For Immediate Release
November 15, 2007
Media Contact
George Proudfoot
Vice President, Marketing and Communication
American Research Institute, Inc.
919-459-2465
gproudfoot@americanri.com
ARI and eBay unveil the secrets of their global education program at DevLearn 2007
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina –
American Research Institute, Inc. (ARI) and eBay recently presented the case study Creation of the eBay Education Specialist Program, at the annual eLearning Guild Conference. This year’s conference, titled DevLearn 2007, was held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California, from November 4-8, 2007.
Sharon Guldner, Senior Marketing Manager for eBay joined Rhonda Harmon, Chief Learning Officer of ARI, and Patricia West, Vice President of Program Management at ARI to share this success story with conference attendees.
Ms. Guldner began the presentation with an overview of the initial business problem faced by eBay and quickly moved into a description of the desired solution. eBay made the decision to create the Education Specialist Program to provide official eBay materials and to train and support those people who successfully complete the Education Specialist program to teach others to sell items on eBay. She explained why eBay turned to ARI for help in developing, delivering, and managing the program.
Ms. Harmon detailed the design considerations and criteria along with the development approach used by ARI in building the framework for the eBay program. Ms. West shared examples of the finished product along with tools, common support questions, and international deployment tasks. The presentation ended with Guldner touting the success of the program and the business results accomplished through this effort.
“Our presentation at DevLearn certainly seemed to strike a chord with participants,” said Harmon. “We were especially pleased with the level of interest and the depth of questions posed to our panel.”
DevLearn 2007 was a huge success, attended by over 1,100 industry professionals from around the world. ARI is a proud member of the eLearning Guild and a frequent presenter at Guild events.
About ARI
American Research Institute, Inc. (“ARI”) is a leading provider of customized education, training support services, consultative services, and event management. ARI specializes in assisting government agencies and commercial clients in designing creative and highly effective training solutions. ARI uses the latest instructional design technologies, proven methods which engage and maintain the interest of the adult learner, and strong experience in the overall business of training. ARI clients directly benefit from this rich experience and are able to achieve maximum results from the training investment. To learn more about ARI, visit the website at: www.americanri.com.
About the eBay Education Specialist Program 
The eBay Education Specialist Program, hosted by ARI, provides online and classroom course materials, and an online portal for instructor support and available resources. The program also provides product fulfillment, customer support, tracking of student registration, international deployment, e-commerce transaction support, and certificates of completion. For more information or to sign up for the program, visit the site at: http://pages.ebay.com/ESP/.
About the eLearning Guild 
The eLearning Guild is a member-driven online information center and Community of Practice. Members are involved in the design, development, and management of web-based educational or instructional content (eLearning). The eLearning Guild provides a forum where members can identify and access resources needed to ensure that their organizations' projects are successful, engage in a professional peer network, and focus on expanding their own professional skills, knowledge, and expertise. To learn more about the eLearning Guild, please visit the website at: www.elearningguild.com.