VIRTUAL REALITY GOES TO SCHOOL

WICHITA FIRM INTRODUCES VIRTUAL SIMULATION LEARNING

WICHITA KS AUGUST 17, 2007:  With all of the media attention going to video gaming and SecondLife.com, it would not be entirely surprising if the world failed to notice the long- awaited application of virtual-reality technology to the serious business of professional education and training. Vertical Learning Curve (VLC), a privately held company with offices in Oklahoma City and New York City, unveiled three virtual-reality Master’s programs.  In the fall, several private liberal arts universities with reputations for academic quality and innovation in distance learning will offer the first VLC produced courses to students around the world.

The Wichita firm, American Universities Corporate and Academic Training Centers begins presenting this long needed product to the world.  Having just returned from Master Distributor Training Pete Morris, Frank Choreigo and Doug Day are buckling down to do the hardest work of their long careers.

Doug Day (president) reports, “This has been a furious few months of planning and getting the foundation set for the most exciting learning program in history to be brought before men and women who want to earn their MBA or MIM or MBX. The cost is 2/3 to 1/2 the cost on other programs and the experience will truly change your thinking about higher education. But it is not for the faint of heart, it’s for the serious who truly want to enhance their resume with a prestigious masters degree from a ranked private university.” He continues, “VLC has been slaving over this idea for years and with the help of educators and screen writers and technology people and actors and creative people – it’s beautiful the way so many people can now get that MBA and participate in higher education.”

Dr. John P. Cragin, professor of business and CEO of Vertical Learning Curve says,  "In its conclusion of a year-long study, The Federation of American Scientists declared that the virtual-reality technology used in video games and flight simulators can literally redefine education. We believe they are right.  This technology makes far better use of teachers’ time, training and gifts and allows students to learn more and learn it better, faster and cheaper.”   

A far cry from traditional on-line programs, the VLC coursework is lean on lecture and heavy on real-world experience.  The course architects are teams of university professors, business executives, screenwriters, animators, directors and producers. Together the teams create graduate courses that include the content found in most on-campus MBA programs.  But that is where the similarity ends - abruptly.  Instead of a classroom, the student becomes an intern in a fast-track executive training program hosted by a virtual-reality company patterned after a very real, 500 employee Midwestern manufacturing firm with worldwide sales of $75m.  The student learns not only from a professor (animation of the Ph.D. who helped design the course) but from company managers, employees, customers, vendors and competitors.   
While learning this way is challenging and convenient, it is neither easier nor necessarily faster than on-campus programs.  Ken Hively, the technology director of VLC, says, “If anything, this way of learning is more rigorous.  There is nowhere to hide in a virtual reality-training program.  It is you and your boss, one-on-one, with your professor always looking over your shoulder.  No one tells you there will be a test at the end of the week and your performance is visible to all, in real time, just like on the job.”    

And that is the whole idea – to bring business education closer to reality.  Virtual reality.
American Universities Corporate and Academic Training Centers is embarking on the goal of bringing this opportunity to many of those who can’t afford to go to a brick and mortar schools or just too involved in the responsibilities of life to take off 2 – 3 years, but still need their MBA for their career.

American Universities Corporate and Academic Training Centers can be reached in Wichita, Kansas at 316-440-6704 or on the web at www.vlcglobal.com/cat .    

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Contact:  Pete Morris    American Universities Corporate and Academic Training Centers
Phone: 316-440 6704    FAX: 316-440 6704     This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it