A good technology trainer is like a good tour guide

 

Brenda Hough of Northeast Kansas Library System says that a good technology trainer is like a good tour guide, taking care of logistical details, creating individually-tailored experiences, and empowering travelers to take trips on their own.

I hope that’s what we’re doing with the 23 Things at BCPL.

Her ideas caught my eye because I’m involved in two big things right now: the 23 Things program and secondly, hiring a trainer and adding technology training to the list of things we offer from the Staff Help Desk at BCPL. Exciting stuff.

One of my recent AHAs has been that the 23 Things program actually gives the staff some much needed time to learn about and practice technology ideas as well as skills; some time which may help to prepare them for the technology challenges of the next fiscal year.

Brenda stated that technical training needs to focus more on broad concepts to prepare staff to meet a variety of challenges rather than specific technology-based skills.

She says, “It’s impossible to predict what technology will look like 10 years into the future. As trainers, the most important thing we can do is to encourage independence, confidence, flexibility, and adaptability, so that our trainees will be prepared for the changes that are certainly ahead.”

Wow. Read that again because that’s a big idea. She’s not talking about offering our traditional step-by-step directions, or classic classroom teaching. This is more along the lines of teaching you to cook rather than making dinner for you (or something like that.)

 Brenda has eight tips for would-be technology trainers:

1. Stop trying to provide step-by-step directions

2. Encourage independence.

3. Expect success.

4. Encourage exploration.

5. Provide context.

6. Treat training as a collaborative project.

7. Use storytelling.

8. Be real-world.

More information about Brenda’s thoughts on technology training can be found in her article in the May 2006 issue of Computers in Libraries, which is devoted to information and technical literacy. Dale Musselman of WebJunction concurred about the need to get away from step-by-step training, but rather to provide 2-3 minute tutorials at the time of need.