SIIA in Paris I
Early this summer I was invited to speak at GFII’s “Summer School “ program in Paris. The GFII is sort of the French equivalent of the SIIA. I was told I’d be the only English speaker so I thought it made sense to try out Rosetta Stone to pick up some language skills. I was impressed first by their pricing model as it had a perfect option for me – a three month software as a service model. For my $150 I could use all three levels of the product. This was a much better deal than buying the $495 version of CD-ROMS.

Although I did not make it as far as I would have liked in the program, it was impressive software that tracked my progress and presented the material in a pretty intuitive interface. But there were a few drawbacks and limitations that could have increased the utility of the product:

• Profiling & Market Segmentation – Although I signed up as an individual, I think they should have asked if if my use was going to be primarily business or leisure. This approach could have them tweak the coursework based on my needs.

• Scoring -- The product would have been enhanced if I could see how I'm doing compared to others that purchased the product when I did.

• Social Networking -- Why not allow students to converse and discuss the product or have a way for students to get help from others?

All in all, a good product that could use a few tweaks.