ProBoat E-Training

From: Hickling, Ken Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 6:...

2012-05-25T07:01:28.125-07:00

From: Hickling, Ken
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 6:00 AM

I am an occasional Black Screen user. I find that if people follow Ken's Simple Rules for presentations, a black screen is less necessary. Rules are as follows:

1. Max 5 bullet points per slide (sub-points are not included).

2. A bullet point does not run to two lines - it has become a sentance if it does.

3. Only show the bullet point you are speaking about or have shown already (build each point in turn - do not show the whole slide at once)

4. If you can use a picture instead of talking - do so.

5. If you want to use a comma in a bullet point it probably means you need to write another bullet point. If you want to use a colon (of either type) you need to go to a sub point.

6. Animations are good but not if they are distracting - use subtle effects.

Regards
Ken

Global Business Development Manager
Yacht Division
T +44 1489 775 061
M +44 7769 881 418
E ken.hickling@akzonobel.com
International Paint Ltd
1 Wellington Park
Southampton, UK
SO30 2QU
www.akzonobel.com/yacht

Excellent tip!! Thank you. Charlie Johnson JTB M...

2012-05-25T04:49:00.550-07:00

Excellent tip!! Thank you.

Charlie Johnson
JTB Marine Corp.

At it turns out, I'm not the only one still wa...

2012-05-08T11:08:12.049-07:00

At it turns out, I'm not the only one still waiting for an airborne car -- http://xkcd.com/864/

Invigorating subject BJ. I think innovation is ali...

2012-05-06T06:31:52.087-07:00

Invigorating subject BJ. I think innovation is alive and well. Steve Jobs and the potential of HTML5 has turned the Adobe Flash world upside down. Everyone is trying to create software tools that will publish content for the web and elearning without needing Flash. We published our first elearning course that plays beautifully on the iPad. The quality of the images, video and text is just amazing, and if you download it to the player App, its portable!
Project Tin Can is under way for a complete revamp of the SCORM that tracks a learners progress with elearning. It has the potential to allow users to move between the PC, a tablet or smartphone and let you pick up right where you left off previously. Great progress for everyone I think.
Thanks for your post,
Rick Pruitt

One of our readers recommended this link for those...

2012-04-27T10:05:13.213-07:00

One of our readers recommended this link for those of you who need clear instructions on grabbing graphics with a Mac . . . . How To Capture a Screen Shot with Mac OS X

insightful, simple sells, memorable ... !

2012-04-13T04:46:46.059-07:00

insightful, simple sells, memorable ... !

Barbara Jean- Keep these ideas coming! I am learn...

2012-03-23T07:16:52.751-07:00

Barbara Jean-
Keep these ideas coming! I am learning something from you every week.

Charlie Johnson
JTB Marine Corporation

Thanks, Charlie. That's my point exactly. You ...

2012-03-16T08:53:02.538-07:00

Thanks, Charlie. That's my point exactly. You never know where or when those "teaching moments" are going to appear.

Chris Barry, who teaches our ProBoat E-Training co...

2012-03-16T08:30:51.484-07:00

Chris Barry, who teaches our ProBoat E-Training course on Propeller Selection, responded to my question "What have you learned from unexpected sources." He tells me that his current bio includes the usual info about his credentials, and his dog, a West Highland White Terrier.

But he also adds:

There's some useful wisdom on ship design in a classic Little Golden Book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuppers_The_Sailor_Dog

I've also found a lot of wisdom relating to shipyard contract management in the Frances the Badger series, especially "A Bargain for Frances".

Also, my daughter gave me a book for Father's Day a few years ago which has become a major reference, (also for many other naval architects, as I have found out since): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things which I recommend to everyone who works on designs for human beings.

So it's really a matter of watching - even in unexpected places:
"You can observe a lot by just watching." Yogi Berra

Excellent segue. A real "teaching moment&quo...

2012-03-16T07:34:59.258-07:00

Excellent segue. A real "teaching moment".

Hey, Ann, thanks for the comment. I hope you (and ...

2012-03-09T08:04:39.662-08:00

Hey, Ann, thanks for the comment. I hope you (and other schools) will feel free to contact ProBoat E-Training for help with online learning. And please do use this site to share more details about what you are doing. (In other words, Guest Bloggers are welcome!)

This is fantastic. We are currently in the process...

2012-03-09T07:51:19.166-08:00

This is fantastic. We are currently in the process of putting three courses online as hybrids. This has provided a very framework for accomplishing this goal.

Here's a comment from marine surveyor and ProB...

2012-02-27T10:12:28.539-08:00

Here's a comment from marine surveyor and ProBoat E-Training instructor Pat Kearns:

In training as Viv discusses, the solutions are “us,” already there but perhaps not yet identified, organized and implemented as training tools.

