Training Business Users on the Net

Linda Rouse BA Dip Lib TTC ALAA UNILINC Ltd., Sydney, NSW 2000
Keywords: Business, Training

Introduction

Background

By way of introduction and to establish my credentials, I have been training users of the Internet for over twelve months and have had extensive experience in the general online environment over the past 15 years, including the education and training of a variety of business users. At UNILINC, a company specialising in information and library services since 1978, I am the Special Projects Manager, a position that encompasses the design and delivery of educational services for Internet and Web users. Over the past year, I have trained a number of company personnel, from advertising managers to small business owners, and this paper is based on my experience and the valuable feedback received from such clients. My techniques have been further honed by participating in the Nettrain discussion list along with Web4Lib and other lists which have provided me an endless source of valuable information.

Business use of the Web

Business users want not only to see online examples of successful business use of the Net, but how the Internet can extend their business by harnessing the power of information technology -- they need educating as to how to create a sound business presence and the way to effectively participate in the collaborative environment that is the Net, both locally and globally.

This means that business users are not simply information seekers -- large corporates in particular are interested in electronic publishing in order achieve a number of corporate objectives. Although small business use (and I include home office users) is quite large now in the United States, many other countries, including Australia are only just taking up Internet access as a viable business strategy. And the numbers are growing rapidly.

In Australia, small business is increasingly finding that the Internet has the potential to increase the range and scope of their business activities -- all because of the development of the most powerful Internet tool to emerge to date (1995) - the World Wide Web. Based on the powerful HyperText Transfer Protocol that enables the transfer and display of sound and graphic files as well as standard text, the Web's easy-to-use authoring tools employ Hyper Text Markup Language to turn a "simple" document into an informative, entertaining and creative "home page" that lures the discerning visitor to sample its wares.

So, how to train such users in effective use of the Web and the opportunities it affords for corporate activities on the Internet.

Preparation

Expectations and training pre-requisites

Business users can be brought together for training purposes into groups that may consist of corporate managers, technical and systems staff, consultants, executives, sales and marketing people, production teams, to small business owners. Training techniques must be customised to correspond with the needs of each group; e.g. senior executives and managing directors may require one-on- one training, others may require the workshop approach.

Within large corporations it is wise to further differentiate users into managerial, technical, research and clerical, etc depending on the size and structure of the organisation. In order to effectively educate business users of all types, it is important to look at the background of the people being trained and their responsibilities within the company. For example, in terms of their Internet use, and more specifically the Web, each level of personnel will have different needs. It is good practice to tie the training curse style, method and content to those types -- this will determine what to teach and how much to teach.

Below is a table of types of personnel with a sample of their general responsibilities within a hypothetical medium-sized business:

Each group will have distinctly different needs and requirements -- each group with have differing computer skills. Although the Web is simple to use in an immediate sense, i.e. point and click on a highlighted word or phrase etc., these seemingly basic skills are often lacking in the Unix and PC world, aside from the often highly structured business environment that often translates to "managers don't touch keyboards"! The one common factor in training business users is that because the majority have selected the World Wide Web as their Internet interface, the training will naturally be focused on the facilities and functions of the Web and its use as a tool to generally promote and enhance the corporate identity. This means that the Web is acting as information locater and presenter and so we could reasonably assume that we could concentrate our training on showing managers and staff how to find information using the directories and search tools available, and teaching key personnel the art of good HTML design.

However, this path is fraught with danger if we do not educate users on the broader aspects of the Net by examining the underlying structure of how the Web works. Therefore it is important to determine how much education is required on the host of other protocols that the Internet offers, albeit via the Web. What is the need for knowing how to conduct a terminal telnet or FTP session? Should gopher be taught as a separate tool or is it redundant? What about plain-old-fashioned electronic mail -- not everyone is accessible via a Web mailto. The latter could lead us into a debate on the virtues of the browsers themselves but these and other questions will be addressed later in this paper.

