Pre-course preparation for online delegates

Here at Armada, all of our courses are short and intensive, designed to teach you a skills and techniques rapidly. So, we don’t have time to waste.

One of my key responsibilities at Armada is to ensure that our online delegates have everything they need in place at the start of their course, so we can crack on with the training. There can be a little more to do than you might first think!

In the week prior to each course commencing, myself or one of my colleagues in our Operations team sends an email to delegates containing the information they need to participate in their course. This includes a clear list of the items required, and the things you need to have in place.

We understand our course delegates are busy, and preparing for their course might not be their top priority, but we encourage you to look at this email ASAP. Not all of the items required can necessarily be put into place quickly and, if you need assistance from us, we’re in a better position to provide it in advance than on the morning of the course. We often have 10 or more courses running concurrently, and to say things can be frantic in our office first thing as courses get underway is something of an understatement (though we try not to let this show 😀).

What needs to be in place?

Each course is different with different requirements. The typical requirements are as follows…

Software installed and working

Most (but not all) of our courses teach the use of a software application. Our training is hands-on and practical, so you’ll need to have access to the application to practice as you learn.

Installing a software application can be troublesome, and not necessarily quick. If you have a problem, the extent to which we can assist is limited, but we can often point you to assistance. For example, if you’re installing an Autodesk application, such as AutoCAD or Revit, we can point you to Autodesk’s technical support (via a chat facility).

Issues our delegates quite often encounter are:

• They don’t have the privileges required to install an application and so it must be done by, for example, their IT Department, which can result in a delay.
• They don’t have a license for the software that’s required. In this case, we can often send them a link to fully-functional trial software to download and install. For Autodesk applications, if a delegate has already used their trial (most can only be used on a computer once), we can lend them a license for the duration of their course.

Course files downloaded and extracted

For most of our courses, you’ll download files and resources that you’ll utilise throughout your course.

These should be downloaded and unzipped, usually to your desktop. We recommend that you try opening a couple of these files to make sure they have downloaded correctly.

Some courses have additional requirements, for example you may need to download and install libraries that are provided as ‘extras’ to the application being taught. When this is required, full details are provided in the email you’ll receive from us.

Training guide available

For most of our courses, you have the choice of a printed guide that we post to you, or PDF that you download. We’ll ask you what your preference is, but if we don’t hear back from you then you’ll get a PDF as default. You need to make sure you have this available.

Correct hardware setup in place

In summary, you must have:

• Audio, to hear and be heard.
• A webcam, so we can see you. This is something we insist on for good reasons. Our trainers often gauge whether a delegate understands something from their expression. It also helps to build rapport and a better all-round environment if everyone can see each other, and makes for a better course.
• For most courses, an external mouse with a scroll wheel. We’ll teach you techniques you simply can’t perform with a laptop trackpad.
• You will need access to two screens, one to follow the training, and the other to run application. Switching between the two is extremely difficult, and makes for a poor training experience.

You can check our hardware requirements and recommendations at www.armada.co.uk/onlinehardware.

Background reading

For some of our courses, if you’re completely new to the application you’re being taught, we strongly recommend some background reading and some video tutorials to watch. This is to ensure you have a basic level of familiarisation that will enable you to ‘hit the ground running’ when your course starts. Again, full details are provided in the email you’ll receive the week before your course.

Pre-course checklist

Included in the email one week prior to the course, is a link which takes you to a checklist on our website. This acts as helpful reminder for everything you need to have in place ahead of your course…and who doesn’t like to tick off a checklist😀.

Our Operations Team keep a close eye on all checklists that we receive, so that we can assist with any queries you might have in a timely manner. If you’ve not confirmed something on the checklist, one of the team will call you to discuss it and if we’ve not received your completed checklist a couple of days before your course you can expect a polite nudge from us too!

I hope this post has helped provide an insight to what you can expect to have prepared, and an understanding to why you can’t begin to prepare for your online training at 9am on the first morning of your course.