Program Success Elements

  • We systematically determine peoples’ ability to learn and apply new knowledge;
  • Our AI-based teaching platform gamifies learning and trainees love it;
  • Academic advice and instructional support are provided throughout trainees’ learning;
  • Self-paced coursework allows trainees to learn anywhere, anytime;
  • Self-paced coursework avoids trainees missing training content because of other responsibilities;
  • Our career training programs are mapped to industry-recognized certificates;
  • Our in-depth skills training programs provide work experience that close to 100% of job openings require.

 

Close To 100% Of Our Enrollees Complete Our Online Career Training Programs.

Online training should be the perfect way for us to get on a solid growth path. After all, it can take place anywhere, at any time, and its self-paced nature accommodates work and family responsibilities, but, unfortunately, online training has gotten a bad name because it just doesn’t work for most of us.

Studies indicate that fewer than 20% of participants complete online career training programs. However, this low completion rate isn’t primarily due to individual commitment; it’s largely influenced by the way most online training is designed and delivered.

Lack Of Proper Preparation and Assistance 

No one bothers to measure our interest, aptitude, and perseverance for the training we are about to undertake and no one helps us to establish a realistic pace and a realistic timeframe for completing our training.  

Furthermore, no one analyzes whether we need additional foundational training even though training is much like scaffolding, and, without a solid foundation, learning new concepts is difficult or not even possible. 

Upon starting our training, the vast majority of online career training programs provide us with lengthy recorded lectures followed by unassisted work assignments, a formula for disaster since even initial work assignments are often not doable.

The net result is that, on average, over 80% of the people who want to grow decide that it’s not doable and drop out.

 

How NCLab Training Is Different

NCLab’s in-depth career training programs are fundamentally different from the vast majority of online career training programs. Let’s compare training approaches and the results they produce.

ENGAGING GAMIFIED LEARNING versus INDEPENDENT LEARNING

At NCLab, you’re taught by an engaging Artificial Intelligence (AI) teaching platform that provides you bite-sized knowledge that is immediately followed by gamified mini projects, during which the platform provides you realtime assistance in the form of in-context help, hints, and templates. Our trainees love the fact that the platform is always there interacting with them and they’re never left alone to do assignments, no matter what time of day they’re working. 

NCLab academic advisors and instructional support personnel also oversee your progress and guide and assist you throughout your training. 

SKILLS-BASED TRAINING versus KNOWLEDGE-BASED TRAINING

Close to 100% of job openings require work experience, so if your objective is to get a job at the end of your training, it’s the SKILLS that you acquire during your training that are key. After all, as an example, employers hire Data Analysts for their ability to perform Data Analyst work (which is a SKILL), not their awareness of the different Data Analyst tools available to perform Data Analyst work (which is KNOWLEDGE). 

NCLab’s competency-based training is unique in the way it makes you knowledgeable AND skilled, by requiring you to successfully complete hundreds of gamified AI-tutored mini projects that confirm your SKILLS in applying the knowledge that you have acquired. No other online career training programs follows a similar approach because it takes hundreds of hours to develop every hour of training.

More About NCLab’s Training

NCLab’s primary mission is to get people who have the ability and desire to grow into great careers. To accomplish that, NCLab:

  • Makes sure you can learn and apply new knowledge before you enroll;
  • Provides you foundational training, if needed, before you start your primary training;
  • Provides you with engaging gamified hands-on work throughout your training to make you job-ready;
  • Provides you with the soft skills that are foundational to a professional career;
  • Prepares you to take industry-recognized certifications;
  • Helps you get noticed, succeed in your job interviews, and get hired. 

The vast majority of other online training programs don’t concern themselves with these needs.

Let’s look closer at each of NCLab’s activities and how they ensure your success.

Applicant Screening

At NCLab, we use a proprietary detailed Career Readiness Assessment that measures your ability to absorb new knowledge and make use of it to solve problems, while also measuring your passion for learning and your perseverance. By successfully completing the assessment, you confirm that you have what it takes to both complete our training and get a great job.  

The vast majority of other online training programs, on the other hand, don’t screen you; instead, they enroll you, using an “add to cart” screen button. 

Foundational Skills

You have a different background than other people and, despite your level of formal education, you often have to take some remedial training. After all, training is much like scaffolding and, without a solid foundation, even learning basic concepts is difficult or often not possible. At NCLab, we provide you foundational training (e.g. workplace math) if it is needed, at no additional cost, so as to ensure that you will be able to more easily complete your training and apply what you learn.

The vast majority of other online training programs, on the other hand, simply specify prerequisites that you often don’t have or need refreshing, and your failure to complete their training is attributed to your inadequate preparedness for the training.

Competency-Based Training

NCLab uses a competency-based learn-by-doing approach to teaching that trainees love. There is no such equivalent training that we are aware in other online career training programs.

Let’s look closer at how competency-based training is accomplished at NCLab:

  • You have to make use of each new concept to confirm your ability to apply it before going on to the next concept;
  • The primary instructor role is performed by an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based teaching platform that covers every subject, not just those that an instructor chooses to cover or remembers to cover;
  • Our engaging AI-based teaching platform helps you with each gamified assignment, overseeing your work and providing you realtime context-specific help, hints, and templates that we have accumulated over years of helping trainees;
  • Individually-assigned academic advisors and instructional support staff assist the AI-based teaching platform in overseeing, guiding, and helping you;
  • When you complete your training, you know it all without the need for a final exam.
Soft Skills

In contrast to the vast majority of online training programs that don’t address soft skills, NCLab programs work on your soft skills throughout your training. Academic advisors help you to stay on track and to complete your training while also teaching you important soft skills that employers expect you to have alongside your technical skills; those include independent problem solving, critical and logical thinking, attention to detail, perseverance, professional communication, time management, and adaptability, among others.

