Project Barley Evaluation - Training

[Description | Evaluation | Recommendations]

13.1 Description

Major training initiatives were required for the project staff, pilot farmer's and eventually department staff in general. Initially, some Internet training was organized for project staff at the University of Alberta. This course was not geared specifically enough to our requirements and it was agreed that the Department would develop its own training plan before proceeding with any further training. Around the same time, a session put on by Christie Communications was offered to project staff. This course provided an overview of the Internet as well as hands on experience with HTML coding, which was beneficial to technical support as well as the seekers and providers.

Subsequently, an in-house Internet training course was designed for kiosk staff, and project farmers.

Course Content

The one day Barley training program consisted of:

Introductory presentation material
Hands on work
Demonstrations
Discussions with Service Providers

Presentation material was approximately 3/4 hour in duration. It consisted of:

a verbal presentation, using a microcomputer to display onto an overhead screen key thoughts about the Internet such as , what it is, its history, its growth, how to use it, major events, terminology, etc.
a 10 minute video recorded from the television program Venture, which over viewed the Internet, its service offerings and potential, etc.
a 10 minute presentation on Project Barley, how it started, the expected results, the test pilot, review of Barley Project handouts.

Hands on work enabled participants to learn and use:

microcomputer electronic mail (using either Eudora or Pegasus software)
subscribe and unsubscribe to listservers
post to Newsgroups (using Netscape or Trumpet software)
use Netscape software

The demonstration showed participants how to:

start TCPMAN communications software
appropriately configure software
start dial-in procedures and connect to a Service Provider
start Netscape software
stop communications and disconnect from the Service Provider

Through demonstrations and hands on work, Netscape training taught participants to:

understand software icons and menus
understand software options/preferences and how to change
connect to Project Barley Home Page
"surf" Project Barley information pages
go to other sites using Project Barley or other starting points
open a direct link to any URL
go directly to WWW or Gopher information sites
create bookmarks
search for information using Internet WWW search engines
search "Gopher Space"
download and store information files locally

Training Locations and Attendance Numbers

There were 38 District Office & Community Futures Office staff trained at:

Edmonton May 15, 16, 17, 24, 25
(Compusmart)

There were 98 Farmer Project Participants trained at:

Red Deer May 30, 31, June 23*
(Red Deer Community College)

Camrose June 02, 03
(Augustana University College)

Edmonton June 05, 06
(Corporate Computers Inc.)

Calgary June 07
(Southern Alberta Institute of Technology)

Grande Prairie June 09
(Grande Prairie Regional Community College)

Edmonton June 21*
(Compusmart)

* Indicates a follow-up session for Farmers who missed the scheduled session in their area, or were unhappy with the performance of the equipment / network at their training session.

13.2 Evaluation

Attendee Evaluations

Generally the pilot users felt training was excellent. Without exception participants felt they learned a great deal and understood how to use the software to access Project Barley information and other Internet information. Many suggested the training was superior to other training they received at other Internet courses.

Any complaints with the training were due to technical problems at the training site. Some sites were not sufficiently configured to train participant volume. All sites experienced some software or communication difficulties but considering the newness of this type of training and configuration required, this is to be expected. Without exception, on-site technical staff were invaluable and worked judiciously to rectify the problems that were experienced.

Some Specific Written Comments from the Evaluations:

Excited about getting on to Internet now that I know a lot more

Great Opportunity!, I look forward to "surfing"!!

Good course, a day well spent. See you on the Internet

I am impressed with the work done on this project, and am looking forward to the future. Thank you

I think the course was a success and a good use of my tax dollars

Enjoyed it very much, I hope the Project Barley is successful

Needed this training a year ago! Looks to be an excellent project

Attendee Verbal Comments:

Pilot users voiced comments and concerns which were not necessarily noted on evaluation forms. These were:

hopefully future commodities would be added and appropriate training courses scheduled

agriculture staff should be available for technical assistance and advice

there should be a mechanism to permit pilot farmers to stay in contact with each other

it was the wrong time of the year to have the pilot

hold future training in the winter

too much graphics -- some farmers can only receive a maximum 9600 bps transmission due to poor grade phone lines, as farmers will later pay for the service, they only want useful information to be transferred in graphic format.

The following italicized comments are from the Price Waterhouse Evaluation Report for the project:

Producers felt the training they received was good but was insufficient. It was clear that producers would have benefited from one or two follow-up training sessions as well as the establishment of an ongoing "support group". One suggestion was that the producers meet at the district office "kiosk" on a routine basis initially with a trainer in attendance and then later on their own.

Content seeker/providers were very frustrated by the training and support and generally found it to be lacking. The varying level of capabilities among departmental staff made training more challenging

The lack of basic technology training and capabilities in the department came the forefront as a result of this project

Producers were frustrated by a lack of supporting infrastructure to help them after the training.

13.3 Recommendations

Consider some follow-up training to ensure Barley farmers stay in communication with each other and share information, they have currently been advised to post E-mail addresses to the newsgroup ab.agriculture.barley
Technical support staff should provide some guidance to Barley pilot farmers and all future users, this could be limited to support via electronic mail but should not detract from Service Provider obligations
Develop appropriate demonstrations and training sessions as more commodities and client groups are added.

This information is maintained by the Web Editor
Last Revised/Reviewed October 20, 1995

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Project Barley Evaluation - Training

13.1 Description

13.2 Evaluation

13.3 Recommendations

This information is maintained by the Web Editor Last Revised/Reviewed October 20, 1995

This information is maintained by the Web Editor
Last Revised/Reviewed October 20, 1995