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WordPress, I both love and hate you
Saturday, April 28th, 2012I just spend two days getting my website back up, which included a full reinstall of WordPress. I will probably bore you with details later but for now… YEA!
I also am thrilled to find that my visitor stats tracking was apparently broken. It showed no visitors at all this month – I was bummed. It seems that there are people who read the blog.
Thank you!
I really appreciate it.
- Kirsten
A Learning and Development Professional’s Continuing Education
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012Finding a way to put professional development into your working life is not easy to do. There are groups you can join, and you can follow people on social media (though often there’s too much information to comfortably consume). Professional groups and user communities can be helpful. For myself, I find a lot of value with Adapt meetings (a non-profit group that helps connect L&D pro’s with Technology), and heading up to Boston for Adobe User Group meetings (when the stars align for a sitter).
In the end though, it often comes down to the need for “Train-The-Trainer”. Some places will bring in a TTT course for their Learning and Development staff, though usually the success or failure of a trainer rides on the end of class evaluations.
I’ve been asked to use a huge variety of evaluations, mostly made by the site or by the training company I was contracting with. Generally they fall along the lines of “Did you find the class to be valuable” or “Was the trainer prepared?” These (as you may know) are known in the industry as “Smile Sheets” and what they really measure is how good the instructor was at making the students feel good – good about him or her, good about themselves, good about the material… you get the idea.Â
What do you do when that feedback is not enough? If you’re truly dedicated to teaching then it’s not enough to have people like you – they have to “Get it”. Teachers/Trainers – you know what I’m talking about. It’s that moment when the person you’re working with clicks into understanding. Their eyes sparkle and they smile or sit a little taller in their seat. It’s really addicting – if you do training (I’m using training and teaching interchangeably)Â you ride that feeling like a wave. Having an entire class really click-in is a huge energy boost. Having people not click-in feels horrible – it’s like death by paper cuts. To stay in the field you need to keep fresh. Bad habits develop over time, little things you don’t even notice.
So what do you do if you’re an independent or in a workplace that doesn’t have the time, or money to spend keeping trainers sharp?
Make it yourself
You can make your own Train-the-trainer class – I had to. Sign up for webinars, regardless of the topic. Go to seminars, user group meetings, anywhere where people are presenting. Keep doing this. Then do it some more. You’ll be making little comments in your head “Oh – never say that” and “Ooh, that works” while checking what the view is like from the student seat. It doesn’t need to be work related – I recently was at a dance seminar and saw a really talented dancer struggle with the multiple levels of students in the class.
Find the people you want to learn from. One the things I’ve enjoyed doing is building a list of people that are my touchstones for certain topics. For example, will always listen to Cindy Huggett, Lieve Weymeis, Cathy Moore… The list goes on for a while. This helps me for my own development and as a great shorthand for my students. When I teach Adobe classes, I will often say “you can always trust Deke – his info is solid!“. I do this because Deke Mc Clelland is not only a great trainer but also a really good resource.
So what can you do?
Here are a few things you could build into your own personal TTT program.
Webinars
(AKA Online Training, Virtual Training, that stuff you dread…)
- Sign up for a free webinar service, one that let’s you record the meetingÂ
- Give your friends some free 20 min class. Those videos will be very helpful.
Screen recording
- Sign up for Jing or some other screen cast recording service (Jing has 5 min free).
- Make a video on one feature or term from your work.
- Show the video to someone else, perferably several other people
Live video recording
- Record yourself presenting to a room. A real room; one that is NOT full of your people. This is the brutal one. DON’T watch it the same day!
- Watch it
- Cry
- Do it again
Your Turn
What have you done to keep your skills sharp in your work?
Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments.
Photoshop CS6 Sneek Peek #3
Monday, February 13th, 2012Here’s another sneak peek from the Photoshop team
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** Update March 22, 2012**
I’ve out all the Photoshop CS6 Sneak Peeks Together on the Axiom Adobe Site
Photoshop CS6 Preview
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012Hi!
Sorry I’ve been in a bit of a work coma and not keeping up with the site very well. I’ve got some new stuff for you – here’s a post about the new “Photoshop CS6 Sneak Peeks” that I did over on the Axiom site.
So.. what do you think?
Photoshop compositing and the never ending road
Sunday, November 6th, 2011Mastery doesn’t mean you’re done learning
Are you a “Photoshop Expert” or “Guru” ? *shudder* When was the last time you edumacated yourself? (yes. the spelling is deliberate)
The image on the left is of a composite I’ve been working on for class. I will play with more features when making “random art”. I’m a big fan of the Photoshop Disasters site. It kills me that some of those images manage to get the the approvals process all the way to final print without anyone going… “Wait! What the hell is that!“. I don’t have the same time pressures that they do and am grateful for it (one of the many reasons why I’m a software trainer and not a production artist). However, some of the mistakes that you’ll see are just nuts. Basic anatomy people. Normal human elbows don’t attach at the chest – It’s not that hard!
So… back to the purple fantasy picture… I don’t have any specific class that is if going to use those images – I just need to keep my hand in and work on all the techniques that I want my students to know.
There are specific tutorials I will sometimes use, and I need to work through those regularly too. Nothing, however, beats the value of grabbing some images on whim (bless you fotolia) and trying to make something out of thin air. I urge you to dig thru the stock photography database at your favorite site (I cannot give the Fotolia people enough love) and look for an image that captures your imagination. In this case it was the dancer and the purple background that did it.
Ok, Kirsten, we get it. So why the rant?
Someone recently expressed surprise that I have a Lynda.com membership. They said something to the effect of “but I thought you taught this stuff?” Yes, I do and have for over a decade. I also go to the NAPP website, Deke.com, have an RSS feed of tips and tutorials a mile long, and have a bookcase of software manual that takes up most of one large wall.
