The following articles were published in St. Louis Computing Newspaper. St. Louis Computing has since sold out to a national syndicate and no longer accepts articles from local authors. The content of these articles is therefore not up to date but the concepts remain valid.
Articles on
Training:
Elements of Effective Training I: "Start where your learners are."
Elements of Effective Training II: Pacing, Checking for Understanding, Building Self Respect
Articles on Automating Your Work with Macros
The Magic of Macros: Macro Power in Popular Programs
Charlie was a pleasant, smiling fellow who sat at the third computer in the back row of my Introduction to Microcomputers class. His attentiveness and his always-happy expression helped create a positive class atmosphere, and he was a joy to have as a student. As I explained a slightly complex point, he continued to smile and remain attentive. I was tempted to move on to the next point to complete the lesson on time. But I knew Charlie didn't get it. I tried another approach, and this time, Charlie's expression showed that he understood.
How could I tell Charlie didn't get it? His expression didn't change. Over thirty years as a classroom teacher have taught me that a student's expression usually changes when he or she grasps a point--usually a nod or that "aha!" look that a teacher learns to recognize. A rapt, intense look usually means the student is processing the information; the teacher needs to slow down, repeat key points, give examples. A vacant look implies boredom or "tuning out"; the teacher needs to ask the student a question, move closer, and make eye contact.
Effective training involves much more than an understanding of computers and software. The computer "whiz" who knows exactly how many transistors a Pentium processor has and can program in several languages may not be the best trainer. In fact, extensive knowledge can sometimes become a barrier. Any person in any field who uses advanced terminology day in and day out can easily forget which terms are generally known and lapse into "jargon" without realizing it. Good trainers must be people specialists first and computer specialists second.
A good trainer begins by establishing the current knowledge level of his or her students. "Start where your students are" was constantly emphasized in education courses--but a point that can be easily forgotten, even by experienced teachers. Recently, in a one-on-one training session on Lotus 1-2-3, a program I have worked with for years, I plunged in, eager to show my knowledge. "Hey, not so fast!" my trainee exclaimed. I came back to earth and slowed down, realizing that I had fallen into the very trap that I have so often warned against.
Establishing the knowledge level and pacing the lessons is harder with group training, and here, the teaching experience of the instructor becomes crucial. Good training materials are also important. I follow several rules in training materials that I create: Clear, simple, step-by-step instructions. Individualized exercises with clear stopping points so the faster students don't get too far ahead. "Additional Practice" exercises so that those who reach those stopping points ahead of the others do not have to waste time waiting for the rest of the class.
As the students progress in their understanding, the instructor can begin to use more technical terms. Let's get back to Charlie again. Early in the course, Charlie asked, "why do computer people use all that jargon? Why not just use plain English?" On the last day of the course, Charlie announced that he had just bought a computer. "What did you get?" I asked. "A Pentium with a two gig hard drive and 16 megabytes of RAM," he replied. "Hey, Charlie," I jibed, "why are you using all that jargon?" Well, now I understand what it means," he responded, "it's not jargon any more!"
And that's the goal of a good trainer--to move the students by gradual but steady steps into the world of computers, so that they understand the technical terms and no longer feel intimidated.
In the next article in this series, I will deal with the importance of pacing of the lessons, checking for understanding, and maintaining student self-respect, and offer suggestions as to how you can find trainers who have these qualities. See you next month!
-Elements of Effective Training
Pacing, Checking for Understanding,
Maintaining
Self Respect
Part 2 of a two-part series
by Roy Johnson
"And that's how it works---okay?" The young student teacher that I was observing asked this question for the umpteenth time and looked around the class expectantly. She had been taught to "check for understanding" frequently to see if her students understood her points. From where I sat, it appeared it was not "okay" with several of the students, but they were reluctant to show that they did not understand. This was a point I would take up in my critique after the class.
