The Art of Teaching

Our company, High Concept Design & Media Services is the only Corel Training Partner in western Canada and a continuing education provider for the Architectural Institute of British Columbia.

What does that mean?

It means we position ourselves to provide technology training to our clients on the products that we specialize in using every day. It also means that we spend even more time taking training and applying that knowledge in on a daily basis.

Teaching can be difficult, no question, but it can be just as tough to be a student in a challenging classroom environment.

Everyone has their own favourite approach. I believe in a simple formula for assessing the value of training: a 20/30/50 ratio. At the end of the course, I would like to see the total time allocated as follows:

20% Telling
30% Showing
50% Doing

The instructor definitely has experience and information to impart to the students, but in my opinion nobody can learn a lot by being talked at. Knowledge is generally imparted by modeling/emulating; hence the need to show, but the real knowledge is learned by doing in an environment where it is safe, where there is someone to bail you out.

We learn from classes, online and DVD training, experimentation and even from our clients. The thing to remember when it comes to learning software, especially when you have used previous versions is that likely it still works the way you have done it before, but that does not necessarily mean it is the best practice.

Software companies invest millions of dollars on Research and Development – polling existing clients for most requested features, increasing efficiency and adding to ease of use. I often am left shaking my head when someone uses the new version of software and remarks that it is the same as when they last used it – because they can’t be bothered to investigate the power of the new tools and start applying them to their workflow.

No matter how you learn, investigate user groups, tutorials, online training or sign up for a course. You will likely realize there are powerful capabilities in the software you currently use and tasks you do every day that could unnecessarily be costing you hours.

A couple of online resources I recommend are www.lynda.com and VTC Online. They are both inexpensive and support a huge library of courses. Check out the free chapters they offer on all their courses – you could be smarter than you think you are.

Grokking Scientology

So, I'm jumping on the bandwagon of spreading this insanity around. Maybe you saw or heard about these videos, maybe you haven't. Regardless, watch them now.

The first is the real Tom Cruise viral ad for Scientology. The second is Jerry O'Connell beautifully mocking it. Please keep in mind that if the first video doesn't work, Scientologists took it down. They have been prowling the internet removing everything. Just Google it if the video stops working.

I'll start off by saying I was never a Tom Cruise fan. I think he can only play a very specific type of character...himself. But ignoring his acting completely, this blog is about Scientology. Now, I'm not trying to push my religion on anyone nor am I trying to cure Scientologists of their delusions. What I want us all to focus on his during the entire video is that all Tom Cruise discusses is the 'state of mind' of a Scientologist. I would think any organization would be a bit more thorough before allowing their "poster boy" to openly recruit.

Yeah, people taking responsibility of their actions and helping one another is of course a preferred way of life. I would have to say that most religions are getting that right. That doesn't mean I'm going to grab my copy of Stranger In A Strange Land and start grokking.

Mmmm...human soup.

Tom Cruise on Scientology

Jerry O'Connell on Tom Cruise

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3f716ffebe

EDIT: Sorry - I had to make Jerry O'Connell's video a link. Funny or Die.com's embedding tools are really sucking right now. My favorite part is that it's throwing extra code on it when I upload. That makes it fun.

Stupid computers.