Insurance Learning: Anytime, Anywhere

The American Institute for CPCU’s Peter Miller and Elizabeth Sprinkel discuss how their new COMET Online Learning system moves training into cyberspace.

Best’s Review: Can you give a quick overview of what the organization is and the designations you’re involved in?

MILLER: The American Institute for CPCU has been in existence for about a little over 60 years. We’re a not-for-profit organization whose primary goal is to support the industry through delivery of knowledge in various formats. We have about 19 different programs that cover the depth and breadth of property/casualty insurance. Because we are tied to the industry we’ve had a long association with and knowledge of the things that property/casualty insurance organizations require, we’ve designed our programs around those. Our goal is to support the industry through the acquisition of knowledge by industry participants.

BR: What’s new about the COMET Online system?

SPRINKEL: The COMET Online Learning system takes the Institute’s trusted content on a variety of different subjects and breaks it into smaller pieces. The idea is to meet the student’s current need. So if you need to know something on the risk management process right now, you’re able to get that information. Longer term, you can apply this learning to one of the Institute’s designations.

BR: At this point can you earn any certifications or designations through the COMET system?

SPRINKEL: We started with talking with our customers. What we learned from them was that they wanted content at the fundamentals level. So we started with a series of 10 courses on a variety of insurance fundamentals topics. It’s drawn from the content throughout our textbooks. It’s the same material that you would see. We don’t have enough of it online yet for a designations program. What we have is a certificate of completion for eight of the 10 courses, the basic eight topics that we have in our fundamentals suite. Over time, we plan to accumulate enough of our online modules that you will be able to study online and then proceed to take one of our designation-quality exams.

BR: And when you’re finished with the build-out will it be possible to get a full CPCU or the other certifications you offer?

MILLER: Our plan over time will be to put all of our materials online, recognizing that different students learn in different ways. We want to be able to provide an equivalent experience whether somebody wanted to take the material in a print fashion or an online fashion so that they could get all the material required to be prepared for a CPCU examination or for any of our other designations.

BR: Do you expect to get into other forms of media and interactivity?

SPRINKEL: Yes, we do. We want to be able to use all that the computer can offer so that we have an opportunity to provide students with the type of education that they need that’s going to meet their needs. So if you’re a visual learner, an auditory learner, we’ll have abilities through the computer to deliver learning in the type of format that’s best suited for you.