Do you know where you have been during the last few days? No worries, especially if you have an iPhone. There seems to be an App for that! I’m sure many of you heard about how iOS 4, the Apple operating system for iPhones and iPads, “secretly” records your location in a file (consolidated.db). If you sync your device to a Mac, you can look at it – here is the recipe. I am safe on my iPad because I don’t have a 3G. On the other hand, I voluntarily let everyone know where I am (using Twitter and Foursquare).

This is indeed big news, but, as Scott McNealy (former CEO of Sun) pointed out “You already have zero privacy, get over it” has unfortunately been true in this well connected world. Your cell phone carriers have had this exact information all along – except, they need a subpoena before they look at it (Hmmm….).

With technologies coming at us such a rapid pace and with companies (OK, not all companies!) paying a lot of attention to friendly user interfaces, technology training is fast becoming a challenge. Take the iPhones and iPads as examples. They are so easy to use that there are no user manuals. Great! Except, many users are not diligent about syncing their devices to a PC or a Mac, until that day arrives when their device dies. Many home users set up wireless and don’t either read or don’t understand the techno mumbo-jumbo that their access point is up for open manipulation by tech savvy neighbors.

Having some basic training would help in these and many other cases. But who has the time and inclination? This is a huge challenge.

Technology training, especially around data security, remains a huge challenge. Many different approaches have been taken including certification but mostly, we can’t get users to come. There are a couple of areas where this is not true – ERP systems such as Banner or PeopleSoft (where, training is so essential – they are no iPhones or iPads!) or advanced technical training where formal training helps create sustainable systems and software.

We, at Wellesley, offer several options as outlined on the Training page, which is a great resource. However, it is not clear how many of our users go here and how many of those use the resources listed there. In general it is true that the web site visitors are very goal driven – they search for what they want and get there. The days of just strolling the web and discovering interesting things, if ever existed, are gone! And we know for sure that very few are interested in or have the time to look for training. Even if they do so, the sheer amount of training offerings available online can turn many away.

However, I believe that training improves productivity and is therefore important. Every time one is stuck somewhere, one can go to Google and search for an answer and eventually get it. And some would argue that this is a reason enough not to “waste” time in training. I agree especially because, depending on the training they receive and how often they use certain features, they may still end up doing that exact thing to find information. However, I also believe that getting trained in how to do this more efficiently so that one is not wasting a lot of time to find accurate answers would help.

We are in the process of developing a training plan with HR. It will have the following ingredients – practical, small number of focussed choices, customer and data driven course choices, how to incentivize users to come, how to make them interesting, short and to the point, and finally setting our own expectations right. Data driven – look at the Helpdesk tickets to structure courses. Practical – if teaching the users how to find the right resources online quickly when they need answers is a better approach than teaching them individual courses on a variety of subjects, let us do that. Expectation – let us not too high an expectation on attendance or online viewing in the first quarter, instead help build it over a reasonable time through communication on the values of training, collaboration with specific departments and other institutions.

Then there are mandatory training that needs to happen – especially on the data security. I would say that this is less of tech training than social re-engineering and awareness training. Well, we have no choice but to do it because this is what the law says. I will simply leave it at that!

Bottom line – Technology Training is not what it used to be (reminds me of land line telephony). We should be happy that newer systems are being designed  to be very intuitive and user friendly that the need for training in many areas are simply not necessary. Also, the tech competency of our users is at a higher level than before. Technologists have a different scale by which they measure this and argue that this is not true. I don’t believe that is the right scale to measure.

So, we should be realistic about what are the specific areas where tech training is essential, how best to deliver them and be prepared to refine this as we go. I am confident that we will.