Checking for understanding is just one of the many elements of training that requires an experienced trainer. "Okay?" is not good enough. A better way is to have students perform a task requiring understanding of the concept. If this is not possible, then questions must be posed so as to elicit information from the students. I sometimes say something like "Now, let's pretend we are in grade school. Here are three choices relating to what we just covered. Hold up one finger if the answer is A, two for B, and three for C." Students will usually chuckle and comply. This forces all students to think about the concept and choose an answer and allows me to re-explain if several have not grasped the idea.
Student self-respect is also important. A good trainer must develop the feeling that it's okay to be wrong and that being wrong does not imply that a student is ignorant. I sometimes ask a student to explain how he arrived at an answer before I reveal whether it is correct or not. If it is wrong, I may say something like "I can see how you arrived at that conclusion" before I explain. The student understands the error but feels good about him/herself as a logical thinker who made an intelligent (but incorrect) choice.
If you are considering training for yourself or your employees, it is important to go beyond computer expertise and look for a trainer who understands the principles outlined in this and last month's articles. It is not necessarily important for the person to be trained as a teacher--I have seen many excellent trainers who never took an "education" course, but who simply had a knack for communicating what they know. Experience, however, is another matter. If a trainer has taught computer courses regularly at a local college or training institution, this is a good indication of teaching ability. References from satisfied trainees or companies are also important. Training for yourself or your staff is one of the best investments you can make, but like any other investment, it should be made carefully. Check the trainer's background!
Individual tutoring or custom training for your staff can be tailored to your specific needs and can thus be more efficient than a general course, but it can also be more expensive. If you feel a general course is best for you, you need to check out what the colleges and training institutions offer, to find what best fits your requirement. Teaching at several local schools in different kinds of courses had made me keenly aware that each one is unique. If this is your choice, as with individual trainers, you need to find the school or course that best fits your needs. But that's another article!
Training is important in improving efficiency and is one of the best
investments you can make. Check out the trainers and training institutions
to see what best fits you or your employees--and get started! You'll be
glad you did!
-Effective
Training: Types of Computer Courses
Part 1 of a 2-part
series
by Roy Johnson
It was the mid 1980s, near the dawning of the age of microcomputers in the classroom, and I was a novice computer teacher. I had taught computer courses on the Apple IIe in my high school and on IBM computers in evening courses. Now, I was facing my first Saturday class at one of the community colleges--twenty-five students, the largest class I had taught, and my first experience at having a class download programs from a file server. I arrived early and had the instructions for downloading written on the blackboard. My class arrived, I called attention to the instructions, twenty-five students tried to download, and--whoosh! The system locked. It was over an hour before the problem was solved and the class began.
In the years since that experience, I have encountered many similar surprises as I taught courses in various local schools and training institutions. I have never ceased to be amazed at the wide variety of situations, both in the physical setup and the training style and philosophy. My classes have varied in size from five to twenty-five, and the length of the courses from one day to a full semester. Teaching styles and philosophies also vary. Some types of training are useful for certain types of learners or in certain situations, but not in others. To effectively choose which type of class is best for you, you need to know what a particular institution offers. The purpose of this two-part series is to summarize the types of training that I have encountered and to try to give some guidance as to the strengths and shortcomings of each type.
Classroom computer training can be divided into two broad categories: credit courses, either a quarter or a semester long, offered at local colleges or universities as part of the regular curriculum, and shorter workshop-type courses offered by private training institutions or as "continuing education" by the colleges and universities. The second type of course generally offers a certificate of completion but not credit or a grade. Within each type, there is a considerable amount of variety also. In this article, I will discuss the credit courses. The next article will cover the non-credit workshop-type training.
Most local colleges and universities offer some type of credit computer courses as part of their curriculum. These can vary from general introductory courses covering computer basics and the essentials of several different software packages, to introductory courses in a specific software package such as Lotus 1-2-3 or dBase, to advanced courses in programming, networking, and computer theory. The style of teaching varies but usually involves teacher lectures on concepts with hands-on exercises and projects. Since grades are given, there may be multiple choice or computer-based tests, projects, or even essays or research papers on topics like computer viruses or interactive learning, depending on the course.
