Online Training
We’re all busy. Training, by a real trainer is a good way to compress 6 months of doing tutorials and reading books into a few days. But who can even spare a few days? If you have to travel for training, you’re not only giving up your day time, but also your nights. And then the expense of travel, hotels, and meals. There are benefits of good old-fashioned face-to-face training that you can’t duplicate digitally. I’ve done enough training to recognize the benefits. But sometimes, you just don’t have time for anything else.
I mentioned earlier I’m going to finally get formal training on Solid Edge. I’m going to get it from a live class, but done through Go To Meeting. There are other virtual and face-to-face students as well. I’m excited for a couple of reasons. First, learning the details of the software that I haven’t learned other ways is important. Second, the whole virtual class will be a new thing to me. I’ve spent countless hours on Go To Meeting, but never in this kind of setting.
For those of you who have taken Solid Edge training, what was the format? Ever do it online? Ever do other training (multi-day, 7 hour day sessions) this way? What are your impressions? Strengths? Weaknesses? Things to watch out for? Also, if you just want to give me some advice on the training, that would be welcome too.
Live events can be great because you get to participate in real time and it feels a bit more formal – like you are in a real class – did you feel like that?
If they are done well, you can get a result that is just as good with an established online course, with pre-recorded content etc. The benefits of being able to progress at your own pace and skip through content that you have already conquered are pretty attractive for time poor people and if the presenter is pro-active, you can usually get replies to your questions pretty quickly too. I guess it comes down to personal preference and what is available.
Matt –
How was the online class experience? Good/Bad?
Joy
Joy,
Online training wasn’t bad. It was definitely convenient, I only abused that convenience a little (show up late). Aside from people leaving their mics on while the instructor was talking, you have the same sort of problems that you have in face-to-face training, such as students who don’t know which side of the keyboard to sit on, and students who hog class time with their cluelessness. I signed up for a basic class because I felt that’s what I needed, and you get that kind of nonsense in basic classes more often, I think. Overall, I’d definitely do it again.
Hi Matt –
Thanks for the follow-up. Any sense how it was priced relative to fac-to-face training?
Joy
I think the cost was the same. An all-you-can-meet GoToMeeting pass probably offsets keeping up a couple of machines. We had minimal bandwidth problems. The service crapped out a couple of times. There was only one face-to-face student, and 4-5 virtual students. So it was clearly a choice that people seemed to like.