I have 5 part time authors (authoring is not their full time job within our company) I am leading and they are spread out throughout the US. I will have a 6th person reporting to me locally. I am wondering if I should hire a training company like Lodestone or if the tutorials and forums here are enough for them to get through the Storyline learning curve as quickly as possible. Is it worth spending money to have a "professional trainer" out to a meeting with my people? What are your thoughts?
I would advocate a professional trainer. If they use Storyline or Studio day in day out they will not only be able to teach how to use the software they should pass on invaluable tips and tricks and ways of saving time, and how to troubleshoot issues. Along with this they will give you work arounds for common issues.
A good Storyline trainer will also provide you with sample files and i would hope base what they teach you in good instructional design.
You can learn all you need from the forums and the tutorials, but often this is in a need to know, firefighting method of learning.
You will not remember everything on the course but it gives you a solid foundation to start from.
Phil's points make sense. Another alternative that we have used (if you have at least one experienced developer) is to conduct a series of webex training sessions to get them up to speed on the main points and some of the tips and tricks. Usually one or two sessions accomplished that. Then sponsor a monthly sharing session where you can answer questions, share best practice, or trouble shoot challenges.
I think a lot depends on how much time the "part-time" developers have to spend on development and how motivated they are to learn. Some people get so jazzed by the software that they learn and play on their own time in the evenings with non-work projects and others approach development as a chore and just want to convert the SME's Powerpoint deck.
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I would advocate a professional trainer. If they use Storyline or Studio day in day out they will not only be able to teach how to use the software they should pass on invaluable tips and tricks and ways of saving time, and how to troubleshoot issues. Along with this they will give you work arounds for common issues.
A good Storyline trainer will also provide you with sample files and i would hope base what they teach you in good instructional design.
You can learn all you need from the forums and the tutorials, but often this is in a need to know, firefighting method of learning.
You will not remember everything on the course but it gives you a solid foundation to start from.
Phil's points make sense. Another alternative that we have used (if you have at least one experienced developer) is to conduct a series of webex training sessions to get them up to speed on the main points and some of the tips and tricks. Usually one or two sessions accomplished that. Then sponsor a monthly sharing session where you can answer questions, share best practice, or trouble shoot challenges.
I think a lot depends on how much time the "part-time" developers have to spend on development and how motivated they are to learn. Some people get so jazzed by the software that they learn and play on their own time in the evenings with non-work projects and others approach development as a chore and just want to convert the SME's Powerpoint deck.
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