Re: Incorporating online help w/training

[David Knopf <david -at- KNOPF -dot- COM>]

Hamilton, Susan wrote:
>
> Hello-
>
> Have any of you worked with incorporating online help training with
> regular training classes? I am looking for some good methods of doing
> so, some success stories, or some good theories about why it is
> helpful. I have a couple of STC research articles, but I'm not getting
> very good reception from the training team lead.
>
> We provide only online documentation, but we teach a two-week bootcamp
> class for all new hires and any customers that want it (which is at
> least a subset of users for each customer). Right now, the use of
> online help in training consists of a one-paragraph thought that says
> we have online help and having them open the help file.
>
> We have just redesigned the online help and have added a ton of
> procedures to what used to be a reference-based help system. To
> compound the problem, we have acquired a new (important) client whose
> user-base is not very PC/mouse literate.
>
> To help with getting users accustomed to using the online help and
> teach them how to be more effective at finding answers, I have been
> trying to get our training team lead to incorporate online help
> training into the bootcamp.
>
> I would like to have a training section devoted to how to using help.
> After that, I would like to see exercises sprinkled through the
> training that present a background real-life scenario and have the
> users use the online help to figure out how to complete the exercise.
> It think that it will help get user into the help, provide an
> environment where they can ask questions about the help, and provide
> an opportunity for the tech writers to observe (kind of like an
> informal usability test).
>
> Anyway, what do y'all think?


Susan,

I think your impulse is right on target.

Using online help, while not rocket science, is not something we are
born knowing how to do. The few companies I know of that have studied
this have found that their Windows users -- even those who have attended
formal training on the Windows desktop or Windows applications --
typically don't know how to use Windows help very well at all.

Interestingly, I teach classes for Windows help developers every month
or so in San Francisco and Chicago. At the beginning of one of the
classes, we look at what WinHelp can do and how it works. Even among
people who have been authoring help systems for years, there are always
a lot of comments along the lines of "Gee, I didn't know WinHelp could
do that." If help authors don't know the full capabilities of the
WinHelp engine, I think it unlikely that users do.

In my opinion, when you are providing training on an application, as you
must, one of the goals is to make the students self-sufficient after the
class. That means, once they leave the class, they need to be capable of
solving problems with the application on their own. The principal tool
they have available to help them do this is the online help. If they
don't know how to use it, then they don't know to solve problems
independently, and I believe the training has failed.

So yes, I'd push hard on your training people to expand their coverage
of using the online help and totally support your suggestion for using
hands-on exercises to give students some independent problem-solving
experience before they leave the class.

Regards,

- David Knopf

------------------------------------------------------------
David Knopf      Tel: 415-731-8398    david -at- knopf -dot- com
Knopf Online     Fax: 415-731-8399    http://www.knopf.com/
------------------------------------------------------------
 * Writing * WinHelp * Web Sites * Training * Consulting *
           "Blue Sky RoboHELP Certified Trainer"
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