In my post last week I laid out the framework for a discussion around satisfaction with Microsoft Learning Instructor-Led Training (ILT) courseware. Several have certainly taken a look at this “entry” post, but no one has yet commented, so let me set this portion up by centering the view today on the Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (or CPLS) customers.

There are well over 1,300 CPLS's globally. Some make training their sole business, others include it with a number of service offerings. Some specialize on a particular audience, like software developers or information workers. Some focus on a particular stack of Microsoft technologies, like Microsoft SharePoint technologies or Microsoft Platform and Management technologies. However their overall business is structured, wherever they are located, these Partners make training on Microsoft technologies using Official Microsoft Learning Products (OMLP) at least part of their business. A number of things influence their satisfaction with courseware, but the most basic is how attractive it is to their customers. Has Microsoft Learning developed the value proposition for OMLP and communicated it clearly enough to the CPLS community that they can likewise express it to their customers? To the degree we can do this, we can better enable their success, which I’ll bet makes them more satisfied with the courseware itself.

There are a LOT of other factors and components of their relationship with Microsoft overall and Microsoft Learning in particular which directly impact the satisfaction with us; however when looking more narrowly at the courseware itself I believe that, to the degree OMLP can help their training business grow and thrive, they are more satisfied with the courseware itself. I would invite CPLS stakeholders, MCT's, customers of CPLS’s and students who have attended classes that were taught using OMLP to relate their experiences here, particularly as they relate to the courseware itself (although if you want to comment on a particularly GREAT MCT, that would be OK too!).

I am kicking off a discussion about what comprises satisfaction with Microsoft Learning courseware. This is an obvious topic of interest, if only because Microsoft is concerned about the quality of all of its products.  Courseware is no different.

I think of our customers in several different groups. First is the training center which is the Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (or CPLS) whose business is at least partly made up of delivering Instructor-Led classes. Next are Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCT's) who are the technical training professionals who deliver our Official Microsoft Learning Products (OMLP) every day. Then there are the actual students who attend and consume the training and the businesses for whom they work. Satisfaction that is triangulated across these stakeholders has some common themes and some that are different due to the value focus of each party.

Without stating any assumptions other than the customer segmentation mentioned (which, as an assumption, can also be challenged...), I am interested in whatever it is about Microsoft Learning courseware that satisfies the needs and requirements of whomever is involved, across all of these stakeholders.

Much of the time when discussion focuses on satisfaction and quality, it can quickly crystallize around what's going wrong. While this is a valid portion of the feedback I get about our courseware, and certainly contributes to dissatisfaction, I would like to include the feedback about what goes right (or at least, could go right or better) and focus on what brings satisfaction to the experience with the training.

Please comment freely.

After a week vacation, part of which was in Las Vegas, I'm moderately well rested and ready to head into the last bit of our fiscal year planning.

I finished "Groundswell" on vacation and have started "Wikinomics" so I can start wrapping my head around some of the other ramifications of peer production and collaboration.  I feel that this must impact the way we learn.  In my experience with team software development, the collaborative environment was invaluable and where I learned a lot of helpful skills.  It's not quite like mentoring, but it can have that kind of tone with some teams.

I have a colleague with whom I discuss a lot of these kinds of topics (he has been part of the University of Washington's Masters program I mentioned in an earlier post.  As we discuss and brainstorm about technical training, learning styles, social networking, peer production, community et al. it can feel like mentoring, but it feels a lot more invigorating than that.

Is there a way that learning and technical training can really be invigorating?  Is it confined to a kind of experience, a specific instructor, an environment, or what?  I know that I enter that timeless place sometimes when I'm learning, but other times when 5 minutes feels more like a week.  I try to notice what the particulars about the experience are:

• Environment - simple things like too hot or cold, comfort of the chair (but not too comfortable), lighting, and ambience.
• Subject - Sometimes I can be completely engrossed by the technology and then, an hour later (same tech) it is totally uninteresting.
• Instructor - As I mentioned in an earlier post, this could be a person, a Webcast, a book/article/blog/newsgroup, e-learning or some combination.
• Being -  That is, am I tired, sick, distracted, eating, etc.

I'll keep paying attention and let you know what else I discover.  Let me know if you discover something that helps or hinders you.

Why the quotations around community?  Community means so very many things to different people, and some of them appear downright magical, if only in concept...

