Originally a publishing company, the Education Institute has been in business for 47 years providing training to the restaurant, hotel, cruise, and time-share industry. Projects range from training of line positions to general manger. This includes certification for college hospitality majors and working professionals. They offer individual catalog products on CD-ROM, video, printed material and customized continuing education, including self-study programs and on-line courses. Review classes are offered in conjunction with trade-shows and they are able to conduct entire seminars. OperyLand Florida, Disney and Meristar Hotel Management are a few of their customers. Meristar relies on courses via the Internet, which are contracted through a monthly subscription. Disney Resort has contracted program development for custodial, entertainment and cast training. E.I. provides customers with outlines, research, end products and cost versus payback analysis. Typically a client commits to a total number of products and receives a cost per customer of the training value.

The instructional design department is composed of Monique Donahue, Bill Richards, and Denell Broach. Additionally, they employ 2 graphic artists, 1 video editor and 1 scriptwriter. Developing exam reviews, study guides and analyzing past competencies constitutes the majority of their work. Using industry experts during development this group provides training curriculum which meets Certified Hospitality Trainer requirements. One current project used by Days Inn and Ramada Inn is the Supervisory Skill Builder. It benefits from on-line delivery not being Mac or PC dependent. This department uses the ADDIE model but admits stages are interactive and occasionally do not follow in model order. Flexibility in allowing the customer's needs to direct the project is supported by the Activity Theory. Different actions may be undertaken to meet the same goal. Finally, most customers conduct analysis and evaluation without the help of E.I. Occasionally E.I. members are allowed to observe analysis testing. Specialized services keep them growing in a competitive market. The Lancing office even supplies textbooks in other languages.

Dave Hopper oversees on-line projects and Janice Berkebile operates the international support center in the instructional technology department. The unique focal point of the help desk area features several clocks each representing different time zones. This allows service calls to be returned during international business hours. The department employs 7 web developers who generate Courseline, Courseline Plus and Cyber Cinema.
http://www.ei-ahla.org/ei1/aboutei_hospitalitylinks_schools.htm
This E-Training is available 24 hours a day, with chat rooms, exams, course content, quizzes, discussions, case studies and feedback forums. Universities pay per student usage while large companies pay a monthly subscription fee. E.I. supports management/hospitality programs at universities such as Michigan State and Purdue.

Convenience, interactivity, and low cost are the benefits of E-Training while still offering high quality educational materials. Courseline also caters to professionals looking to advance their careers. One current project is based on the book "Front Office Procedures". It teaches management to respond to fluctuating occupancy. Using a drag and drop method of answering questions, its ease and interactivity keep the student's attention and retention to a maximum. Students can change answers throughout the test process with the capability to review final questions and answers afterward. Courseline Plus is on-line training, teaching Microsoft Word, web development and basic computer skills. Cyber Cinema offers over 100 streaming full-length videos in 9 hospitality topic areas and 10 different languages. They include the popular World Trainer, language-free video series overcoming international language barriers. These programs feature line level training such as floor cleaning and house keeping. Developers use a free Microsoft encoder and player for video processing with their local server hosting the player. Freeware for both the encoder and player is available at www.windowsmedia.com