The product allow users to work interactively with documents. An instructor who intends to work with a group of students on a PowerPoint presentation, for example, simply drags the presentation's icon from a local hard drive onto the eRoom desktop to upload it to the Web server. Once on the server, the presentation becomes available to all group members. The software automatically tracks versions of pages and keeps multiple copies of documents, which can be viewed by date and time. Bellcore, the Piscataway, N.J., provider of communications software and engineering and consulting services, uses eRoom for several of its corporate training programs.
Students can get more value from their training by moving to the Web.
The ability to drag and drop documents is a real help. But Goeller adds that collaborative tools like eRoom have their limitations. We use eRoom as our campus, a place students can visit to retrieve reference materials and submit their work. But for live training, we use PlaceWare Auditorium, which supports the real-time interaction that's necessary to convey complicated technical concepts. MeetingPlace's collaborative features allow organizations to manage and distribute a wide range of support materials, says Glenn Eaton, Latitude's vice president of marketing.