MADISON, WI – CUNA's Center for Professional Development debuted its first Virtual Classroom training

session to credit unions Wednesday, November 7. Thirty-six (36) participants took part in the session, a two-hour

presentation on Sales and Service.

"Our Virtual Classrooms are a unique blended approach to learning that combine live, real-time interactive

instruction with self-paced Web activities. Activities include group discussions, exercises, simulations and case

studies," says Plumer Lovelace, Director of Training Technologies for CUNA's Center for Professional Development.

"All this provides an interactive learning experience for participants without travel costs or time out of the

office."

Future Virtual Classroom programs will consist of 2–6 sessions of live virtual instruction, plus Web-based

discussion groups, case studies and additional readings. Each session lasts approximately two hours and includes

lectures, group discussions and live chats. In addition, students should expect to spend 3–6 hours on Web-

based activities for each scheduled class session. Study hours are not fixed, giving students the flexibility to

choose the best time each week to complete these activities.

A full slate of Virtual Classroom training sessions will be offered starting in December. The next session,

Advanced Collections and Credit Counseling, is set to begin December 4 and consists of four virtual sessions. The

Security Institute, Consumer Lending School, Collections and Credit Counseling, Financial Management School,

Management Essentials, and Regulatory Compliance School will be offered in the Virtual Classroom format in 2002.

For more information, contact Angela Prestil at 800-356-9655, ext. 4233 or Marlo Foltz at 800-356-9655, ext.

4232. The full schedule of Virtual Classroom training sessions is available online at training.cuna.org.