The innovative portal
www.training.genexus.com is a website that caters for all the training needs of GeneXus users, whether they are beginners or experienced users who want to update their knowledge on the new GeneXus technologies.
Even though in the past information about training was published on GXtechnical.com, it only included course calendars and information about courses and certifications. However, in view of the large number of audiovisual contents available for training and courses, the decision was made to make this content more accessible to the public in general.
Developing an e-learning portalThe solution adopted was to build an exclusive training portal for the GeneXus Community from the ground up.
In order to do this, some e-learning software products were evaluated as alternatives, but in the end the development project was undertaken with the latest version of GXportal 5.0, due to its innovative design features, flexible platform and the ability to easily update contents. Besides, the fact that technical support for this product is readily available was an added plus.
The site was built in collaboration between Artech staff (training, marketing and internal development areas) and design suppliers (
Ineka) who highlighted, among other things, the positive impact caused by the frequent feedback provided by GXportal's support team. The portal’s development was the result of this teamwork effort that took approximately ten months, from the initial steps up to the official release of the website.
Currently,
training.genexus.com has more than 30 pages in which the –so far– more than 500 published contents are organized.
The challenge of seeing through the user’s eyesThe greatest challenge faced in this project was to assess its complexity, find the way to anticipate the users' needs and reflect that in its design, with the objective of allowing users to complete an entire course or access it specifically to look into a certain topic or learn how to do something in particular, using the resources offered in the site.
In this way, not only a web portal is created, but also the way in which concepts are conveyed is renewed, adapting it to the current trend: self-study. The courses are prepared dynamically with explanatory videos and providing all the material necessary for the user to adapt it to his/her needs.
All this was undertaken by Artech with confidence that a strong investment on training leads to an optimal promotion of the product and, therefore, to the maximization of its use.