The solutions already exist. It’s a matter of moving them from their unrecognized state and into the light. Within a workforce (profession, trade, etc.) are already the solutions to training but they are embedded in people doing the work. People who are not yet seen as essential training/educational tools for passing the skills/knowledge to others. A person doing a job does not often see him/her self as an educator nor does that value of the worker’s output translate well on the bottom line when put to transferring experientially gained knowledge and skills into a training situation. That is an important point of consciousness raising that must be acknowledged if critical workforce skills are to be preserved.

I suppose this thinking is already contained in considerations within discussions of ROI but maybe we are seeing it “out loud” in what Viv is saying. After a few reads of his letter, I definitely felt the proverbial thump on the head. In any case, his words incited my own thought process to conclude that the “doers” are key training resources and their “doing” can become training in face-to-face or with the use of today’s communication technology.

The hard part comes in helping the “doers” become viable teachers. Without that, we’ll be left with “doers” and teachers but not “doers” who can teach the doing. The Medieval apprentice concept rises again. With technology, we can have a few masters bringing their skills to many apprentices.

So much to do; so little time.

Pat

I've taught prosecutors and district attorneys...

2012-02-25T08:48:17.098-08:00

I've taught prosecutors and district attorneys for the last 7+ years on using PP in the courtroom. One demo I use is to ask when the class can see any degradation in a displayed image utilizing the same shot, but captured with different camera (thus file size) settings. We start with a 20meg tiff file. Some start to see differences between the 300k and 500k images.

Regards - Don

Thanks, Mac! I typically edit pix in Picassa and t...

2012-02-24T14:52:47.764-08:00

Thanks, Mac! I typically edit pix in Picassa and then export them to a file, with a standard export size that is uniform, so I had not encountered that before. Good to know!

Barbara - Good points, with a slight caution. On...

2012-02-24T14:42:26.554-08:00

Barbara -

Good points, with a slight caution. One weak spot with PP is that it will allow the importation of any size image. With multiple images, the file can become bloated, sometimes beyond belief. With the standard LCD projector, any image over approx 800meg is just overhead. Sure, PP will re-size the image to fit within the screen, but laptop performance can degrade, since it's just make it "fit" the screen, but not reduce the raw image file size.

We use a program called Irfanview that will allow for batch processing and reducing file size.

Hey Kevin! Thanks. I will be writing a post later ...

2012-02-24T10:22:38.897-08:00

Hey Kevin! Thanks. I will be writing a post later on about ways (free, cheap, and otherwise) that trainers can share presentations fairly painlessly. One online upload is almost always easier than endless emails flying around. ~Barbara Jean

We are a magazine ( Boating Magazine)not a builder...

2012-02-24T08:25:11.980-08:00

We are a magazine ( Boating Magazine)not a builder or boatyard. However, we have need to share presentations for a variety of reasons, and much of the time over the internet due to employees and writers being flung across North America.

The tips presented were excellent. But we have switched to using the presentation feature of Google Documents. Its free, anybody can access it, and its dead simple. You can share a presntation with anyone just by adding their email address.

Kevin Falvey

Kevin

The information about new web tools is really grea...

2009-01-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

The information about new web tools is really great and informative, but the variations are so great it confuses. Can it not be possible to set up on a set of tools that we can all use rather than pushing all the possibilities? It's great to have breadth, but where is the focus?

Pat Kearns replies:

No one would agree with...

2006-08-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

Pat Kearns replies:

No one would agree with the statement that surveying cannot be taught over the Internet more than I, and so I hasten to say that we are not attempting to teach "this profession" over the Internet.

I also say that, sadly, there is an abysmal lack of opportunity to learn the elements of marine surveying (The Chapman School notwithstanding) and that is, largely, because there is an equally abysmal failure of the profession to provide educational opportunity for its own. That will, ultimately, be the impediment to the craft and its craftsmen achieving the status of "professional."

Individually, some, perhaps many of the practitioners will rise to the level of professional because they have defied the rule and become exceptions, constantly learning and constantly teaching by their example. There are many venues for learning but none of them promise any professional, in any discipline, that any single venue or forum is the limit to learning. Learning is a lifetime pursuit unless one thinks that one already knows enough to be considered adequate to the task at hand.

Throughout my course, the advantages of an individual mark of each surveyor's written work product is emphasized. It's what sets his product apart from others. It's the package in which he wraps his expertise. It's a simple marketing concept adapted to our purpose.