I'm currently reading the book "Groundswell" by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, which is having the effect of blowing the cobwebs out of my thinking about social networking, community, blogs, forums, etc.  It is quickly becoming required reading among my colleagues for any number of reasons.  For me, I want to better understand what this phenomena is and what it means for learners in general and Microsoft Learning in particular.  What kinds of effects on Microsoft Learning products would community ratings and reviews have?  What if recognized Subject Matter Experts on Microsoft technologies collaborated in developing, improving and maintaining a body of content with which individuals and organizations could assemble quality, relevant training for themselves, their teams and their organizations?  What if.....?

Anyway, I'm about 80 pages from completing the book, then I will let it simmer for a bit as the knowledge looks for places to reside in my thinking and planning.

On another note, I've had one very interesting comment from Mathias about how he learns best which I found enlightening.  I still hold out the question for further comments:

How do you learn best and why?

So, I know there are a great number of MCP's out here who have any number of exams, classes and certifications under their collective belts.  You all have a vested interest in the technology and look to Microsoft Learning to supply a solid portion of the information and training to want and need for all of the projects, deployments, upgrades, and applications you're working on, as well as keeping abreast of the kinds of things that make you more effective, efficient, valuable and make you able to eventually go home at night.

There's another sizable population out here who haven't taken an exam, maybe have taken a course or two (from Microsoft Learning or someone else), and are just as interested in the same goals.

I'm very interested in all of you.  How do you best learn?  There is a mix for everyone that works best...combinations of:

• Some kind of course (facilitated or e-learning)
• Mentoring (1 to1, team development models)
• Trial and error
• Staging networks and test beds
• Online (Webcasts, blogs, white-papers, technical communities)
• Books, magazines, articles of all stripes

How do you learn best and why?

I get a lot from books as they don't require a battery and I can easily refer back to them.  Some magazine/online articles can work if they are tightly scoped to a problem or process.  I can get a lot from a class, but I require a very engaging instructor who goes beyond the samples and the step-by-step aspect of some kinds of labs.  I get a lot out of sample code and simple projects that I can load into Visual Studio and mess around with.  I don't get much from Webcasts.  I've found that sometimes e-learning can work for me, if I'm allowed to experiments a bit within the environment.  Mentoring, if you can call it that in my work-style, has an interesting place: I bounce a lot of ideas off my colleagues and can come back to my desk with any number of different things to try.  Anyway, that's me....

How about you?

Ok, so it's been months....I'm checking in.

I'm becoming more and more intrigued with how people learn best, if that is dependent on mode of delivery, form factor, context (like environment, whether it's something that you're learning because you love it, it's "just for work", it's both, or something else...), etc.

One of the challenges with "classic content" (i.e. books) is the ability to keep them updated.  Doing quick fixes like typos, mislabeled images, etc. are much more difficult and expensive in the analog publishing world.  We're looking at how we can get to a much more flexible digital publishing model.

The other piece of that is enabling the community to improve the content.  This is a very exciting prospect, but figuring out how to take Microsoft Learning Courseware toward that goal entails getting a lot of people onboard and then building up and building out the infrastructure and frameworks to assure quality, accuracy and relevancy while at the same time leaving room for the kind of creativity that is out there....a very neat direction to be heading.

In fact, I've decided to take the leap and further immerse myself in the digital media world by signing up for the University of Washington's Masters of Communication in Digital Media program starting this summer.  From what I've seen and experienced of it so far (I've had a meeting with the Director and many lunches with another colleague who is a year into it....and I got to sit in on part of class as a teaser; I'm hooked...) it will challenge much of my thinking and also allow me to challenge others.  A place to get my boundaries stretched and stretch a few myself.

Going with the flow is certainly an easier and more positive way to approach change, both personally and in the world around (A tree that more easily bends will not snap in a high wind, etc....that kind of thing...).  Anyway, Microsoft Learning is no different than anywhere else.  The change of which I speak is my recent move from being Product Planner for the Developer Instructor-Led Training (ILT) to being Lead Planner for a team of planners in ILT.

Yep...it's happened.....I'm now a manager.....

My team consists of ILT Planners focusing on the three primary audiences for courseware: IT Professionals (more infrastructure focused), Developers, and Information Workers.  I have more overall responsibility for the Courseware Plan and the various curricula and portfolios that are proposed, designed, altered, evolved, eventually shipped, etc.  It is an interesting place to be.

My personal passion is still for the Developers, since I arose from this pool of experts and have been working with them in some capacity my entire time with Microsoft.  I just get to see "the big picture" a little more clearly...and I get to work with some incredibly sharp people (always a cool thing...).