These courses offer a number of advantages. There is more time for in-depth treatment of topics, and in teaching both types of courses, I can see that students acquire a much deeper level of understanding of their computers and the specific software. Also, the credits earned can be applied toward a graduate or undergraduate degree. Students already in business can arrange evening courses to fit into their schedules. To get information on the course offerings, simply call the registrar's office of any area colleges or universities. Specify that you interested in computer courses.
But for busy business people, this type of course has some disadvantages. Homework and tests as well as the length of time required for the course can be hard on a busy schedule, and if your job involves travel, this can take you away from the class. If you can't fit a quarter or semester course into your schedule, but you could spare one or two days or evenings, the shorter workshop courses may be for you. This is especially true if you need only to start learning or improve your skills in one specific program.
The next article will deal with these shorter courses and how you can find the ones that meet your specific needs. Don't worry--the file server problem that I encountered in my first attempt at teaching this type of course has for the most part been solved.
See you next month--same time, same space!
-The
Magic of Macros:
Macro Power in Popular
Programs
by Roy W. Johnson
"Just flounder around until you find a niche."
This was the advice I received from a computer consultant frend several years ago when I was thinking of "retiring" from my job as a high school history teacher to become a computer trainer and consultant.
Recently, I have found a new "niche": macro programming in popular software such as Excel, Word, WordPerfect, and Lotus. My clients tell me professional programmers can be found for major computer languages but not for the macro languages of these programs.
This new "niche" has resulted in some nice commissions. It also leads me to believe that the power macros in these programs is not understood by most users. To demonstrate the possibilities, let me give an example.
My most recent project came from a client who was using Excel to list nearly 300 different sub-assemblies. Ten to fifteen sub-assemblies would be combined and sold to a customer as a single installation. An operator would type in the quantity next to each part number, and Excel would compute the total.
Then, the operator would switch to Word, open a form letter, enter the customer's name and other details, then use the Word Autotext feature to enter a description of each part. (With Autotext, the user fills in a key word and the program replaces it with a longer entry.)
My job was to automate the process in both Word and Excel.
First, I programmed a macro in Excel to extract only those parts with a quantity typed next to them and copy the quantity and the part number to a temporary spreadsheet. This is more complex than it might seem. The macro starts the cursor in the topmost cell of the quantity column and moves it down that column checking each cell to see if it containsed an entry. If so, it checks to see if the entry is a heading, a quantity, or the end of the spreadsheet. If it is a quantity, the macro copies that cell and the cell with the part number to a temporary spreadsheet. When all indicated parts are copied, the macro saves the temporary spreadsheet then closes the file.
Then the operator opens a template in Word and runs another macro. That macro imports the spreadsheet as a table then changes the table to text. That results in two tabulated columns with the quantity in the first column and the part number in the second.
Then the macro finds each part number, using a unique character that I added in Excel. (I used ##. ) Next, the macro opens the Autotext dialog box and replaces the part number with the part description, then repeats the "find" until all descriptions have been filled in.
This reduced the entire process to a few steps: Open the Excel spreadsheet, enter the quantities, run the Excel macro. Open the Word template, enter the customer information, run the Word macro. Presto! The Word document now contains the quantity and full paragraph description of each part in the assembly, ready to print and mail to the customer.
This example is just to give you an idea of what macros can do. Macro programming languages are as powerful as generic programming languages. Macro programming that is this detailed probably requires the services of a professional, but the time saved could quickly pay the commission.
I will repeat what I have said in earlier columns: Nearly any repititive task in any program can be automated using macros, and., as you can see, macros can even combine programs such as spreadsheets and word processing documents.
Of course, all macro programming need not be done by professionals. For many of your everyday tasks, you can learn to set up macros for yourself that will make your life much easier.
But that's another column!