EAS, sponsors of the Essential project, recently held its first Essential training course for people looking to become affiliates of EAS, specialising in Essential. The delegates were from a wide range of geographical locations and so web based training seemed like the obvious format, to allow everyone to attend without incurring prohibitive travel and accommodation fees. There was some concern over the format as, although we’ve completed many different class room based courses and webinars over the years, we have not been involved in a full five day web based training course, either as presenters or delegates. We decided to split the five day course over a three week period as we had a gut feeling that five days of online training on the trot could prove difficult in terms of concentration and focus. I’m pleased to say that this format worked well and that the course was a resounding success!
Delegates commented that the web based format did not actually seem very different to being in a classroom. The sound was clear and the screen sharing not only allowed delegates to see the presenters screen for slides and demo’s, but also allowed them to share their own screen when completing exercises, if there were things they wanted to discuss or point out. They also found that it was just as easy to ask questions or have a discussion during the web training as it is in a classroom. As a trainer it did at times feel a bit odd – rather like you are talking to yourself! However, the course is designed to be interactive, with discussion points and exercises, so there wasn’t much time of just trainer talk, which is crucial in any training environment, but especially over the web!
The course covered all layers of the architecture and meta model, with the focus being on understanding the details of the meta model, our interpretation of EA and how we use Essential to support that. There is a lot of material and concepts to cover in a relatively short time, and so the delegates were pushed quite hard. They found that the split of the course over three weeks not only helped with their geographic location and availability, but it also proved extremely useful as it gave the time to fully digest the materials and contextualise the content to their own individual situations before moving on.
The feedback was very positive, both in terms of the quality of the training and also relating to the attendees views of Essential. The affiliates (as they are now) found that the course brought Essential to life and they were very impressed with its capabilities, particularly in the new information layer – which will be released shortly.
We are now advertising for our next Affiliate training course, which should take place in June/July and will again be web based. If you are interested we’d love to hear from you.
Of course training is not just for affiliates. If you are an organisation that has been using Essential, or if you’re new to it, you might find that a little training goes a long way in helping you and your team get up to speed with Essential and push your architecture efforts forward at a faster pace. If you are interested in receiving information on Essential training, please complete the Training Enquiry form.