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Training pros and cons







By Tim Ouellete
04/26/99 Here's something most information technology professionals already know: Their skills are in a constant state of limbo.

The result is a desire for training -- and lots of it. IT workers want constant tips on how to best expand and polish their skills. That's because knowing how to run the application or code in a programming language is a tremendous advantage in a world where businesses are trying to keep pace with technology and are bringing that technology to the forefront of their business efforts.

But with little time on their hands, IT professionals don't want to have to play hit-or-miss when choosing among training methods and providers. But the truth is that a mix of those approaches is your best bet, many IT professionals say.

Here are some tips from IT workers, corporate trainers and others on what to look for in the popular IT training methods on the market today.

Classroom or Instructor-Led Training
(Including continuing education courses and vendor seminars)

PROS: Even with the growth in Web-based training technologies, most IT professionals agree that classroom training is still the most powerful way to capture the attention of trainees and provide immediate, authoritative feedback. The majority of vendor certifications are earned through classroom training offered by vendors like Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc., and up to 80% of all IT training will still come in the classroom, according to various studies.

When is the best time to choose an outside course? When you're moving to a whole new application or system, says Bill Terrell, CIO at Maine General Health in Augusta, Maine. "That way, you can get everyone away from the phones to focus on the new material," he says. Even though other training methods are used by his IT staff, they also go to vendor training courses.

"Very general courses need more interaction between teacher and student and are better suited to classroom settings," says Doug Upchurch, executive director at the Information Technology Training Association in Austin, Texas. For example, a good way to train IT professionals on Windows NT 5.0 would be to start with an overview course and then apply different approaches to more specific aspects of NT 5.0, he noted.

One bonus, according to Key Note Ltd., a U.K.-based research firm, is that because of time constraints, employees sent to training classes may feel more valued by their employer and more motivated.

CONS: Let's face it, as IT workers deal with tighter and tighter schedules, it isn't always feasible to get out of the office and spend a day or more at a classroom training session. It also requires a large chunk of companies' training budgets to cover travel, lodging and meals.

For example, Brett Johnson, an independent IT contractor in Atlanta, used to attend continuing education classes at local colleges. They were fine, he says, but he had to take the time to find the right courses and then stay up late to attend them and study after work.

For example, typical Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer classes can run more than $3,000, says Rodger Rodgers, director of training at Matrix Resources Inc., an IT placement firm in Atlanta. And you have to wait until the class starts to get the training, which may be too much of a delay for some IT professionals.

Although there are many classes and seminars, the number of available offerings could pose a problem. That's because IT workers choosing courses have to be careful about what training company they use, paying close attention to what accreditations each company holds and whether they've been approved by vendors to offer classes for their certification programs.

Still, companies should be willing to put the money up for training classes on new products being rolled out in the company, Terrell says. That way, people can learn the most in the shortest amount of time, without workplace distractions. "If you can't afford to educate and train, then maybe you can't afford the product itself," he says.

Computer-Based Training

PROS: Computer-based training (CBT) methods, like CD-ROM or disk-based courses, have freed many IT departments from the burden of scheduling outside classes. IT staff can now get training when they have free time during the day, without worrying about scheduling issues.

That's especially important for refreshing people's memory on certain topics that may have been skimmed over in classroom training.

For example, Johnson uses CBT courses from his placement firm, Matrix Resources. Johnson credits the CBT courses directly with landing his latest job as a C++ and Visual C programmer.

"I believe my current job was a direct result of taking C++ and Visual C training courses," Johnson says. With CBT, "I was able to train at my convenience, which really helps, since demands on my time are incredible."

Another company that has moved from instructor-led training to mostly CBT courses is Carnival Corp., operator of Carnival Cruise Lines. Its IT staff can get most of the courses they need for various certifications right at the company's IS Learning Center.

"Our goal is to make them feel that they don't have to feel that they have to take a class outside of work," says Michelle Serotte, manager at the IS Learning Center. "We want to provide everything they need in-house."

Technical staff can download courses or access them interactively on Carnival's intranet. A dial-up capability lets IT staff on Carnival's various cruise ships also keep their skills up-to-date while onboard.

Companies can offer more classes at a lower price with CBT, rather than trying to schedule and pay for instructor-led training. For example, Matrix offers up to 180 courses on its Web site.

CONS: CBT courses on CD-ROM and disk can be cumbersome to maintain and track.

"We have looked at going all CBT," says James West, CIO for the state of Indiana Auditor's office. "But it became shelfware pretty quickly for us because if someone is not doing the logistics behind it, like taking attendance and keeping records and making sure the library of courses is up-to-date, it does not work."

That's why West wants to have a mix of custom-developed classroom courses with a trainer and CBT to back it up.

IT professionals recommend a close study of vendors' wares before choosing a firm.

CBT testers also recommend to be sure the courses have a way to benchmark the users' skills at the start of the course and a way to test them on their improvement at the end of the course.

Web-Based Training or Distance Learning

PROS: Web-based training is helping to wipe out some of the limitations of CBT. Users can download courses with a Web browser or run the courses interactively while connected to the Internet. And chat rooms or discussion lists can provide a level of interaction among students and even mentors that traditional CBT lacks.

For example, Matrix Resources offers all of its IT consultants access to more than 180 CBT courses on its Web site. Soon, those courses will be run directly from the Web server, providing a way to track who takes the courses, how they did on the tests and what skill sets are available among staff.

Additionally, the company can make sure everyone is taking the most recent courses, because it's easy to update the courses right on the Web server, Rodgers says.

Carnival is taking a similar approach by offering dial-up access to technical staff to its CBT courses on a company intranet, Serotte says. Users can run the courses from home on their Web browsers without taking up space on their hard drives.

That access lets employees get quick, unscheduled updates to their skills in small bites, like an hour at a time, which is impossible to replicate with classroom training, Serotte says.

CONS: Classroom training and even CBT courses have a set of standards to follow, but there are no standards for Web-based training yet because the market is so new, according to Upchurch. That means the quality of offerings will vary greatly among different vendors.

And as vendors offer more complicated Web-based training tools, users will have to depend more on integrators to help make sure networks can handle the technology and to provide clear ways to track student progress, according to International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass.

Videos

PROS: Videos let users watch other people doing an IT task correctly, which can be a powerful way to learn. And anyone can buy or rent a video to watch in the comfort of his home affordably. For example, one IT staffer at a retailer in the Midwest said training videos from PeopleTrain Inc. in Atlanta offered her a way to inexpensively keep up-to-date on the Windows 98 upgrade. Additionally, she liked having live examples of what to do instead of reading it or hearing it in a class.

CONS: Users need to have a television, VCR and a computer that's loaded with the application being presented to benefit from video training. Serotte didn't include videos in Carnival's training center because that would have meant buying many more licenses of different applications to load onto training PCs. Instead, the CBT courses Carnival uses simulate the application in question so that no extra application licenses need to be purchased.

Upchurch says fewer sites are opting for video training because Web-based training has improved to allow video streaming to the desktop, making the video experience less tied to cassettes.

Books

IT professionals say books are an easy and portable way to train and brush up on certain skills but are limited in their ability to test progress or provide an interactive environment. And as training tools, books may not be as fast as running a CBT course or taking a half-day seminar.

Ouellette is a freelance writer in Scarboro, Maine.





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