Archive for September, 2009

Thoughts on Office Live Workspace

September 28th, 2009 - by Angela

microsoft_windowsofficelive4

This week I’ve been trying out a couple of new products that I haven’t had time to experiment with yet.  They aren’t new technologies but are some things I’ve wanted to try out.  My main goal was to see if they were useful enough to recommend to clients, especially since they are free software.

 

In my training with Versitas, I am sometimes asked about my evaluation of different software.  I know that not everyone is working with unlimited budgets these days, so I try to look for add-ons that can work with someone’s current software. 

 

So, I found a little time this week to try out Microsoft Office Live Workspace and SharedView.  Office Live Workspace is supposed to be able to work seamlessly with Microsoft Office 2007 to give you space to store, edit, and share files with others.  I thought that might be a good option for some of my clients if they did not have the IT manpower to set up and maintain a SharePoint server.

 

I purposefully did not read any reviews or evaluations of Office Live or SharedView.  I wanted to get my take on it without being biased by others’ thoughts.  Here is the scoop on Microsoft Office Live Workspace (technically in beta version).  You can upload, store, and share any Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint and Excel document.  You get 5GB of storage room!  I like this alternative to a flash drive for use when I am training.  SharedView allows you to connect with others to view, share, edit, and collaborate on documents.  This is a great option for me to use if I need to create training materials with other trainers located in various cities. 

 

So, how did it go?  The account setup process for Microsoft Office Live Workspace was very easy.  Since I already had a Hotmail account, I didn’t have to enter any personal information.  It is a big plus in my book if I don’t have to remember another username/password!  During the download/install process for SharedView, it was recommended that I download Silverlight, an XML update and Sign-in Assistant - all free.  The whole process only took about 20 minutes.  I like that kind of quick installation!

 

I created a workspace for my Versitas files and uploaded several to try it out.  When I opened up Microsoft Word and clicked on the Office button, I have the options to “Open From” and “Save To” Microsoft Office Live Workspace.  You have to log in the first time but can change the settings so that it will automatically log you in for future use.  Cool!  I have a access to all of my uploaded documents that I put into my created Versitas workspace on the Office Live website.

 

My overall opinion?  Pros: Easy to install and use.  Cons: Can only upload files that are Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.  If I were Microsoft and designed a free software, I’d probably limit that, too.  This software is not for everyone but I would recommend it for clients that need basic collaboration and/or Microsoft Office file web storage that is easy to use.  You may want to give it a try!

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Talking Too Much

September 21st, 2009 - by Angela

In order to stay in touch with what is going on in the Training Industry, I read a few blogs from other trainers.  While reading one of these, I came across the following quote that had been attributed to the UCR University Honors Program in California, “While ever you are talking, you’re not listening. If you’re not listening, you’re not learning.” It encapsulated so well some of my thoughts lately. 

As trainers, we are the speakers in most of our training sessions.  In my job at Versitas, I am often in front of a classroom of students.  I talk to the students at the beginning of the class and listen to their needs in regards to our goals for the class.  For the most part, though, in my role as the teacher I do most of the talking. I realized that my profession puts me in a position to talk more and listen less in the classroom.  However, as a technology trainer I am compelled to constantly learn and keep up with technology… to “listen” as the quote above references.

I realized how much of a balancing act I do in my career to turn off my trainer hat and consciously try to listen more to others and to learn more about new technology and training issues. On the days I teach, I go home in the evening and am not very talkative.  My husband wonders what is wrong with me since on my non-teaching days I can talk his ear off.  After teaching during the day, all I want to do is be “off the stage”. At those times, it is easy to just sit, listen, and learn. 

Most of the times in my life, though, I am very content to be the teacher/helper/trainer. Like the above quote states, I need to listen and learn some times, too. I have to keep abreast of new technology to stay up-to-date.  I have to listen to others in my field and outside of my field to hear their reviews and opinions of current and soon-to-be-released software. 

In order to keep up with everything, I needed a plan or at least some tips to keep learning but in an effective manner.  (If my family and friends are reading this, they are laughing because I always need “a plan”.) Below are a few tips that I employ to stay up-to-date.

1.  Don’t just randomly read information.  Find the blogs/websites of a few respected experts in your field. In my case, I found a few blogs of some internationally known trainers and consultants.  They will be constantly scanning the horizon, enabling me to digest the summaries from their blogs.

