Okay, "we" is more like "me", namely Geoff Canham. I was born the same year as ENIAC, so it's probably understandable that I've been interested in computers most of my life, long before I ever thought I'd get my hands on one. The first one I got to play with was an Apple ][, back around 1980, and I now have quite a collection (including an Apple ][, which I still play Little Brick Out on from time to time ;-)

After pursuing quite a few professional certifications, I decided to take an online MSc course in Information Technology, and happily I'm now finished, and graduated in July 2005. With that finished, I had hoped to have more time to devote to developing this site and its courses, but work got frantic, so progress hasn't been as fast as I'd hoped. My dissertation project was the development of a Learning Management System, and you can try out a simplified version of it with our online courses .

Our philosophy on teaching computer skills is to get you "learning by doing". To that end, we provide videos (only on our backup server when that is online - find it from the Log On link) that show you how to carry out particular activities, and we give step-by-step instructions for you to repeat the activities shown. Basically, we take you on a guided tour of the main thoroughfares and some of the side streets, so that when you later wander off on your own, you shouldn't get lost. The videos show the image of the computer screen as the activities are carried out. Another way to look at it is that we are standing beside you, showing you what can be done, and then getting you to try it.

Our courses are designed to be practical, with little theory, but it's good practice to also study a text book on the subject later, to get some of the theory as well. It is usually easier to understand the theory when you know how to do the thing in practice (that's the way we learnt to do most things).

Our Microsoft Office Specialist series are designed to be courses you can use on their own to prepare you for the Microsoft exam (assuming you practice what's taught, of course). Other courses, such as the Microsoft Networking ones, are designed to get you started quickly on the subject, but you'd need to supplement our course with additional information.

For instance, our Microsoft 2000 Server videos don't go to anything like the depth that Dan Charbonneau's CBTNuggets videos do, but with ours you can cover the subject in a couple of hours, and Dan's will take you a day or two if you only stop to sleep. Also, our courses are designed as exercises that you can practice with a simple setup, even using trial software, while you might not be able to actually experience what you see or read in other courses. So, if you were studying for the MCSA certification, you might start out with our Windows Server 2003 course, then get a book for the exam you're going for and study that, perhaps supplemented with videos from CBTnuggets.com and audio tapes from AudioWhiz.com, and get practice with a set of sample exam questions from 2prep.com. You might also take the tests on Brainbench.com to test your knowledge. Then view our videos again a day or two before the exam, for a review of the subject.

For the record, we have no connection with any of the sites mentioned in the above paragraph, but we know their products to be good. There may also be other equivalent resources available that we haven't mentioned.