Going through training...the old fashioned way

I've been hit with two separate training courses that I need to go through at the same time (while still doing my full-time job).

The first is a DAU course on Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) training. Unfortunately, this is the epitomy of death by PowerPoint (4 days...over 500 slides). Uggh...There are still so many improvements that can be made in the training and education field. I guess I still need to wait for my buddy Mark Oehlert (the self-proclaimed learning technology evangelist) to leave his gaming fingerprint on the COR 222 course.

The second is a little more exciting. It is a PM course offered through ESI International. It is a completly online course and they have done an average job on making the course interactive. They used story to place the student in the middle of a company as a new PM working through different scenarios, but that is where the excitement stops. When you, as the PM, are told to go to your laptop, bookshelf, or noteboard, you still end up reading large chunks of content.

These personal experiences reveal that there is still a lot of work we need to make. Working in the training R&D field, I realize that I have a tendancy to think that we are actually further ahead than we really are. There is still a lot of mediocre training that is being pushed to students.

My New Work Computer

That's right...we just got a brand new Dell XPS M1730 gaming laptop at work. It's "technically" not mine as I'll have to share it, but we got it in order to test, evaluate, and demo the latest simulation and gaming projects we are working on. Plus you never know when the occasional Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell, etc. game may make it on there for "testing" purposes.

I still haven't had a chance to use Vista that much (other than playing with demo models in electronic stores). Once our IT guys received the laptop, they came to me and said it had Vista on. We both sort of looked at each other and said, "better go with XP." Now that IT is done with it, it is ours for the test drive.

Where I've been...

I received an email last week from a friend (and mentor) who encouraged me to update the blog. He had recommended me to Training Magazine as "an up-and-coming professional", and thought it would be a good idea if they saw recent posts. Not sure if anything will come out of it, but the email was a good reminder that it's time to get back in the game.

It has been a very busy couple of months. My wife and I have moved into a new house (which in this market, was still not easy), and the house has required a lot of TLC to get it into working condition. I know have a small yard to mow and tend to. After renting for 3+ years, it is taking some time to get use to the challenges of home ownership. I've also been doing a bit of traveling...Seattle, Orlando, Detroit, and a day trip to Gainesville, FL (note to self...17 hour working days are not fun). I also had an article that came out (in Military Training Technology) and a couple of papers that will be presented at I/ITSEC. On top of all that, my wife and I are expecting our second child.

I had some time to reflect on the purpose of blogging. While I found it very useful professionally, I found myself comparing to those who seem to be able to blog as part of their profession. I came to the realization that while at my current job (where blogging is definitely not permitted), I would never be the 30-posts-a-month guy. I'm convinced that someone could honestly spend 24 hours a day reading and reflecting on all of the eLearning, Web 2.0, technology, mLearning, training, education, simulation, gaming, etc. information that is out there. My focus moving forward will be to blog when I am able to and not let the feeling of "having to blog" drive how I spend (or don't spend) my time in the evening with my growing family. All that said, I'm still looking forward to blogging on a more regular basis and reflecting on my professional growth over the coming years.