2. Always keep a magazine or other reading materials with you.  If I am standing in line or sitting in a waiting room, I can be learning something related to training or technology instead of just reading whatever is available.

3. Set aside time each week, maybe during your lunch hour or instead of watching a television show, to learn. After turning off the television more at my house, I realize how little I miss some of the shows that I thought I could not live without. 

I know that these tips may not work for everyone.  They are just my plan to help me learn more effectively and efficiently.  I’m keeping up with new technology more, which makes me feel more confident when I’m teaching or talking with others. I hope some of these tips work for you, too!

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Stop and Smell the Roses

September 15th, 2009 - by Angela

Over the recent long holiday weekend, my husband, son and I traveled to visit my husband’s family.  Most of the times we visit, I take my laptop and projects to work on while I am there.  Rarely is there a time when I am not working on something new or developing materials for a class.  This time, I chose not to take my laptop or any of my work with me.  I’ve been feeling like I’ve been, as the saying goes, burning the candle at both ends.  Do you ever find yourself feeling the same way?

 

So, off I went for the weekend without any training materials or computer.  I did remember to pack a good novel a friend had loaned to me.  For the first couple of hours on the road, I felt lost not having my work with me.  How warped is that?  Soon I started feeling my shoulders let down and relax.  I sat in the back seat with my infant son and played and laughed.  Wow…did I ever need that time away!!  I really enjoyed not checking email or working on the computer over the long weekend. 

 

I’m a little frustrated with myself that I didn’t take a break like that sooner.  I’m so careful about advising others to take breaks.  I’m a firm believer in breaks when I do training classes for Versitas.  I encourage my students to get up, walk around, get a drink, etc., even when I’m only doing a half-day of training.  I suggest that they not look at email or go back to their desks if we are training on-site.  I even encourage them to get outside during lunch, if possible, when I do full-day classes.

 

I think that it is fascinating how trainers are so focused on taking care of everyone else, but often neglect themselves.  We are so used to taking care of everything in the classroom, making sure that all questions are answered and that everyone understands the subject matter we are covering.  I think this applies to our time in the classroom, but often flows over into the rest of our lives, too.  In these tough economic time when we are working so hard to make ends meet and keep ourselves marketable, we need to make sure and take a break once in a while to refresh ourselves. 

 

Our training managers and students will appreciate us for it!

 

 

 

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Social Media and Web 2.0: My Vocabulary Lesson

September 9th, 2009 - by Angela

In today’s society, it seems that everyone is joining different social media sites like Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.  I am amazed at how a person or corporation’s reputation can be changed (for better or worse) in a single moment.  If people like or dislike your service or product, they can post to their blog or Facebook/Twitter status for millions of others to read in an instant.  It’s like the new version of the old party phone lines, where multiple houses shared the same phone line.  Each house had a different ring to distinguish who should answer.  However, people could listen in on different conversations.  In that same way, reputations could be damaged when someone overheard another’s conversation and passed that information along. 
 
I thought about how hard I work to maintain a good reputation and keep my clients happy.  In the training industry (as in most industries), it is critical to do so.  My next thought was that I needed to understand the new social media and it’s corresponding language/vocabulary even better than I currently did.  I decided to do some research and found that I was going to need to learn a completely new language. 
 
From the perspective of a business, my research on social media led me to the term “Web 2.0″.  When I performed a web search on Web 2.0, I had hundreds of thousands of articles to choose from…yikes!  From what I read, Web 2.0 is the way websites are designed to help consumers connect, including sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, wikis, etc.  Many of the terms that were mentioned I had heard of before and had already incorporated into my vocabulary.  However, a few of the words were completely new to me.  Here are a couple of terms I found that were brand new to me.  I am using the definitions from Wikipedia.  It seemed appropriate to use that site since it is part of Web 2.0.
 
Mashup - a web page or application that combines data or functionality from two or more external sources to create a new service.  An example is a real estate website that uses a mapping software.
 
Folksonomy - a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content.  An example is tagging someone in a photo on Facebook.
 
Also in my research, I found a soon to be published book about building your reputation on your website and how to adapt it to a Web 2.0 standard.  It is called “Building Web Reputation Systems,” published by O’Reilly.    It looks like many other people are thinking about their internet presence and reputation, too.  From my perspective, that is a good thing!
 
I had better get busy remembering all these new terms and continue learning more about the web frontier.  I was thinking about trying to learn Spanish but I think I’ll need to focus on updating my internet language skills first!

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