Both to show my critical side and to prove that I'm not on the take, I'll also let you know a couple of this course's weaknesses that I've found. But that's going to be buried down a few paragraphs from here -- so you'll have to read some of the positive comments first.

No scrubs, just good schooling
The product I am reviewing is the R5 Application Development Update course from The Learning Continuum Company, or TLCC (at http://www.tlcc.com). Please don't get the company TLCC confused with band TLC (No, I don't want any scrubs either).

TLCC specializes in distance learning courses for Lotus Notes and Domino. Think of their offerings as modern-day correspondence courses that use the power of Lotus Notes and Domino and LearningSpace to create a valuable educational experience.

Here are some key elements of the learning experience:

• All of your learning is done in the R5 Client and Designer;

• There is a discussion database for students that you can use to discuss topics with your instructors or your fellow classmates;

• There is a profiles database that lists contact information about the instructors and the students in the class (I counted 45 fellow students as of 6/8/99).

• The TLCC course includes nine databases that include many activities, as shown in Figure A;

FIGURE A

The TLCC R5 Application Development Update course includes nine databases. Click picture for a larger image.

Baby steps
The step-by-step instructions in this course are really one of the hallmarks of its value. For instance, when you first start the course, you are given extensive and well-written instructions as to how to set up the databases and how to set up a connection with the TLCC server so you can replicate the classroom discussion database. I found that by doing this I now have a lot of confidence in setting up connections with other servers via R5. And, if I have any trouble, I'll use the classroom database lesson on replication as a reference.