Educational techniques

There is a variety of educational techniques available from which the trainer may choose - the decisions on how and what to teach are often dependent on the time constraints of the trainees themselves. Senior executives may not be prepared to spend more than 2-3 hours on learning the intricacies of the Web, so courses must be highly structured and very specific. The educational seminar consisting of a demonstration and followup discussion, with minimal hands-on is probably the most suitable for such clients. On the other hand, technical and systems staff may require 2-3 days of training including HTML workshops and detailed exercises on the configuration and maintenance of their Web site, and so on. The following list identifies the main types of educational techniques available to the trainer when planning and designing courses for Web business users.
Hands-on exercises
designed to teach the "how-to" of using the Web
Lecture
for explaining details including history and Net culture etc.
Demonstration
for showing home page examples and inspiring users
Seminar
for introductory overviews and executive summaries
Workshop
for participatory involvement and problem troubleshooting
Video
for group or individual education and followup
CBT (Computer-based training)
for self-paced learning and groups + interactive/videoconferencing for in-house off-site training.
Most training courses are a combination of a number of these techniques, designed according to the needs of the participants.

Delivery

Training resources: documentation and training materials

Although there are a myriad of training resources accessible via the Web, such as guides, manuals, handouts, overheads, papers etc. -- most require a high degree of customisation before they can be used for business presentations and courses. However they can be very useful for the trainer in deciding how to tackle particular training issues for specific clients and for locating resources that are relevant to the group being trained. John Bruggerman's Trainer's home page (http://iac.net/~bruggemn/ita.html) and others e.g. at URL=http://www.iupui.edu/it/doc/home.html; contain numerous resources for trainers.

The amount of documentation and additional materials required will depend on the type of course. A general introductory course would need a basic set of the following:

There are other non-text resources that the trainer can use to assist in educating business users. For example, there is a computer-based satellite training course being conducted at the moment (March, April May 1995) designed specifically for business - details are at the following URL: http://phoenix.phoenix.net:80/~ctn/

There is a Video home page: http://www.webcom.com:80/~ivi/

Examples of business-oriented online magazines and journals:

Some sample places to take participants to inspire and edify, these are all US sites as business use is most advanced there: and a couple of Australian home pages for Australian links: It is important to select a good graphical client browser as Web interface for demonstrations regardless of the user's actual environment.

Keep in mind, however, the method of access for the user in their work environment and whether their access is LAN based or over dialup. Bandwidth is increasingly an issue for many users.

Training course content

Of the complex virtual world that is the Web, how do you choose exactly what to teach? Once you have established the environment of the participants, understood the company's main objectives, and selected the educational techniques and methods that you intend to use, then the actual course content is relatively easy to plan. The amount of detail regarding technical information, step-by-step exercises, "show and tell" displays, etc. will be governed by the type of participant and the type of course as determined by the above. It is important to boradly educate all users in the main Internet protocols such as gopher etc. as background to using the World Wide Web.

The following is a checklist of the areas that I would consider for inclusion in an introductory course, divided into topics:

If the participant intends to be a publisher of electronic information, then a follow-up course, e.g. a workshop, will be required for more detailed information exchange in areas such as: An executive summary may consist of a creative demonstration of successful business sites, both small and large, a glimpse of the competition's activities on the Web, an anecdotal description of Net culture and the opportunities for successful promotion on the Web, a sampling of the major financial and commercial sites available for information access, a brief talk on security aspects, and perhaps winding up with a last look at a well- presented comparative home page.

Training tenets and tips

Whatever the actual format of the course, there are a few basic training principles that the trainer should follow, especially when training business users:

Follow-up and feedback

Finally, but most importantly, no educational services is complete without a mechanism for evaluation and follow-up. The easiest method is to design a feedback form or questionnaire that is given to participants before the end of each course or presentation. This will provide valuable feedback on the success of particular training methods and also allow participants to express their satisfaction of lack thereof. The questionnaire should identify the participant's position in the company, indicate their computer literacy rate, and encourage critical expression of the strengths and weaknesses of the course. It should also provide scope for a range of responses to particular aspects of the course. Future courses can then be designed with this feedback in mind, which is directly related to their background experience.

Individual follow-up may be required if the questionnaires reveal a lack of understanding or need for further training. In some in-depth courses, participants may wish to have copies of software or documents retrieved through the Web, or request additional information. Provision should be made for follow-up and delivery mechanisms to effectively complete the educational process.

Summary

Training corporate and general business users of the Web can be very demanding as the trainer has much preparatory work to do to tailor the service to specific corporate requirements. However the results in terms of customer satisfaction and the furthering of business relationships cannot be understated.

Copyright

© Southern Cross University, 1995. Permission is hereby granted to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction at educational institutions provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. Permission is also given to mirror this document on WorldWideWeb servers. Any other usage is expressly prohibited without the express permission of Southern Cross University.
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