Virtual Instructor

Virtual Instructor is a live online training service for business software. Its homepage headline is "We Provide Training For The Most Popular Business Software Programs," and the product behind it is a library of short, instructor-led classes for people who use Microsoft Office, Adobe and Google tools at work. The About page describes the idea as blending "traditional classroom-style computer training with the power of the Internet while keeping the needs of the business workplace in mind."

The reader it serves is a working adult, or a company training its staff, who wants to get faster in a specific program without sitting through a long course.

What learners get

The core product is the one-hour class. The homepage puts it plainly: "We offer LIVE, 1-hour, online, instructor-led, hands-on software classes." Three details set the format apart from a recorded course.

First, the group is small. Each class has a cap of 15, "so everyone gets personalized help and attention."

Second, it is live on Zoom. The site says "We use Zoom to conduct the classes," and that classes are "taught by instructors with real-world experience to help you apply the concepts to your projects ... and they make the classes FUN!"

Third, the learner works along with the teacher. Each class comes with hands-on exercises "for you to do along with the instructor to make sure you feel comfortable with the class material," and because the session is live, "you can ask questions during the class and if necessary share your screen so everyone can see how to solve the issue." Screen sharing turns a general lesson into help with the learner's own spreadsheet or document, which is the main thing a live class offers over a video.

Around the session, the learner gets a downloadable training guide, described as "a step-by-step, easy to read training guide that covers the commands and concepts taught in the class," plus class exercise files. Each class is recorded, and the recording is "made available ONLY to people enrolled in the class," so a missed or confusing section can be watched again by those who signed up.

The About page adds that "Short, topic-related videos are available for quick reference," and that learners "may use these videos before, after or in lieu of the online training courses." The live classes run "in consistent weekly or bi-weekly sessions," and the homepage links a Monday LIVE events calendar.

The catalog

The homepage claims "over 100 one-hour classes in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and Windows." The full list of programs taught is wider:

• Microsoft: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, Teams, Visio, Windows and Word
• Adobe: Acrobat, Photoshop and Illustrator
• Google G-Suite: Docs, Sheets and Slides

Excel, Word and PowerPoint get the most attention in the menus, each with its own class section, followed by Access, Outlook and Windows. This is office productivity training. A learner looking for programming languages or software development will not find a coding curriculum here, although the site's menu does list programming and consulting as services.

Nirvana Challenges

Beside the classes sit Nirvana Challenges, a lighter format built around a daily habit. The site says "Most challenges are only 15 minutes a day for 10 days" and that they are designed to make the learner "Smarter than most," "More Confident" ("because you'll truly understand how to use the tools and commands efficiently") and "More Productive" ("because you won't be spending hours on projects that should only take a few minutes"). For someone who cannot block a full hour, this is the easier entry point.

Software help desks

The third product is a subscription help desk. "We offer software/topic-specific online Help Desk hours several times a month," and the sessions "are recorded and available to any active members of that Help Desk Subscription." The current subscriptions are:

• Excel: Basic, Advanced and Formulas
• Word: Basic, Advanced, Legal Docs, Long Docs, Graphics & Charts
• PowerPoint: Basic and Advanced
• Photoshop: Basic

A help desk suits someone who has finished a class and keeps running into new problems at work. The Word subscriptions for legal and long documents point at office staff who produce contracts, reports and manuals.

Why one-hour sessions

The About page explains the reasoning, citing Training and Development Magazine (T+D Magazine): "Developments in brain science and technology are dramatically changing how training is offered." It notes that memory experts put short-term memory at "about four items," which "can be expanded by 'chunking the information'." Chunking, the page says, "refers to short bursts of learning ranging from 60 seconds to 60 minutes," and delivering those bursts "in a timely and consistent manner" creates "a continuous learning environment."

From that, the company argues that its one-hour sessions "typically focus on one or two concepts allowing the participants to understand and retain the information presented." The practical benefits it lists are simpler: "there is no travel time, and the time away from the office is greatly reduced."

Companies and groups

Virtual Instructor also sells to organizations. The homepage asks "Want Custom Classes For Your Company, Association, or Corporation?" and links a page on how it customizes classes for clients. A "Group Rates" link sits in the menu, next to the class FAQs. For a team lead, that means a department can either book seats in the public schedule or ask for a private class built around its own files and tasks.

Prices and trial

No class, challenge or help desk prices appear on the homepage or About page. The top menu carries a "Call Now for Free Trial" link, so a first class can be tried before paying, and group rates are handled through the site rather than published. A buyer should expect to contact the company to see what a class or subscription costs.

Who it suits and who it does not

Virtual Instructor suits office workers who want to get better at Excel, Word or PowerPoint in short, practical steps, with a person they can ask. The 15-seat cap, the screen sharing and the recordings make it a good fit for someone who learns best by doing a task alongside a teacher. Small businesses, associations and corporate teams that want the same training for a group, or a custom class, are a natural fit too, as are legal and administrative staff who need the long-document and legal Word help desks.

It is less suited to anyone who wants a self-paced course they can finish on their own schedule, since the main product is a live session on a fixed calendar, though the quick-reference videos help. It is also not a place to learn to code or to earn a formal credential: the pages describe training guides, exercises and recordings, not certificates. And because prices are not published, comparison shoppers will need to make a call before they know the cost.