Anyway, it is already a great challenge.  I look forward to being able to provide some commentary on a broader set of ILT topics going forward, as well as drawing attention to especially cool things...

Once I get through all of the meetings.....

Last week I spent some time bringing the Microsoft Learning Courseware Library to your attention.  I've gotten some queries about what is in the Library that is of interest to developers.   So I have compiled a short list of some courses that are there today and some that will be posted there within the next month or two:

• Courses that address additional technology needs today:
• Developing for Microsoft Office Groove
• Microsoft Office SharePoint and Windows SharePoint Services Development
• Microsoft Commerce Server 2007 Development
• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Development
• .NET 2.0 Security
• .NET 2.0 Application Architecture and Best Practices
• .NET 2.0 Application Performance
• Delta .NET 3.5/3.0
• Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
• Courses that address the release needs (that is, the Official Microsoft Learning Products are not ready yet, so this content is to be available in the Courseware Library until it is):
• Windows Presentation Foundation
• Windows Communication Foundation
• Windows Workflow Foundation
• LINQ

Again, if any of these courses look attractive to you, contact your friendly local CPLS.  They are the definitive training channel for all Official Microsoft Learning Products.

One of the single largest challenges in planning courseware for the developer community is the sheer number of technologies we use to build the applications our businesses or passions lead us to build.  I would need an incredible budget to build just survey-type courses on all of the various Microsoft developer technologies and platforms, let alone any in-depth content.  So Microsoft Learning has come up with another product line called the Microsoft Learning Courseware Library (please note that you need to be an MCT or a CPLS in order to log into this site).  The courseware in this library is still taught by Microsoft Certified Trainers and still offered through our Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS) channel.  But it allows us to get more content that covers more areas to those of you who need it more quickly.

The kinds of content offered comes from several sources.  These include internal Microsoft Product Groups, Microsoft internal training groups, and Partners who have created the content that fills a niche:

• technology...these would be Microsoft developer technologies that we may not have covered otherwise;  for example, Commerce Server 2007 content will be going there in the next month or so.
• release...that is, if a MOC course will be out in, say March of 2008, but a Partner has something ready NOW, we can post it there for the channel to use until the Official Courseware is ready to ship.

The Courseware Library just officially launched this past Monday, September 10th. There is even an RSS feed you can subscribe to if you'd like to be notified of new courses that are posted there.  If you are really interested in digging a little deeper into what is available, contact your friendly local CPLS.  They will have all the offering information available and be able to direct you to the next available class you need.

Of course, they can do that for ANY Official Microsoft Learning Product...but you already knew that....

Wow, I blinked and summer is more or less over.  There has been much of the usual sound and fury surrounding the end of one fiscal year and the beginning of another.  This, combined with the inevitable re-organizations that take place, has the overall effect of re-prioritization of all the items that were on my "To-Do" list as well as uncovering an entirely new and different set of them.

Anyway, an update is in order for the developer courseware plans; I outlined the plan for Visual Studio 2008 courseware back in March and this hasn't really changed, except that the WF course is now 2-days instead of 3-days. 

I've added a 1-day First Look Clinic and Hands-On Lab that we are targeting for later this fall.  The point of this clinic really is to give those of you familiar with Visual Studio 2005 or earlier a chance to "kick the tires" and enhance the knowledge you may already have of this product, having read about in on MSDN and other places and perhaps downloaded the Beta 2 to try it out.

A further update from another post back in March is needed, too.  The Windows Mobile 6.0 developer courses will be ready to go by the beginning of November (I will post links to the syllabi as soon as they make it online).  The Managed Code course is 3-days in length and the Native Code is 2-days, and although the available exams are for Windows Mobile 5.0, completing these courses will certainly help you if you intend to take them.

Our revision for Course 2310: Developing Microsoft ASP.NET Web Applications Using Visual Studio .NET is in design right now.  Since there are now so many more interesting additional pieces to developing web applications, I've re-titled it a bit more broadly to Developing Web Applications using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.  It will be completely updated to the newest Microsoft web development technologies, including modules on ASP.NET AJAX Extensions and Microsoft Silverlight.  This course will be available is regular classroom training as well as in our newest product, Microsoft Official Distance Learning (MODL) so you have a greater choice in scheduling.

There has been a change in our plans for Visual Studio Team System.  Right now we're in the envisioning process for a couple of courses: one will cover the Team Foundation Server exam objectives and the other will be a Visual Studio Team System survey course.  We will be firming up the visions for these courses over the next few weeks, so tune back in later....I will endeavor to make my posts a little more frequent (it wouldn't be hard to be more consistent than I have been, for sure).

