Training Stories

Even though 23 Things was a project that was intended as a self-paced learning experience, I have a few training stories to tell. Perhaps others do as well.

For the most part, the more technology-oriented folks seemed to take to 23 Things like ducks to water. Most of these people needed tweaking in the right direction when certain things just didn't work. An example of this is how the recorded message for Thing #1 included some forms that were not retrievable from outside the PLCMC's domain. Once issues like these were ironed out or explained, these users moved on quickly.

The more intermediate users seemed to need a "leg-up." With several of these people, I set aside some time to work with them on getting started with the stipulation that they needed to at least get through the first "Thing." Some of these users needed to understand precisely what they were responsible for doing. I explained how to find the "Discovery Exercises," how to report on them in their blogs, and how to record the activity in their 23 Things Tracking Form. Some of this group needed help understanding the concept of the "blog," so it helped that I was able to both explain and demonstrate. A few folks hadn't ever used a digital camera, nor had they ever used anything like Flickr, so I walked them through some of that as well. It seems that, once they got through #3, people seemed to take off on their own, though. What seemed to work really well for some was to then give them the time and space (training lab) where they could explore on their own without interruptions. Once people had gotten past #3, I got NO requests for lab instruction.

The remainder of my training took place in the form of 5- to 15-minute phone calls and emails. These came from users of all levels, and were generally the same minor issues. As these issues came to light, I posted them on the "Learning 2.0" page of our wiki, under "Hints and Tips." I'm not sure that other users really got to use this, especially before they got to the Wiki part of 23 Things, but it helped me to be able to point them to the page, or to copy and paste the instructions into an email.

Our time is winding down, so I expect to have some other training opportunities with my co-workers as they scramble to finish their remaining "Things." I'll add more to this post if anything new happens.

I'm interested in knowing if others had similar of different experiences with regards to training and the 23 Things.

A. Gaskins