginning HTML to leading edge enterprise frameworks such as J2EE and .NET. Headquarted in Washington, DC., WestLake has provided training to hundreds of domestic and international corporations ranging from small not-for-profits to federal government agencies and Fortune 500 corporations. WestLake writes and publishes its own courseware and training materials and has gained a reputation for delivering highly practical instructor-led training that can be applied immediately in real world development projects.