OK ... so this time I have decided to write a review on World Wide Web Institute (3WI). Since I have written my past few reviews mostly on the Internet section , I thought that this time I should venture outside of that. But before I advance, let me tell you that I have myself been a student of the institute , so at certain places you may say I am biased. But I feel that only people who have first hand experience should write a review on something , and not a bystander.
What does one expect from a Computer Training Institue ? In my case , when I went to 3WI for the first time , I was not really a newbie in this line so I had certain needs to be fullfilled and expectations to be met.But that may not be true to for everyone reading this review. So back to generic.
Firstly , what one should look for is a able and good faculty team to whom you can look upto. Secondly , the institutte should also have a good infrastructure (read facilities and equipment) . Thirdly, the reading materials they provide i.e the course materials and additional reference (if any ) should make you happy and feel your money’s worth. These are the most basic things that are a must. Moreover, although not as much important ... it should also be taken into consideration that how much is the total cost of the training course and what would be the duration. And along with the duration of the course, one must take note how are the time slots provided to each student or batch of students. Wether they are allowed to take extra shifts on other batches if they miss out any class and wether you are allowed to take temporary break from your batch and re-join after x no. of days if you have to stop for reasons like Board Examinations or Travel etc. And before I forget another equally important point : how much of Lab Hours(Practise Hours) you are provided and hopefully you are not asked to share your computer with your partner ;)
How many of the above mentioned points 3WI complied to ? Firstly, good faculty is something one should realy pray for. It is not possible that every teacher in a Institute be as good , but thankfully the one’s we had were quite efficient and able with good qualifications. What is more, we were lucky that the 3WI centre I was in was controlled by a company who were also into professional Web Development, and hence quite a few of the faculty were also employees of the Development centre and had not just theoretical expereince , but regular practical expertise as well.
Infastructure- the first time I visited 3WI , which was almost 7 months before I actually joined, I was quite at awe at the setup .They had some 6 -8 rooms with 2 theory and 2 Labs , one conference room , office , reception , server room and with nearly 40 machines . Projectors were used in theory classes, in Lab every student had his own regular computer with round the clock Internet connectivity. Since I was in a Web Commerce Masters course , this seemed quite a good practise , although there was much time when we misused it to play Online Games watch cricket scores etc.
The course materials were undoubtedly one of the finest things that we received , being a student at 3WI. We had 4 modules and for each modules we recieved more than sufficent course material in elegantly bounded and in 3WI branded folders. Seperate Lab booklets and specially made 3WI branded rough work notepads were also provided , not to mention pens, caps and t-shirt etc. which were put to good use. Additional reference books were available , but they were not that much in high numbers , so you had to book the book you want pretty early or else wait for 7-10 days minimum as there were not moe than one set.
The course I was in cost me Rs.40, 000 approx for a 9 months duration . I have frankly no problem with the cost , as I certainly feel I received more than Rs.40, 000 worth. However, the duration extended to more than 9 months to nearly 13 months to complete our course. This was due to several reasosn , not all at the Institute’s fault , but some of the students as well.
What I was really glad to see that things like Lab timings , extra shifts and discontinue and return after some time cozed absolute no problem with 3WI . There were quite a few batches going on at the same time , so if we mised out any class we could always take it in another time , or join another batch.
And now there were also some more events that I really cherish :
We had various extra curricular activities, Game Days where we could play Online Games like Quake using the Intranet , Internet , take part in Quizes , Antakshari , Debates ( I won a prize :) ) .
Apart from this , we realy had a great group of faculty ... with whom we could easily mingle with and enjoy extensive after class chat sessions , additional study sessions as well - few of us students teamed with faculties to take some professional freelance projects at that time . That good was our relation.
And if all this was not enough , the Certificate one would get , was provided by the 3WI institute of Geneva and it has quite a bit of value . But frankly ... personally I feel , that I am what I am today not because of their certificate but the knowledge I gained from being there.