If there is one thing I dislike more than a work training course, it is an online work training course.

And I knew that I was going to take agin SharePoint from the get-go.  When practically the first instruction I was given by the trainer was:

“To create a new page in SharePoint don’t go to the tab that says ‘new page’…”

I just knew that the system was not going to be intuitive and easy to learn.

Our group of half-a-dozen IT ignoramuses––or should that be ignorami?––were each allocated a ‘break-out training room’ by our trainer, Paul.  This exercise alone took up practically a third of the total time allocated for the entire session, while the trainer contended with a barrage of:

“My room’s not working, Paul.”

and

“That’s not coming up on my screen Paul.”

or

“Can you repeat that, please, Paul.”

My ‘break-out’ room wasn’t working either, and nothing was coming up on my screen, but I kept quiet, mindful of the clock; just wanting the actual training to begin.

But, it wasn’t until the session proper began that my worst fears about the training were realised.  The trainer was dithery; the mechanics of the training rooms kept failing; the platform itself was incomprehensible; and the session disintegrated into a quagmire of interminable interruptions.  By the end, I felt as though I had simply wasted an hour and a half of my life, and learned precisely nothing.

Before leaving the session, there was one last task to fulfil.  It was a requirement to enter a registration code to record attendance of the course, and to leave feedback.

A variety of unprintable expressions flashed through my mind regarding the usefulness of the course.

However, in the end, my social conditioning for politeness superseded a need to tell the truth.  I gave the course 4 out of 5 stars––Good––and recommended others to go on it.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree attempts to create a new page in SharePoint.