Mastery Advantage™ courses differ from Partner™ courses in two key areas:
- Instructional Design
- Video Performance
Instructional Design
Advantage courses offer standardized instructional design features that implement effective, individualized instructional strategies like:
- Learner-controlled pace and direction
- Integrated objective-referenced learning assessments
- Specific and immediate remedial instruction
- Time delayed reinforcement of newly acquired knowledge.
Video Performance
Video-based instruction is commonly delivered using a technology called file streaming. File streaming can result in an acceptable learning experience only when the video files are properly prepared and when the user can rely on their internet connection to provide sufficient bandwidth more-or-less continuously during the entire training session. However this needed bandwidth is not always available.
Advantage courses feature Mastery's exclusive lesson caching technology. Lesson caching is a much more forgiving technology because it overcomes the common problems associated with playing interactive video over crowded and otherwise poor internet connections. With lesson caching, all the files needed to present entire lessons are automatically downloaded to the learner's computer ("cached") in the background as the learner moves seamlessly without distraction through the course. Lesson caching delivers a reliable and highly interactive learning experience; even when the user is sharing a busy internet connection with coworkers, or suffering from common internet connection problems that would normally disrupt streamed video.