Category: Training

How to make sharp e-training?

Posted by Vilius – February 7, 2009

Most of what I learn is self learning. Then it is either via some form of literature research or via structured training. Such organized training are university textbooks, semi-organized manuals, online courses.

The online courses are evolving in the technical form (from pure HTML into more interactive flash and videos) from the time I started using them in 1990s. However, content-wise the quality does not increase so fast with the years.

I easily differentiate online courses into the following areas:

  • Good quality courses for masses. As example, I adore Powered platform, used by HP, Sony, P&G with their portfolio of e-courses in technologies and social topics.
  • Focused technology courses leading towards Certification. An example – VMware course site.
  • Learning from recorded webcasts mostly based on Powerpoint slide decks, recorded via Webex, Livemeeting, or Adobe products.
  • Corporate learning programs with “strange” way of teaching. Often these courses are enforced by compliance, or sales programs and feels like listeners are IQ-challenged.

During my NGO trainer career along with other trainers I was focusing on challenging brains of participants in live environments, our trials to create online trainings for BEST organization was not too successful because of lacking of the platform to start from, not having resources, and mindset to make it great.

Today I found an interesting training which gives quite good framework where and how to create content for people to focus on their learning.

A new thing for me was Readability Statistics (it works for MS Word as well!)

I hope you will enjoy watching the presentation below and understanding exactly what makes us feel that these compliance/sales training are made for dumb people!

BTW, this blog text has readability score of 35 :)

Dump the Drone: Livelier Elearning

Elearning

Gmail Label Hierarchies: Folders4Gmail

Posted by Vilius – December 6, 2008

Email tagging and organizing in Gmail are daily issues for many of us.

How to label properly, and ensure that label list is not too long? I felt restricted in what I want to do with my information by the tool – rarely the case with Google’s products, right?

Luckily, there is a solution – a tool for Firefox and IE7 users available: Folders4Gmail. If you like what you see on the screenshots, I would advice to look at packaged goodies via Better Gmail 2 (scroll down for the screenshots), and consider to install it, as then you easily could make use of:

  1. Folders4Gmail
  2. better shortcut help by pressing “?”/”h” (makes you much more efficient via saving mouse moves)
  3. Collapsible Calendar and Reader
  4. always shown CC:, Subject:, and other optimization for settings.
  5. other not so relevant features (skins, filter modifications..)

After installation and enablement of Folders4Gmail, you just go to settings->labels in Gmail, and rename your labels into format of familyL1\Label2 (for ex. “rare\salsa” from “salsa”) – the change is instant.

I use Gmail mostly from my own laptops, where I can install Folders4Gmail. I use as well from the mobile phone – Mobile Gmail will not support the foldered labels, but on mobile I filter out only the 3 main labels anyway. On other machines you will see all labels with full names and not organised in hierarchy, i.e. still workable solution.

Regarding add-ons themselves: they do affect the performance of the Gmail application and the browser, thus only the features which help should be enabled. For example collapsible Calendar and Reader slowed down my experience a lot.

Finally, I am a big fan of CustomizeGoogle addon, which has some overlapping functionality with Better Gmail 2, thus a careful setup should be followed (on CustomizeGoogle I do all security and ad removal, the rest – from Better Gmail 2).

I hope you can use the tools discussed to improve efficiency and experience of your daily time spend on gmail!

Mindmapping experiences

Posted by Vilius – April 25, 2008

I learned about mindmapping back in 2003 at 5th Trainers’ Camp of BEST. The technique intrigued me a so much, that I even gave the graduating training on the topic together with Ben (see photos).

Basically, mindmapping is about writing in colorful star hierarchical structure instead of intended list of items.

At the same time I learned that MindManager from MindJet is used all over in bonding’s management processes. All ideas and projects were presented in mindmaps. Most of my bonding friends were taking notes in mindmaps on their notepads with the set of colored pens.

My MSc defence presentation had mindmaps, and it was very successful, at least I was told so at that time.

Soonafter I tried to use mindmapping techniques for my PhD projects. Results were not too good though. It did not feel comfortable, it did not allow to organize information and materials easily as I wanted. Often hierarchical lists were more comfortable, and for advanced usage PersonalBrain from theBrain Technologies came instead, with One Note soon after from Microsoft. Though I remained on the mailing list of MindManager yahoo groups since.

Mindmapping returned on my working table in the role as Enterprise Architect working for CA. It appeared to be the simpliest tool to crystalize the case, indentify the drivers and their relationships, strip all unnecessary layers, and get to the core.

