Launching Software Training On-Demand

Cover image for OTEC Microsoft Office Feature of the Week podcastWhen I organize software training workshops for Univeristy of Wisconsin-Whitewater faculty and staff, people who attend them are usually excited about discovering new ways to streamline their work using software available on campus. One recurring theme, however, that invariably comes up in many informal conversations is the lack of time,  and the difficulty in scheduling the time to atttend these workshops.

Yes, many people say, “I’d love to sign up for another workshop, or two, or three, but I just can’t find 1-2 hours to fit in my busy schedule next Wednesday at 3:00 PM.” Sometimes people call me and apologize for cancelling at the last minute - “I just have this project that has to be finished today…” I understand - I have those projects too!

Alas, when they do have the time, there may not be a workshop of interest scheduled. It seems to be a problem without solution… Or is it?

Well, I thought another approach was worth trying. After all, a relatively recent study (see particularly table 3) by Educause tells us that among faculty (I assume the same would apply to University staff), face-to-face, traditional workshops are the least popular form of learning about new technology. And although one-on-one training sessions are the most popular (but also the most expensive, and least time-efficient), video trainig on-demand holds its own, with a respectably high score. So why not try it?

Adobe Acrobat 9 Workshop cover imageThat’s why this, and next week, we are rolling out new Software Training ON-DEMAND workshops and podcasts. They are not going to replace our traditional face-to-face workshops, or our focused, custom-designed training for departments and work-groups - they are, however, going to offer those who may be interested, but perhaps too busy to attend a 1 or 2-hour workshop, a new, additional, and hopefully attractive option.

And so this week, we are launching the new Microsoft Office Feature of the Week podcast on iTunesU; Part one of our popular Adobe Acrobat 9 workshop will go live next week on Tuesday (Feb. 17th, ‘09). Some titles (for example, the Acrobat 9 Workshop) will be published along with exercise files, so that viewers will be able to follow along with the isntructor, and get the same results as the ones they see on their screen.

We are starting modestly, but more Acrobat 9 Workshop episodes will follow shortly, and additional software titles will keep being added over the next few weeks and months. Hopefully, pretty soon we will have a reasonably good library of videos that will cover the most frequently used technology on campus!