Update May 8, 2020: Post has been updated to reflect live-streaming virtual trainings now through June.
To help minimize potential exposure to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), all Knopman Marks classes have moved from in-person to live-streaming virtual through the end of June. This means there will be almost no interruption in classes. All information about how to access remote classes (live-streamed training) will be emailed to students.
We at Knopman Marks are closely monitoring developments in the spread of the virus as our top priority is ensuring the health and safety of our students and faculty. In the event that training needs to be entirely virtual, we are well-positioned to do so successfully thanks to our robust virtual training platform. Most of our classes already have “remote training” as an option.
For our summer and general training programs, we have in place a number of contingency plans to deliver quality interactive training remotely. We’ve provided answers to questions students and training managers may have below. We will continue to provide updates on training as they arise.
FAQs for Our Students
1. What do I need to do if my training changes from in-person to live-streaming virtual?
Knopman Marks will notify you via email that your live-class training has been moved to live-streaming virtual only. You will receive a link to the GoToTraining live-streaming and information about what you need to do so that you are ready to access the live-stream training at the time of your scheduled class. You will be asked to print out class slides in advance so that you can follow along with your instructor.
2. Will I miss out on anything that’s offered in the live class?
The live-streaming option will allow you to still have the live-training experience from Knopman Marks faculty. You can ask questions and receive answers in real-time. You can also respond to questions that are posed to the class in real-time.
3. Will the recorded training still be available?
Yes, the training is also available to you in a recorded, on-demand format in your Knopman Marks Training Center, which you can access whenever you want.
4.Can I access the live-streaming class on my mobile device?
Yes, the platforms work well on a desktop, laptop, and even on a mobile device. We recommend that you log in prior to class time to ensure that your system is working.
5. What happens to live training scheduled after June?
We will continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and re-evaluate July, August, and future classes. Students will be notified via email and notices will be posted on our website.
FAQs for Our Clients Who Manage Students and Training Programs
1. In the event training were to be entirely virtual, is that possible?
Absolutely. We conduct virtual training programs every week, using both WebEx and GoToTraining tools. We can successfully deliver training programs in a virtual environment to hundreds of students. The content we will deliver is identical to the live training environment.
2. If the training were held virtually, are there any resources the candidates would lose access to?
No. All of our resources, including the textbooks and class slides, are available on the Knopman Marks Training Center. Candidates will have access to the practice exams, textbook, class slides, class summary, flashcards and online lectures. They will still be able to have the live-training experience with Knopman Marks faculty, including asking questions and receiving answers in real-time.
3. Is there any risk of your website going down in the event of a business disruption?
Our website and all training resources are hosted by Amazon Web Services. An AWS outage of such magnitude that candidates could not access resources at all to prepare would be unprecedented.
4. In the event that one, or multiple, of your faculty members are sick, will this impact the ability to deliver training?
While it is impossible to predict the impact of widespread illness, our faculty bench has grown significantly in recent years. When we’ve had faculty with illnesses, we have been able to adapt with no impact to training. During the coronavirus outbreak, we will have a back-up faculty member scheduled for each class. Furthermore, we have built into our training calendar scheduled “rest days” for faculty during the summer to ensure our team is well-rested.
5. Will your account services team be able to adequately serve the training programs in the event of a business disruption?
Yes, we are confident in our ability to work with our candidates in the event of an office closure or other disruption. We already have a number of employees who work full-time remotely and others who work-from-home one or two days per week. We have successfully run “fully remote” scenarios to further ensure we are well prepared and to continue to identify any gaps.
6. Can you fill orders and ship materials in the event of a business disruption?
All orders are filled and shipped via our third-party logistics company in Memphis, with redundant facilities in Newark, N.J.. Even in the event that physical training materials could not be shipped, candidate enrollments will be processed and training materials are available online.
7. Is there anything we can do now to minimize potential disruption to formal summer training programs?
For those of you who are not already doing so, we suggest you re-visit the possibility of taking the SIE during the academic year via our ACES program. Doing so will reduce the complexity of training logistics, remaining outstanding exams and necessary training time for candidates to ramp-up on the desk. Furthermore, to the extent technical training, skills training and soft-skills training are also delayed or impacted, having the SIE out of the way will provide some cushion to re-allocate training days. Our ACES At-A-Glance document is attached here for your review. To the extent you are considering a change, there is time to make this pivot until the end of June.
For any additional questions or concerns, please reach out to our customer support team who is here to help. They can be reached at [email protected] or 212-626-6899.
