On Jan. 21, the GIA announced the launch of a new eLearning course on pearls. The eight-assignment course gives industry professionals the opportunity to
broaden their careers by developing their pearl knowledge and skills, and
incorporates the research, market trends, and grading processes on cultured and
natural pearls. It also enables those just entering the industry to get a
jump-start on building their pearl expertise.

GIA’s eLearning program is an online multimedia platform for distance
education in gemology and jewelry sales. The new pearls course makes use of a
wide range of visual tools to instruct students on how to distinguish various
types of pearls, recognize treatments and imitations, and understand the
factors that impact the value of these organic gemstones.

Enrollment for the course is now open. For more information, e-mail admissions@gia.edu.

JCK