In-house Computer Training Should Be Customised | Software

By AndrewWhiteman
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One of the main benefits of booking in-house (on-site) training, as against sending your people off to a training centre to attend a pubic course, is that your training can be customised to match the specific needs of your organisation. When you book in-house training courses, be sure to make this clear to the training company and give them a full briefing on your requirements. Produce a list of essential topics that need to be covered after discussing the matter with the staff members who will be attending the course, their manager or someone in your company who already has the skills the trainees will be acquiring.

Send examples of your work to the training company, before the training, so that they have a good idea of the kind of documents your guys will need to create or edit (Make sure that you remove any sensitive or confidential information!).

Every good software training session offers users opportunities to practice the skills they are learning. Ask the training company to include your company's documents into all practical exercises given to delegates during the training. For example, if your trainees are learning how to create corporate brochures, have the trainer show them how to create pages from some of your typical brochures during the course to verify that everyone is mastering the most important techniques.

You will need to find a suitable area where you can realistically conduct a training session and where the trainees can concentrate on learning without interruption, distraction or discomfort. If your organisation does not have a training room then a meeting room can be adapted for the purpose. Delegates should be able to see the trainer from their seat without having to twist around or crane their necks. Each delegate should also have the use of their own workstation or laptop for the duration of the course and enough space to use it.

The appropriate software version should be loaded on each delegate's machine and, ideally, each person should be using the same version of the software. For example, running a Microsoft Word course with some delegates using Word 2003 and others 2007 would be a disaster, since the two versions have such significant differences.)

A workstation or laptop connected to a screen projector for use by the trainer is not essential but is extremely useful, especially with a large group (say, more than half a dozen people). If your company does not own one, they can be hired for around 25 per day. A whiteboard and pens are also very handy.

To ensure that the training is effective, delegates must be available for the duration of the course and treated as off-limits to other staff members. Ideally, everyone should treat them as absent from the office until the course ends. As well as this, they should agree that the course will benefit them and be highly motivated to do the training having been shown how it will help them to work more effectively.

About the Author

Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering in-house training courses at their central London training centre.

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