Fountain Valley, Calif., June 16, 2000 - Staying abreast of new techniques and building skill sets for employees and individuals without days of lost productivity is now possible with Personable.com’s Continuing Education program. As the first application service provider (ASP) offering a full spectrum of “shrink-wrapped” software products online for rent to corporate and individual customers, Personable.com jumps into the online instructional or “e-learning market,” estimated by Merrill-Lynch to be a two billion dollar market by 2003. This newest offering enables small businesses to offer significant training packages to employees without heavy administrative or financial burdens.

“Offered in partnership with Education To Go Inc., a publisher and distributor setting the standard for online instructional programs, Personable.com Continuing Education enables individuals as well as small businesses to completely avoid costly course development, tap into a wealth of expertise and maximize learning and enrichment,” said Benjamin Chou, President of Personable.com. “Personable.com Continuing Education brings flexibility, scalability and predictability to personal and professional training through the power of our virtual private desktop.”

Personable.com subscribers enroll in a course through the "Account Manager" or "Corporate Account Manager" on their Personable.com virtual desktop. Once the course selection is made, a course icon will be placed on your virtual desktop. Using this course icon, you will be able to access the online classroom.

From the Account Manager, subscribers receive the class syllabus and meet their instructor as well as a thorough introduction to the online learning process, including instructions on completing lessons, taking quizzes, and using interactive discussion area. Subscriber/students are able to access the online classroom and obtain lessons, tutorials, demonstrations, reference materials, quizzes, and assignments using the course icon located on the Personable.com virtual desktop. All Personable.com Continuing Education courses are instructor-facilitated and generally require 24 hours of subscriber/student time – or approximately six weeks to complete.

The Personable.com Continuing Education program is equipped with interactive discussion areas designed to facilitate student to student and student to instructor communication and collaboration. Discussion Areas are segregated by lesson and subdivided by topic, which makes it easy for Personable.com subscriber/students to find the answers they need. The instructors and teaching assistants monitor the discussion areas daily, and most students receive a same day response to their queries.

Online titles for learning software include PhotoShop Basics, Learning Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, WordPerfect and Programming Languages – among many others. There are also courses available for improving work-related skills, such as Communication, Conflict Resolution, Interpersonal Skills, and Motivation, in addition to Internet and legal courses. Future educational titles to be added include Speed Reading, Quickbooks Payroll, Medical Billing, Fiction Writing, An Introduction to Genealogy, and C++ Programming.

Subscriber/students can take as many classes as they want, and access courses from home, at work, or on the road using the Personable.com virtual desktop.

Administration of the Personable.com Continuing Education program is simple with Personable.com’s Account Manager. Corporate managers and training administrators can monitor employees’ training and progress noting log in and log out times for each course and course selection reports detailing employee course attendance and successful completion.

“Personable.com Continuing Education is an efficient and effective solution for small and medium-sized businesses,” said Chou. “Employees can now sign up to take a class online, so there is no lost time or productivity. Most importantly, employees can put their new skills to work immediately – and that’s better business.”

About Personable.com

Personable.com is the first true consumer ASP providing maintenance, accessibility and ease of use to a full spectrum of shrink-wrapped applications online for individuals and small-to-mid-sized enterprises on a subscription basis. Personable.com’s mission is to offer virtually limitless application computing power anytime, anywhere. Visit www.personable.com for additional information.

Editor’s Note: Additional program information, course listings and descriptions are available at www.personable.com

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