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Different Audience, Different Approach

I find that the most effective learning occurs when the course material is designed around its intended audience. This doesn't mean you need several dozen different intranet training programmes to accommodate each and every user type, but you should at least have — again, this will depend on the complexity of your intranet — two different approaches: one aimed at your technical users and site/content managers, and another for your non-technical users and site/content managers.

Users with a background in technology — engineers, software programmers, network and systems administrators — will be more receptive to faster-paced sessions and will be equally at home with either a traditional F2F or e-learning course. Since they deal with technology on a daily basis, learning to use an intranet won't be too big of a stretch. And given that techies are naturally predisposed to curiosity, many of an intranet's finer details and features can often be discovered on their own through normal usage and experimenting with the system.

However, do keep this tiny word of caution in mind: Don't let them turn the course into a surgical procedure. If engineers and IT users get their hands on a new "toy" they will take it apart within minutes in order to figure out what makes it tick. So it's important to keep intranet training — whether on usage or site/content management — on track and not to let it digress into a lengthy discussion on the technology used to build the system.

Non-technical users, on the other hand, tend to favor the traditional methods of F2F training over the "coldness" sometimes associated with e-learning — especially recorded CBT courses — and may find the lack of human interaction a little disconcerting. Smaller, intimate classroom settings are often more conducive to open discussion and class participation. After all, we have been accustomed to F2F learning since kindergarten.

I usually discourage the use of synchronous e-learning to teach users who are already uncomfortable with technology unless it's absolutely necessary and unavoidable. The reason behind this is that you're forcing them to have to clear two hurdles instead of one: The first being the course material itself, and the second being the e-learning tool and interface to learn this material. And when non-technical users are engaged in a synchronous e-learning session, the majority of their time will be spent either wowing at, or cursing, the e-learning interface rather than focusing their attention on the intranet material.

But if geography forces you to use e-learning with your non-technical users, make sure that you understand the level of their computer know-how — or at least how quickly they will be able to adapt to a new learning medium — and design your program to place more emphasis on human interaction. You want to involve the students in the discussion as much as possible rather than allow the session to turn into a long, one-sided lecture. It's also a good idea to break up longer topics such as site/content management into several, shorter sessions to allow more time for questions and to absorb all the new material.

Final Thoughts

While I've always advocated the use of different teaching mediums and methods to suit the audience, there may be times when your training options are limited by your circumstances. Perhaps you don't have the proper equipment to support synchronous e-learning or maybe it will be too expensive to constantly send employees from satellite branches to a central course location.

Regardless of your circumstances, you should always seek an alternative. Never abandon intranet training simply because you're unable to implement your desired method. Your goal is to teach your employees about the use and management of the system so that they don't have to blindly figure it out on their own. Even a little training is better than no training — and as the Chinese proverb goes, "It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness."