The Big Picture
Remember, the purpose of this blog is to share information about the best free training.*
We’re not going to spend any time talking about the worst free training… or for that matter, sorta bad free training! In fact, we won’t be spending any time talking about training that’s bad. And here’s why:
- It’s silly to waste time on stuff that’s bad. We are awash with all kinds of free training, so let’s cull through the junk, ignore it, and shine a light on the stuff that’s good! This will reinforce the people who are creating good free stuff and encourage them, and others, to create more good free stuff.
- It’s nasty and small-minded to spend time complaining about something that is offered to you for free! If you don’t like an item of free training, then you should simply forget about it. Or take your complaints directly, one-on-one, to the author/publisher. There’s no need to publicly embarrass or belittle the person who went to the trouble of putting it together. After all, it didn’t cost you anything but your time!
- I don’t want to get sued! — I’m an independent consultant… not a big corporate entity with deep pockets. If we start slinging mud and ranting about bad experiences with free training, then surely someone is going to crank up a lawsuit and come after the blog owner… me! And I want nothing to do with lawsuits!
10 Suggested Review Criteria
OK. So we will only be talking about free training that is, in your opinion, the best you’ve encountered. But what are some attributes of training that make it high quality? Well, without getting into an esoteric, trainers-only discussion, I’d like to suggest some common sense criteria:
- High Quality Content — It’s comprehensive, given the stated purpose of the training. And it’s technically accurate.
- High Quality Media — The media (print, slides, video, whatever) are, at minimum, appropriate to the training and maybe even exciting in some way.
- Overall Good Instructional Design — The mix of presentation, examples, practice, feedback, testing, overall pacing, group interactions… all the elements of the training — fit together well.
- Useful Tools — Some sort of “take away,” such as a checklist, a job aid, a reference card, memory jogger, or whatever, is available to help you put the new skill or information to work later.
- Useful Topic — It’s practical, provides a skill or some information that can be immediately applied
- Appropriate Brevity –It gets to the point quickly, stays on target and focused… it doesn’t ramble.
- Administrative Ease — Signing up, downloading, accessing, stopping in the middle and resuming later… any and all the logistical stuff is fairly easy to deal with.
- Fully Loaded & Stands Alone – It’s not just a partial training session, requiring you to purchase something else or buy another product in order to be of value.
- Expertise of Author — The author, writers, producers, or creators know what they are talking about. They have experience and/or recognized expertise in the field.
- Overall, A Satisfying Experience — When you finish the training, you feel like it was time well spent.
When reviewing a training item, you might want to use some of these suggested criteria. We recognize that a training item might be really great and not necessarily rate highly in all the criteria above. That’s okay. Just tell us why you found the training to be so wonderful, applying these or your own criteria.
Recommended & Required Information to Include in Your Review
In addition to a clear description of why the training is so great, every review should provide the following information:
- + Title of the Training Item
- + Topic (Example: Overview of RSS and How to Use)
- + Main Format or Formats (Example: Video-based training, with job aids and online instructor)
- Author and/or Publisher
- URL, Contact Information of Author/Publisher
- + URL or Source of Training Item [PLEASE... test the link when you post it, make sure it works!]
- + Your Review
- Your Name and Contact Info
- + Your Previous Knowledge of or experience with the topic
- + If applicable, full disclosure of any relationship you have now or have had with the author/publisher
+ Required Information
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Absolute Requirements for Reviewers
Please don’t submit a review unless the following statements are true:
- The object of your review is a free, self-contained training* item.
- You attended, “took a class,” viewed online, or otherwise completely experienced the training as it was designed to be experienced.
- You honestly believe that this training is the best.*
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* (For full-blown definitions of terms, please refer to Definition: Best Free Training.)
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Review Guidelines, ver. 1, Nov. 22, 2007
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