I’ve been running some training courses for a client. They’ve set up a new database system that will replace a horrendous load of paperwork and more than 100 users need to be shown how to use it.
I trained one type of user last month. We held about 9 sessions, each attended by a dozen users. Those sessions went well, partly perhaps because there was a single computer, hooked up to a projector, and able to access the new system.
Each participant took a turn sitting at the computer, entering data and generally working the mouse, while I was able to stand nearby and engage all trainees in learning the system.
This month I’m training another type of user on a different aspect of the system. There’s a trainer’s computer hooked up to the projector, and each participant has their own computer which they use to log on and add or view data.
Trainer’s Notes on the iPad
Trainer notes on an iPad web page.
One big difference for me this time is that now I have an iPad, with 3G connection.
I’ve exported my outline of what to do from Omni Outliner to an HTML file. The HTML isn’t as I would write it, and I’m sure it’s not valid or anything, but that doesn’t matter as it’s only for my own use. I made the page available at a secret online address.
I propped up my iPad on its Griffin stand next to the trainer’s machine, opened Safari and called up the web page I needed to refer to.
Thanks to the iPad’s magnificent battery life I was able to keep the device on all day, displaying my outline, with no concerns about losing power. After a day of displaying the page and handling some email over lunch there was still about 60% battery left.
One problem I had was that my text size wasn’t really big enough. Before making the screenshot I edited the styles to make it good and big. With another day of training tomorrow I’ll be able see if this bigger size works better.
I don’t need the power of a computer for things like this: all I need is to display information. I enjoyed having my notes displayed on the iPad beside the computer and available for ready reference. At lunchtime I was able to quickly check email and Twitter.
This was definitely a success for me.
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