Monthly Archives: October 2008
Free Training Streamed Live To Your Desktop
Live training seminars are one of our most popular training products. This year alone, live training seminars have attracted more than 21,000 Esri users (as of today’s date). No doubt, their budget-friendly price accounts for some of the popularity (live training seminars are free, after all), but attendees like other aspects as well.
Topping the list of favorables are:
- Convenient access to information about the latest Esri technology
- Software demonstrations
- Ability to ask the presenters questions in real time
- Short duration (1 hour)
Seminar attendees often request a downloadable version of the PowerPoint presentation that is streamed during the live event. Unfortunately, a tight production schedule doesn’t allow us to post the presentation on the seminar day. However, we record every live training seminar and make the recorded version available—also for free—a couple of days after the live event. Each recorded seminar includes a transcript of the live training seminar. Continue reading
Instructor-led or Web-based: What’s Your Style?
In conjunction with the 2008 Esri International User Conference last August, Esri Training Services released its annual GIS Training and Education Survey, to which more than 3,500 of you responded. We read every survey response and appreciate the time respondents took to share their thoughts about Esri training products and how we can improve them. Once again, Esri users showed they are a diverse and thoughtful bunch.
One of the big themes we took away from the survey responses was the clear preference many expressed for either instructor-led or web-based training. Those who favor instructor-led training cite the value of a knowledgeable instructor who not only understands the course material but can answer specific questions about software products and industry applications. This group also likes the time away from the office to completely focus on the training experience. Continue reading
For Web Courses, Software Matters
Never underestimate the power of the conference room side conversation. Like passing notes during class, these “mini-meetings within a meeting” often result in useful information. During a lively debate between two coworkers at a recent meeting, I struck up a conversation with Amy, one of our awesome Virtual Campus support analysts. While I didn’t learn who was behind the weekend coffee machine sabotage, I did get the topic for this post.
If you have taken a Virtual Campus self-paced web course in the past few years and contacted us for assistance, you’ve likely heard from Amy. Amy told me about a common problem experienced by web course students: enrolling in a course that requires software they don’t have. Unlike in an instructor-led course, where the latest Esri software is installed on all the computers used in the classroom, each web course has version-specific (and sometimes ArcGIS license-specific) software requirements. Most courses work with multiple software versions, but some only work with one version. Continue reading
Welcome…Meet the Other Three Rs: Read, Respond, Return
Welcome to Esri Training Matters, your latest source for information and news about Esri training and education products directly from the people who create and deliver those products. This blog is for Esri software users and the global community of GIS learners. Our goal is to keep you up to date about the training and education offerings we already have, the new ones we’re planning, and the thinking behind the products we develop (yes, we do put thought into what we do!). We want to talk about best practices, software tips and tricks, and strategies for learning how to get the most out of Esri products.
We don’t want to be the only ones talking, however. We welcome your feedback and comments. We want to learn from you too. Continue reading