It’s simple – you’re never done
I’m well known for having three-too-many resources for people at the end of class. I have books and videos I recommend along with the names of people who are always worth listening too. There’s a reason I have that information – I’m a student too. Any technical trainer (heck, any teacher at all) will tell you that the best way to master a subject is to teach it to someone else. It’s true. It’s also true that you don’t really know a subject if you can’t explain it to someone. My favorite quote is on my desktop so I see it every day, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough - Einstein”.
Please don’t get caught up in the “I know that already” trap. I was fortunate enough to go to Photoshop World when it was last in Boston. Most of the classes I took covered things that I teach in class regularly – and yet I got a TON out of going. I got to see other trainers work, which is extremely valuable, and picked up lots of new ways of getting a topics across to an audience.
It’s scary to know that there is no end to what you can learn. Sometimes it seems like there’s too much to take in. I won’t lie – I sometimes curse Adobe’s release schedule, but focus on the positive. Every new features gives you a new toy to play with. There are so many fun, amazing things you can learn – become a master of – that you can pick and choose what suits you best.Â
Strive!
Mastery is a fantastic goal. It’s just not the last goal. The farther you go the easier that is to forget – we’re never done learning.
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What is rule one?
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011With apologies to Terry Pratchett, 
I am re-writing rule one. While it is always wise to follow his version … “Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men”, – mine will have to be “remember: software is not intuitive”.Â
Before you start screaming, I know that there are many cases where software is not challenging to figure out and some people find learning software to be very easy. What I am referring to is the habit that adult learners have when trying to do a task in some piece of software. Generally I get some variation on “I know it’s easy, but I’m not finding it” when people come to me for help.
Why assume that it’s easy?
I teach software for a living and am far more likely than the average user to spend time digging around in software to find what I need. **warning, long and rambling story** This morning I was cursing a long blue streak at Apple for the (to me very counter-intuitive) way they set up default email preferences. I use Outlook 2011 for work and gmail for everything else.
With the new division of Axiom that I’m building I wanted to be be sure to have some kind of online task-tracking and contact-tracking system for my business partner and I to use. After some digging and playing with some trials I chose CapsuleCRM. When I click on a contact email in Capsule I want it to open Outlook. Capsule has a setting to let me open Gmail if I wish, but not Outlook. The default behavior of my computer is to open Mac Mail.
So – how do I get the computer to open Outlook when clicking an email address link? I never had to look for this setting before and was verklempt when I discovered that I had to go into Mac Mail, start a new account and then go to preferences to change the default email settings for the computer to be Outlook.
WHAT?!? Who thought putting the default email settings inside Mail was a good idea. GAHHHH! I have to create an account so that I can NOT use Mac Mail?
And Kirsten, your point is?
OK, So that was a long way to go for today’s advice – Do not assume that software is intuitive.
Is is very easy to make software rules that are easy to understand for the other people writing the software. It’s not easy to make rules that are easy to understand for someone who is not already versed in the rules and regs of the development team. When you are looking at a new piece of software (or an update to one that you already use), please remember that is is the job of the software to help you – not the other way around.
But everyone says it’s easy
Everyone? no, not everyone (I don’t) – BUT when you encounter those people (your kids, grandkids, easily frustrated coworker…) keep in mind that they fall into one of two catagories:
- They did find it hard to learn and have forgotten how frustrated they were
- They have previous experience that makes the software familiar, and therefore easier to learn
How many people do you know that find it totally rational to click the Windows “Start” button to get to Exit? (Don’t get me started on the Windows 7 “Orb” – Gack!). How many Mac users think it makes total sense for a picture of an apple to be a menu? Why is Ctrl (or Command on the mac) and Z the shortcut for “Undo” almost everywhere? – “Because”, that’s why.
It’s almost zen really – “It is what is”. Zen – Yes, Easy – No
So… what was rule one?
All together now… “Software is NOT intuitive“.
Thank you. Class dismissed.
AdobeMAX!
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011Adobe announced a LOT of things at AdobeMAX this year!
The new “Creative Cloud”
The idea behind this is essentially to make Adobe into the central hub of your creative life. I’m a regular Dropbox user and it makes having all my files on all my devices at the same time really easy. This works along the same lines… start a file on your tablet, save to the cloud, walk to your laptop and keep working on the same file. Lots and lots of synching. Creative Cloud is a hosted service with a subscription going live in November with 20 GB storage to start.
There are three parts to the Cloud:
Part One – Apps
Along with a cloud subscription of the Creative Suite (the programs will be saved locally), these are also six flash-based touch apps
- Photoshop Touch – scribble selections are ok, tilting layers in space is awesome!
- Collage – one word…Â moodboards
- Debut – Presenting your mockups has never been easier
- Ideas – finger painting taken to a whole new level
- Kuler – the mobile love child of Kuler.adobe.com
- Proto – really USEFUL interactive wireframer for websites –mock up the site, create a zip with assets, open in Dreamweaver and apply CSS = done!)
Part Two – Services
- DPS Single edition – publish something to the iPad
- Typekit – show every font in every browser
- Business Catalyst – Create sites for your clients complete with hosting and lots of bells and whistles
Part Three – Community .
- An inspiration gallery and support hub
Oh, and that’s not all…
This is really a quick and dirty overview. For more information, check out these links…
Learn more about Touch Apps here
Learn more about Typekit here
Learn more about DSP, Single Edition Here
Learn more about Community here
Learn more about Creative Cloud here
We’ll miss you
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
From the Blog
- WordPress, I both love and hate you
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 - A Learning and Development Professional’s Continuing Education
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 - Photoshop CS6 Sneek Peek #3
Monday, February 13th, 2012