Don't mind me, looking out the window.
Oh, don't mind me, typing a little something from my new office.
We shuffled offices around again, as is our wont. Now I have one blue wall, instead of one red. And a window to the outside, instead of a window to the hallway and Jeff Hora's office.* And gifts from the previous resident, including but not limited to:
- Salt and pepper shakers, one set
- Toilet paper, one roll
Not too shabby.
But back to business.
We make all sorts of training (classroom courses, books, e-learning, webcasts, exams), and some people are researching how to classify the experience level so it works for all the different products. For example
- 100-level, 200-level …
- Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, Power-user….
- Or: 1, 2, 3…
The idea is to help you pick training/skills development tools at the right level so you're not annoyed if it is too hard or easy; make it match/work with what training providers and students are using/used to; make it applicable to as much of the world as possible; be the same no matter what group at Microsoft made the training, etc.
You have probably tried different types of training from different companies. So what classifications do you think work?
*Not that a view of Jeff Hora is anything to sneeze at.
Comments
Anonymous
December 10, 2007
PingBack from http://www.absolutely-people-search.info/?p=5503Anonymous
December 10, 2007
Hi Trika, What happened to the lucky banana that you got back from the trip. Is it still there somewhere safe???Anonymous
December 10, 2007
I think 100/200/etc. works pretty well - most people (in the US, at least - that's all I have experience with) are familiar with this numbering system and its meaning. The real trouble is probably in rating anything at all - what's a 100-level to some people may be more like 200 or 300 to others. How would one "objectively" determine the difficulty of any material to know where to put it in any spectrum? I don't know...Anonymous
December 10, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 10, 2007
First-Look Introduction Intermediate Advanced or "Expert" or "Specialist"Anonymous
December 10, 2007
What about a combination? One number giving the level off the content and one that shows who the content is ment for. Example: Level 100 - Administrator Level 300 - ImplementerAnonymous
December 10, 2007
I was just going to push for the 100, 200 etc levels becuase its simple and it works. Instead though I quite like Kjetil's idea above combined with Waynes! (Im hitting all the boxs here ;) ) Level 100 - First-Look Level 200 - Introduction Level 300 - Intermediate etcAnonymous
December 10, 2007
I like the 100-300 scale that has been used on webcasts previously. I swear I used to see 400 level ones but not for a long time. Did the scale change?Anonymous
December 11, 2007
Fundamentals Intermediate Advanced Professional or SpecialistAnonymous
December 11, 2007
How to classify the experience level, what works? Ok, so first of all what do we have at the moment, 100, 200, 300. This is ok as a means of elevating the scale in a linear manner as experience grows, but is limiting on the basis of what happens if you want to grow further. Once at 300, is that it, should you learn no more, does that mean you have experienced everything Microsoft? Once at the top of the pyramid, how do you achieve more? What all the grading systems infer, is a sense of finality, a completion, you've got there so that's it! A more holistic view of things might be a better approach. I.e. Does one branch of my knowledge complement another part? Which part of the territory does my map now cover? How far does the territory expand? After all, one man's 'specialist' may be another man's 'beginner'. All we can hope for is that our approach be one where we continue to 'question, learn and grow' from each other as we progress through life. Rather than a 'been there, done that, I studied at 300 level' approach.Anonymous
December 11, 2007
An important issue no one has mentioned yet is scope. I mostly work with small business environments, so i don't really care much about scalability on the enterprise level - and there's lots of documentation that gives extensive coverage to enterprise specific stuff. I usually crossread that stuff, but it would be cool if there's some sorting into environment size - so that i don't have to read stuff that has no relevance to my working environment.Anonymous
December 11, 2007
I think that's a good idea the combination between the numbers and words.. something that i read like: Level 100 - First-Look Level 200 - Introduction Level 300 - Intermediate Bye!Anonymous
December 12, 2007
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December 12, 2007
Really hoping to see an answer to the banana query?Anonymous
December 16, 2007
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November 24, 2008
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