Class Durations and Content Flexibility

Last week ORC delivered several days of Excel training to managers for the local Ford plant. Excel has been one of my favorite programs for years, and has never ceased to be a joy to teach. In this case, most of the class had some fundamental Excel skills they used every day, so we had the flexibility to really explore a variety of topics that I don't often have the opportunity to cover in a one-day session. Each day we had a new group and we would cover a few different items once we'd firmed up the foundational knowledge. There was extra time in many cases to apply several Excel features (such as conditional formatting, date/time formulas, and charting) to specific solutions the managers needed on the job.

My only critique for the sessions would be the length of the days... In my experience, it is rare that people can go through more than 5-6 hours of solid training and have enough room left in their brains for more material that day. However, since some organizations are limited to this type of time slot for their training, I'd make an alternative recommendation.

A better approach (which we incorporated on a few of the days) is to (1) take breaks a little more frequently, (2) review often, and (3) give a good chunk of time for practice on projects that combine skills, and give students a chance to work at their own pace and to ask questions after they've worked through what they remember how to do. This helps reinforce the skills learned, gives a person the chance to "make it theirs", and also helps give a little "brain cool" after a long day of taking in new material. Rather than cram in as much material as possible in 8 hours, cutting out 1-3 hours for application, review and questions results in much more thorough and retained learning for most students.