Chad,
Kudos for making some good arguments. However, I do believe you have
contradicted yourself. Earlier in this thread you stated:
>>retraining the location of a few buttons and options from one version
of MSO to the next is one thing - retraining a entirely new way of
handling Mail Merge, bullets, lists, outlines, macros (which can't be
transfered - they have to be rewritten), etc. when you switch from MSO
to OOo is a different story.<<
But, in this message you indicate:
>> I'd say he's pretty representative of the average corporate user.
They know how to type reports, send emails, make a spreadsheet, surf the
web, and shop on ebay - that's about it. Basic principles mean nothing
to them. They just know if they click the blue "e" they can look at
stuff online, and if they click the blue W they can type stuff. <<
I get the sense in the first that you are describing what I would
consider to be an above average user (from my experience, it seems to be
a relatively small portion of the user base that actually knows how to
use things like Mail Merge, bullets, lists, etc.). In the second you
are describing the more typical user - click an icon and go to it,
manually formatting stuff, using spaces for tabs, etc.
I would tend to think the more "power" oriented user will be able to
pick up on OOo pretty easy (possibly with no training). The second user
doesn't use the full power of either package and hence, probably doesn't
need much training either (hey, they can bold, italic, indent, etc., all
the same). Anyway, not sure if you really meant to make that
distinction between the two e-mails or possibly I've misinterpreted.
Now, just my 2 cents. The differences between OOo and any existing
version of MSO are very minor for the majority of users. I'm not even
sure retraining would be needed for but a few of them. For more
advanced users, the differences become more apparent imo. Of course,
these same users are more likely to be able to figure things out without
formal training (but there is of course some lost productivity during
the adjustment period).
From what I've seen, I suspect the training needed to go to MSO's new
"ribbon" gui will be more necessary than that needed to go from MSO to
OOo. Of course, it may be the new ribbon is such a good gui that it is
worth the change or is a lot easier to make the switch than what I am
expecting.
Jeff Causey
Chad Smith wrote:
On 3/8/06, Mixu Lauronen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Using office applications effectively isn't about learning the order of
menus and menu selections or keystrokes. It is about understanding the
basic principles of, say, Windows programs in general and the basics of
spreadsheeting and word processing - which apply to every single
application of that kind.
You say it "isn't about" memorizing keystrokes, etc. - you are wrong. That
is what is it's about. That might not be what it *should be* about, but
that's where it is. And I don't blame the teachers, at least not entirely,
a lot of people don't want to learn "The basic principles" of anything.
They just want to know "What do I need to do to create the reports I need to
create?"
I have a friend who works on computers 40 hours a week. He has a techie
kind of job - he creates PDFs using Adobe Acrobat - organizes them according
to a complex numbering system, places them on a secure server, and then
updates the corporate website to reflect the changes he has made. He is a
college graduate, and pretty smart. He's also young - 25 years old.
Now - this guy doesn't know anything about MSO or Adobe or web design or
servers beyond what he has to do for work. They did some upgrades from MSO
XP to MSO 2003 in his office last year (yeah, they're a bit behind), and he
couldn't stop talking about how much better 2003 was than XP. I asked him
what was so improved about it. He stopped talking. After a pause he said
"I really like the new color!" I wanted to cry.
Here is an intelligent, educated, highly-paid (at least much more than me),
young guy with a computer job - and he doesn't know jack about computers
beyond what he has to know.
I'd say he's pretty representative of the average corporate user. They know
how to type reports, send emails, make a spreadsheet, surf the web, and shop
on ebay - that's about it. Basic principles mean nothing to them. They
just know if they click the blue "e" they can look at stuff online, and if
they click the blue W they can type stuff.
Maybe I should start training people in these issues...
Best of luck with that - but I doubt it will work, and here's a couple
reasons why...
CEOs don't want to pay for more training than they need to. Teaching basic
principles will take longer and therefore cost more (because of teacher fees
and loss of productivity from the trainees) than teaching keystrokes and
menu orders.
Workers don't want to learn more than they need to. People don't care about
the why or how - they just care about do this to make this happen.
Before someone starts on the "they need to think long term" stuff about how
if you teach basic principles, you won't need to reteach every upgrade need
to realize employees are expendable and interchangable. The staff I train
with basic principles when we upgrade to 2003 won't be the same staff I have
when I upgrade to 2007. Teach them how to do the job I need done right now
- forget the rest.
I wish people understood more about the basic principles, too. It would
make my job a lot easier (web designer and only IT staff in my office). But
from a CEOs stand point, or a board of directors, or shareholders - it
doesn't make sense to train for that - just "teach the test" and move on.
--
- Chad Smith
http://www.gimpshop.net/
http://www.whatisopenoffice.org/
Because everyone loves free software!
