Geolearning offers online world-wide education
GeoLearning Inc. provides companies with an innovative training solution. Now they can train employees scattered around the world using nothing more than a computer with a connection to the Internet. The West Des Moines-based company’s GeoMaestro online learning system was recently adopted by Nike Global Footwear, the largest division of Nike Inc. Now Nike can teach its employees worldwide about the newest shoe styles or company policies without expensive travel. U.S. International Rectifier Corp., an El Segundo, Calif.-producer of power semiconductors, also uses GeoLearning’s system to train its sales force.
Founded in 1997, GeoLearning began in a basement as a family business. Frank Russell, president and CEO, and Linda Russell, executive vice president, spent a decade in the video training industry. Their first company, which sold training videos, was purchased by Wescott Communications of Dallas, later acquired by New York-based PriMedia Inc. They stayed there a few years, but the company was entrenched in satellite-based communications. The Russells were convinced that e-learning, or Internet-enabled learning, was a service the market was ready for. PriMedia disagreed, so the Russells left and formed their own company.
Frank Russell says one of the unique aspects of GeoLearning is that it is an application service provider. The company hosts and houses applications for clients on its Web servers. Because the applications aren’t installed on clients’ servers, clients no longer have to use information technology staff members to system maintenance. He says one client has 26,000 employees using the GeoLearning training system, but only one system administrator.
Russell is especially proud of GeoLearning’s golearn.gov site, which he says may be the world’s largest training portal. The site received with 1.2 million hits the first day it was up, and now has 250,000 registered users. Three million people are eligible for training on the system — anyone with a .gov or U.S. military e-mail address, in fact. The site was created as part of an initiative by President George W. Bush to eliminate redundant government training programs and bring the government into the computer age. The system saved the government $25 million in the first seven months.
The company designed itsweb site displays to look like buildings, a unique style it adopted to make navigation easy and fun. GeoLearning systems also allow clients to incorporate Webcasting, streaming video and classroom teaching for a rich learning experience.
“Organizations of the future will have to be nimble, change as the world changes and train workers to meet those changes,” Russell said.