Wrap a great product (the surveyor's opinions) in user-friendly packaging (the report) that meets the client's need for information that is readily accessible, accurate, precise, etc. and the surveyor is well on his way to becoming a professional among his competition. The report's content must be consistent. How that content is conveyed is precisely what the course is about. The variable is what the individual can do to make his report stand out and, in turn, how that reporting expertise makes the individual stand out professionally. The report is the documented evidence of observations. The surveyor's resume is the place to look for who "knows their stuff and who doesn't" and continuing education, no matter where or how it's consumed, is a mark of that in every profession.

Contrary to Mr. Anderson's reporting that underwriters make judgments on surveyor's qualifications based on their reports, underwriters make those determinations based on well those reports meet their needs for information. A slick report with perfect grammar and spelling is not the mark of "who knows their stuff." That is, in fact, the danger of standardized report programs. They can create an impression of competence where little exists.

Many a good surveyor is doomed to fail because of poor report writing skills or, as in the context of Steve Knox's course, the lack of knowledge about how to run a business. Can't learn that in a few weeks either but you also can't wait to run your business into the ground and then stand proud as having learned from the experience. What a terrible waste that would be. The entire purpose of my course is to raise awareness of how important one's report is as a reflection of one's expertise. What we are working to convey in this course is that, too often, the "value of a thorough inspection by a good surveyor is often lost in a lousy report." Thank you, Bob Adriance, BOAT U.S. for those inspiring words.

The course emphasis is entirely on developing writing skills and makes no attempt to standardize a report. The course's objective is to standardize excellent reporting by integrating well proven writing skills. The syllabus is clear on all those points.

I don't see a “cookie cutter” mentality at all. In fact, the very issue of putting learning opportunity on the Internet is a contradiction to this statement. The ProBoat courses defy "cookie cutter" thinking by taking the bold leap into a learning environment that brings individualism to the forefront.

There are no born writers, artists, musicians, etc. There are people who are born with varying degrees of inherent talent that must be focused and trained and practiced to achieve desired levels of expertise.

I would not condemn a talented surveyor prospect to flipping burgers because he doesn't write well. I believe that prospect can learn to write and every one of us can learn to write better.

Every skill that a person needs to be a successful surveyor can be taught and learned but it is the ongoing experiential existence that is the ultimate teacher. Does one have to wait for 40 years of experience to be deemed adequate to the job? Ridiculous! Every one of us who has experience also has a responsibility to pass it on to the next generation so that it can embrace the experience of its predecessors.

Living is the learning experience of a lifetime and learning is lifetime of seizing every opportunity to learn something new or sharpen already practiced skills. The finest voices in song take lessons every day from their coaches, few of whom have risen to performance fame of their own.

We all know the Pavarottis of the world but few of us know the names of the people who took the raw gift of talent and helped to train and hone it to its potential.

To say that the ProBoat survey writing course will encourage "cookie cutter reports" is to presume that every talented tenor taking voice lessons will sing the same song the same way. If that were true, then only old doctors could be considered competent. Old doctors who don't continue to train are just old doctors. Would you go to an old neurosurgeon who bragged that his experience was good enough? That he learned brain surgery in medical school in the ‘50s and his experience proves his worth? That would scare me.

"Experience" comes in many forms and some things of extraordinary life value are learned in a single moment of enlightenment. Who knows where that moment will be? It might even be on the Internet!

Pat Kearns
pkearns@marinexperts.com

This site is one of the best I have ever seen, wis...

2006-08-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

This site is one of the best I have ever seen, wish I had one like this.
»

Good job, Pat.

2006-06-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Good job, Pat.

Just checking...

greg

2006-05-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Just checking...

greg

ProBoat E-Training

From: Hickling, Ken Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 6:...

Excellent tip!! Thank you. Charlie Johnson JTB M...

At it turns out, I'm not the only one still wa...

Invigorating subject BJ. I think innovation is ali...

One of our readers recommended this link for those...

insightful, simple sells, memorable ... !

Barbara Jean- Keep these ideas coming! I am learn...

Thanks, Charlie. That's my point exactly. You ...

Chris Barry, who teaches our ProBoat E-Training co...

Excellent segue. A real "teaching moment&quo...

Hey, Ann, thanks for the comment. I hope you (and ...

This is fantastic. We are currently in the process...

Here's a comment from marine surveyor and ProB...

I've taught prosecutors and district attorneys...

Thanks, Mac! I typically edit pix in Picassa and t...

Barbara - Good points, with a slight caution. On...

Hey Kevin! Thanks. I will be writing a post later ...

We are a magazine ( Boating Magazine)not a builder...

The information about new web tools is really grea...

Pat Kearns replies:No one would agree with...

This site is one of the best I have ever seen, wis...

Good job, Pat.

Just checking...greg

Pat Kearns replies:

No one would agree with...

Just checking...

greg