Other findings what I gathered about mindmapping:

  • Often I find people quite emotional about mindmapping, which surprises me. At least for me and some of my friends the value of mindmapping is not easily evident. I read all MindJet newsletters and case studies from the mailing lists, and it did not come to me easy..
  • For simple use FreeMind is quite a good alternative to commercial software
  • Mindmapping technique is one thing, and comfortable usage, management of created mindmaps, integration with other tools – is another. Happily, MindManager is quite sophisticated product (unfortunately, it means that it takes seconds to load to memory and consume quite a lot of memory and CPU resources).
  • Most natural use of the mindmapping software is to run brainstorms and sketch structures. However I personally do not see them working better than in a simple plain Notepad application.

I expect mindmapping to come back into my daily work and knowledge management in closest future for the analytical work, as well as designing and creating university course.

How I Try to Remember Names

Posted by Vilius – March 28, 2008

Since long time I have an issue to remember all the names of the people I meet. I hear the name, and it is gone.

Frustration comes instead.

I recall articles and books talking about tips&tricks to fight this experience, claiming that from the name a relation with a person starts and continues. Basically, one of the pillars of success in life is the ability to remember names. If you do not have it then forget about success, and you will end up rotting somewhere.. Scary, isn’t it?

What surprises me, is how long it took for me to get in comfort to employ different techniques, adapt them and now use them daily.

I think for me it relates to the fear fighting technique.

My path:

  • I started with observing how I feel, when somebody uses my name. Probably for others it is so important the name as well? Then why I do not give to others what is relatively cheap/easy for me and important to others?
  • After hearing the name of the person, I try to understand what is the meaning of the name, whom else I know with such name.
  • I learn to acknowledge that I forgot the name, and ask sincerely again for it, smiling.
  • I learn to be sincere and at ease when names are being mixed (there is a reason why we mix names even of close people – what I learned from listening of MIT Introduction to Psychology class)
  • Practice emails starting with the name
  • Practice addressing a person with the name
  • Enjoy every moment when I remember the name, and when I do not. Have fun!

Point I want to make here:

Techniques should be internalized and practiced with a pleasure (well, every second book on self development peaches that, right?) There are so many great names given to so many great people, why not to be part of this greatness?

Do you have similar experiences or tricks which work? I love learning from the people I know.

Seminars at Highschool

Posted by Vilius – March 19, 2008

Last week I visited my high school (Dainai Secondary School) in Šiauliai, where I graduated 11 years ago. The visit developed from the phone conversation a month ago I had with the principal of the school where we discussed and agreed on me giving a couple of seminars to older pupils on university studies and job searching. Basically, it is about giving back to the kids what I got from other people 10 years ago – an inspiration.

It was an enlighten experience to return to the school, see the same teachers who were teaching me 15 years ago. Together that was a troubling feeling – I did not spot many new (unknown) teachers – thus teachers should be quite old on average by now!

What I kept from the visit:

  1. At least some secondary schools are in good condition, renovated, equipped.
  2. Students are not bad and evil. For sure, the attitude between teachers and pupils has changed, schools became service-oriented, and service consumers today are pupils. Thus relationships are becoming more mature when pupils can demand the service of particular quality. Unfortunately kids are kids, and their demands often become rude expression and lack of respect to service providers – the teachers.
  3. The principal recalled one story about me – how I was demanding teachers to be on time in the class on the same basis as teachers demanded our presence on time. Wow, was I so pushy already then?
  4. Demographics in Lithuania and small-to-medium cities are not great. Number of kids of school age is decreasing, meaning that out of more than twenty schools in Siauliai some have to be reorganized, or even closed. Dainai Secondary is going to teach 1-8th grade kids only in few years. L
  5. During the seminar I discovered, that the 10-12th grade kids their monthly financial needs define from 200 to 400 Lt. It was a surprise to me – I would expect bigger sums. However, it is Šiauliai, and not Vilnius. As well, youth are still living with their parents.
  6. During seminars pupils were quite engaged and worked well. From such short impression of half a day I lost my fears that youth is not interested, or they are not passionate, degraded, etc.

Pupils evaluated seminars positively, indicating that such events are needed. This gives motivation to return again next time. Both because of them, and because of myself – returning to childhood places brings you peace, don’t they?

Regional newspaper Šiaulių kraštas found out about my visit, grabbed me before the seminars and interviewed. Next day the article “There is no lack of optimism in Lithuania, just look around” was published (in Lithuanian, two photos featured). Update: local copy of the article.

Do you have constant relationship with your secondary school?

Myself, two neighbor girls and my brother ready for lessons at Dainai Secondary school, photo taken around 1987

Myself, two neighbor girls and my brother ready for lessons at Dainai Secondary school, photo taken around 1987