That is the state of developer courseware for today.  There are other things in the works, as well as some other areas of interest I'm investigating, so stay tuned (and feel free to suggest areas you might find interesting....).

I am the fortunate soul from the Microsoft Learning courseware team that gets to attend Tech-Ed 2007 in Orlando next week, and I am justifiably psyched.  The last Tech-Ed I went to was in 1999 in Dallas and the developer world has changed considerably, not to mention everything else.  There is a contingent from Microsoft Learning, with members from every area (Microsoft Press, Exams and Certification, E-learning and the MCP Community).  We can be found at the Microsoft Learning booths and the MCT Community Lounge, as well as helping out at the MCP Study Hall and Exam centers.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to meet as many of you as I can, as well as get into some of the developer sessions being offered.  I'm also preparing myself for the Orlando weather, which is a little different than Redmond's.....

You have heard here about the upcoming courseware for Visual Studio Orcas and what it will cover at a high level...

So, before I go galloping off to plan these courses, I'd like to hear from you about what you feel are not only the "WOW!" aspects of WPF, WCF, WF, LINQ, ADO.NET and ASP.NET, but how those might relate to projects and problems you're currently having to address (or will have to address once the newer version gets deployed on your organizations' servers and desktops...).  What do you find particularly useful, crucial, or utterly vital to either fixing your problem or at least making it easier for you to write solid, secure and elegant code?

The goal is to have courseware that is simultaneously technically accurate, relevant and gives you the training you need to be successful with Visual Studio Orcas.

I wanted to get to a point in our planning process where I could actually comment on the final plans and take about the courses.  However, the past 6 weeks has been a flurry of activity around fine-tuning the Instructor-Led Training (ILT) plan for Microsoft Learning (part of my newer role as Lead ILT Planner).  We are finally "at the edge of the cliff" for approval, so I wanted to share with you how I want to see the whole Orcas curriculum fit together...

I would like to see a more cohesive scenario for all of the technologies, how they work well together, what roles they might take in a large distributed application.  So I would like to use an overarching scenario, "Connected Systems", that will allow you both focus on the particular technology being taught, say WPF, and at the same time see how that fits in a larger project.  The nice thing would be that, if you happen to return for a course in WCF, WF, etc., the scenario would be the same, just a different part of the application...oh, and no necessary order in which you need to take the courses.  You can take one or all...you can still learn what you need on the technology and see how this can apply to a much larger project.

Context is always nice to have.

So, if there is a Part One, there really ought to be a Part Two, correct?.......OK, then....

The rest of the road map for FY08 right now looks like this:

• Developing Microsoft ASP.NET Web Applications Using Visual Studio Orcas - This course is a revision of Course 2310 and will cover ASP.NET v.Next development using Visual Studio Orcas and some ASP.NET AJAX.  It will follow the instructional flow of the existing course.
• Windows Mobile 6.0 development - a couple of courses for Windows Mobile 6.0 developers are on the plan; one of these will be for managed code development and one for native code development.  As these firm up, I'll pass on more information, if you're interested.
• Visual Studio Team System - a course on the current plan covers Application Lifecycle Management using Visual Studio Team System.  This will be an interesting course, because the point of the course is not so much getting into a Virtual environment, writing code, dealing with reports and work items.  It is more focused on the "Why?" of ALM and how VSTS answers that question.  I'd be interested to get your feedback on how interesting that is to you.

 There is a lot of work being done in Microsoft Learning about how to identify and build more courseware for developers that really delivers the kind of experience and training you expect and that maps to what you do in your job.  I'm always open to suggestions....

I was just wondering: what does the oldest usable PC in your arsenal have on it and what do you use it for?

At home I have a laptop I purchased in early 2000 that was top-of-the-line at the time.  Pentium III, maxed out memory and a PCMCIA wireless card.  Pretty nice, really..kind of bulky, but I liked having a big (15-inch) screen and both a CD drive and a 3.5 floppy drive built-in (OK, so the floppy dates it....).  As soon as Microsoft started allotting laptops for employees it fell into a bit of disuse.  However, when I go to conferences or retreats of a personal nature, I take along my old laptop.  It has Windows XP SP2, the latest versions of Microsoft Works and Microsoft Streets and Trips along with the usual sprinkling of utilities and games.  It's servicable...and I still really like the screen real estate.

So, wondering out loud, what is the oldest usable PC or laptop that you still actually use?

Just curious...