Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5. Overall ratings after attending the school (n = 29 to 30)
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Young teachers (~ 25) had to train old end users (60+); normally, only within families,
there is intensive contact between two generation so far apart, if ever.
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Students not only had to make a concept or suggest some actions, but they also had
to implement their suggestions and actually run the school.
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Thoroughly, deep language problems between younger and older people were
discovered, because the common languages of the groups differed significantly.
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Students were surprised how eager and enthusiastic the older people were; they
seemed to absorb the information the students disseminated.
Some specific lessons learned by the students involved in this project were as follows:
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End-user training needs a considerable amount of preparation. There are some aspects
of the course content and some organizational topics that need attention and that will
cause substantial work.
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Even with a small group of eight to nine trainees, without a detailed schedule and some
discipline of trainers and trainees, a training session will end up “dynamic” but without
any learning results. There is no “muddling through” when various trainees ask
questions or discuss problems at the same time.
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To teach a group of people for a considerable amount of time is an important experience:
to stand before “the crowds,” to recognize what the trainees get right and what not,
to vary the speed, sensing if the trainees can follow, to talk to people over three hours
in free speech.
The success of the school, the experiences, and some of the sociological phenomena
made the school an exciting experience for all.