Industry-Recognized Certifications

While employers place value on industry-recognized certifications and we at NCLab prepare you for them (including ACT’s Workkeys Applied Math and NCRC, TOSA, CompTIA Data+, and The Python Institute’s PCEP, PCAP, and PCAD), passing a certification exam should not be a goal in itself, since taking an exam is quite different from being job-ready. Job readiness is about having skills and that can only take place with work experience that NCLab training programs provide.

On another note, the vast majority of online training programs ignore industry-recognized certifications and issue you their own certifications, which have questionable value:

“A Coursera certificate alone is unlikely to land you a job.”

http://resumeworded.com/coursera-certificates-resume-key-advice 

Job Placement

In contrast to the vast majority of other online career training programs, NCLab makes sure that you get noticed, succeed in your job interview, and get hired. This includes, among other things, creating a strong resume and building your portfolio with capstone projects. It also includes an Employer Recruitment Portal where large numbers of employers register to get a chance to interview our trainees when they graduate or even before they do.

 

What Our Trainees Think Of Our Training

Following are the results of a recent survey of trainees who were one and a half months into their training. It makes it clear why almost everyone taking NCLab’s training completes it. 

Question 1: The three pillars of NCLab training are independent self-paced coursework, academic advice, and instructional support. How well does this training method work for you overall? 1 = It doesn’t work for me at all. 2 = It does not work very well for me. 3 = I am not sure. 4 = it works quite well for me. 5 = I love it.

Averaged Response:

  • 4.7 (Automation Technician Training)
  • 4.7 (Data Analyst Training Program)
  • 4.6 (Python Developer Training Program)

Question 2: NCLab training involves quite a bit of independent hands-on practice. How would you rate the importance of independent hands-on practice for you personally? 1 = I don’t need hands-on practice to learn. 2 = I would be OK with less hands-on practice. 3 = I am not sure. 4 = hands-on practice is quite important for me. 5 = hands-on practice is extremely important for me.

Averaged Response:

  • 4.7 (Automation Technician Training)
  • 4.8 (Data Analyst Training Program)
  • 4.3 (Python Developer Training Program)

Question 3: If you decide to continue your training with NCLab, a lot of hard work lies ahead. Are you ready to make the commitment? 1 = no. 2 = probably not. 3 = I am not sure. 4 = probably. 5 = absolutely.

Averaged Response:

  • 4.6 (Automation Technician Training)
  • 4.9 (Data Analyst Training Program)
  • 4.8 (Python Developer Training Program)

Beyond the numeric answers to the survey questions, some people chose to also make written comments, many of which further explain why our approach to training works so well.

Added Comments

  • I prefer being self-paced, as I can complete lessons around my schedule. If I require extra assistance, there are resources available to me.
  • I like that I do not have to do the course at a specific time or day because it allows me to work around my other responsibilities.
  • I love self-paced learning. I am able to go as fast or as slow as life circumstances dictate at that time. I don’t have to attach myself to the speed of others, I can just go at my own pace for my own learning needs.
  • I love the freedom to work on the course around my schedule. I don’t think I would be able to do a certificate program like this otherwise.
  • There’s nothing I dislike about independent self-paced learning.
  • I like that if I’m in a section where I’m understanding the material easily, I can move ahead instead of having to wait.  I can’t really think of a downside to this way of learning.
  • I like that the class allows me to work around my own schedule!
  • I can go through material I am familiar with quickly.
  • I’m able to do it whenever. It also allows me to progress in a way such that I’m comfortable. Both are pluses. 
  • I really like to work at my own pace.
  • I prefer working at my own pace. I feel like it sets me up for success.
  • I like that it gives me the freedom to work on stuff when I would like to, though I like the way my academic advisor holds me accountable.
  • Sometimes it can be hard to hold myself accountable but it is good to learn that skill in the real world anyhow.

To get a copy of the entire survey,  Please fill the Get-In-Touch form below, or simply use the CHAT BOX at the bottom right of this screen.

Our Trainees Love To Learn By Doing

Perfect teaching method

“As an adult with a busy schedule and the need to work around banking business hours etc.: this method of teaching is perfect for me and I would recommend it for basically anyone on any subject.” F. V.

Superb way to learn

“I really enjoyed the self-paced format of this training program. The material was presented clearly and concisely and allowed me to focus longer on concepts that were difficult, while glancing over concepts I was already familiar with.” A.C.

This is how I like to learn

“This is how I like to learn, at my own pace. I like the bite-sized tutorials and I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I complete the exercises that follow them.” M.J.

Great training!

“I watched videos, read short tutorials, viewed examples, ran demo programs, and then performed exercises that demonstrated my comprehension of the subject matter.” S.L.

The training is really great!

“Not easy but really informative. Practical experience was what I wanted and I feel that I got it.” F. Z.

The program is great

“I cannot compliment enough any training that involves students actually working on the problems rather than just listening.” A. S.

Compliments to the NCLab team

“Please extend my compliments to the NCLab team if you can, and keep advocating for this type of learning, if at the very least as an option for people like me who learn well this way.” F. A.

You do a great job explaining the concepts

“So far I’m enjoying the course. You do a great job explaining the concepts and the logic behind each step (the explanation for the difference between WHERE and HAVING comes to mind)!” R. C.

 

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