Training

If you are new to computing or if you are having a difficult time dealing with your software or hardware we would like to help you.  There are a number of ways we can help.  Some have a cost associated with them and others are absolutely free.

You might ask why we would offer free training information and how we can stay in business giving training away.  First, we are not giving training away.  We are simply pointing you to places where it already exists at no charge.  Second, there is plenty of work for us to do.  Our hope is that when you do need to pay someone for training or other services we offer, you will think of us and give us a call.

There are three kinds of training generally available for computer users.  They are:

Documentation is usually, though not always, the written material that came with the software program you are trying to learn to use.  This might come in book form though it is more likely to come in machine readable form, either in help files or separate text files on the CD-ROM, DVD, or the diskettes on which you received the program.

There is a second layer of documentation available that is usually of better quality and almost always easier to understand.  This comes in the form of softbound books written specifically to help users learn computer programs.  They can be found in any good bookstore and often include a CD-ROM with actual examples for your use.

Interactive Training usually comes in the form of help files for a new computer, CD-ROM or DVD media for specific applications or the Internet for a wide variety of training.  Interactive training allows you to experience the product in action and walks you through the steps necessary to get it to work the way you want it to.  Interactive Training almost always provides instant feedback to let you know how well you are learning the information.

Classroom training puts you in a group setting that has several advantages.  First, it is usually less expensive than individualized training because the cost of the instructors time is being divided among the students.  Second, you will hear other students ask questions you might not have thought of on your own and the answers to these questions will be helpful to you.  Third, you will be in a classroom setting that is usually well equipped with computers, a network, projection equipment, and lots of teaching tools.

The disadvantages of classroom training are that you must travel to the classroom and do so at the appointed time.  If your schedule does not permit you to break away for scheduled classroom training or if travel time is too expensive for you (in terms of what you would otherwise lose), consider individualized training.

The instructor comes to your site at a time that is convenient for you, stays as long as necessary to convey the material to be learned and leaves when you have something else that you have to do.  Usually, the training will take place on your computer so anything created during training will remain on your machine for subsequent use. 

The specific things you want to learn may involve things that no one else needs to know.  If that is the case, they will not want to sit in class while you try to learn them.  It may be that you need a specific process taught to you.  If that is the case, once you learn it on your machine, you will no longer need the instructor and will not have spent a lot of time learning things in a classroom that you may never use.

The individual instructor almost always costs more than the other methods of delivering training (unless it is your brother-in-law who owes you big time and really knows his stuff.)

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