Courseware Quality - the MCT's

Comments

# Thomas Lee said on August 31, 2008 7:06 AM:

MCTs (and trainers in general) are certainly very important when it comes to delivering high quality training. Over the years, I've seen it time and time again: a good trainer can deliver a great experience even with poor quality courseware - and that is certainly the case for MS courseware whose quality has suffered badly over the past 5-6 years.

A good trainer is a bit like a good magician, diverting your attention (from the crap stuff) and concentrating on something else.

An example is 5177/8/9 - a set of three very poor  courses. Having said that, I can deliver these and get good ratings - I simply have to add value (i.e. make up for the content that's missing), correct the courseware (no, COMO doesn't do VOIP), and focus the delegate on the important aspects of OCS (a truly great product).  What is dissapointing is that MSL won't even comment on why these courses are still so bad - or seeminly fix them. Personally, I'm giving up on it - I have new labs (that work and don NOT require 43 Virtual machines), and have added content to make up for the gaps. MSL needs to do a better job, but when they don't, MCTs have to fill the gap.

It seems to me that MSL needs to take more notice of it's MCTs (and I think it is beginning to do that). Several years ago, an MCT asked if MSL was a quality focusesd org - and the overwhelming reply from MCTs was very much at odds with MSL's own perception of itself (a case of groupthink by MSL IMHO). It was surprising (to MSL) that so many MCTs had such a poor view - when their own surveys showed customers here happy. Well yes - the MCT filled the gap and delivered satisfaction, even with poor quality courseware.

You say that you are in touch with MCTs at events like TechEd. While I know this to be true (of you), as one of the participating MCTs, I am continually dissapointed at how little feedback seems to be acted on. Over 10 years ago, I and others commented on MSLs practice of rarely fixing errors in courseware - we gave some really great ideas. The MSL folks in the audience nodded their heads, seemingly agreed with the audience and nothing seemed to have happened. At another Teched event another MSL person took copious notes - with the same aparent results. Sometimes listening is not enough - tell us what you heard, and what if anything you will do about it.

The recent MCT survey showed just how little MCTs think of MSL's overall qualty - a huge drop in quality. It's good that Lutz is willing to bet a bonus on fixing this issue (although if he was really serious - he'd be betting his job and that of his top management team!). But just cutting the numer of courses you produce seems to be a curious way to go about things, but let's see if he's right.

The answer, or at least part of the answer, is to start engaging your MCTs more and listening to them (the rest of the answer is of course to create great courseware again!). MSL could start by fixing a few gaping holes, and ensure the MCTs know why things got fixed (eg the download centre).

Keep the lines of communication open (this blog is a good example that more MSL folks should take notice of). And please engage in the newsgroups more - you have a perfect opportunity to do better but often it's missed.

My .02€ worth on a rainy Sunday morning.

# MCT Since 1997 said on October 20, 2008 8:52 AM:

Sorry for the annonimity, but i work for a CPLS and i´m afraid to be fired if the CPLS i work for could be linked to me.

I wanna talk about the new MOCs. Speaking frankly, they´re terrible!

The new MOC is the worst i ever seen, since NT 4.0 MOCs. The students got a "PPT" insted a MOC. The pages printed have no information, sometimes a "copy" of what is written in the Slides on top of the page, making the printed material a "no information" book, but a "clinic" ou "seminar" content.

Ken rosen stated in the MCT Summit that the "real" information it will be in the CD/DVD but it was a lie. Vista materials have no information in the CD besides de "classic" info like answers, multimedia and other things that have less value that... INFORMATION!

The piracy of the material will be a big problem too, because the printing is expensive, but to put MOC in the Torrent networks is almost free and i heard a lot people saying will wait the new MOCs are available and DON´T study in a MOC classroom class because the material can be obtained for free in the net. I f a make money beeing MCT is because the classes are on the market, if the market disappears, what i have to do?

The "excuse" in problems updating MOC materials is so ridiculous... The Error LOGs published on the Download Center are a very good solution, but the Error LOGs are update once or twice a year... And the "B" revisions are a good way to update the material.

And the price? How MS will charge the same price with less content? It´s a theft covered by people that think students are stupid. Ther materials gets smaller, with less content (printed and digital) and the prices are the same?

# Jack Populorum said on January 5, 2009 12:30 AM:

I have been an MCT for 4 years now. I must agree with the comment above. The new courseware is so bad, that I thought it was a mistake.

I actually wrote to Microsoft several times inquiring where to find the content that I was supposed to teach.

I am preparing to teach 6460 Windows Presentation Foundataion. The delivery guide (and the students book) is just a big overview. It's an outline. There is very little concrete information in it.

Each page has a slide with some words (some are new words which a student will have never heard before). There is usually one or two sentences in print that just repeat the text on the slide.

I have actually had to purchase other books on WPF so that I could learn it (I'm still in the process of preparing for this class).

I have the whole shooting match of certifications from vb6 to present (exluding the new 3.0 and 3.5) and I am a professional developer when I am not teaching. If I, who am highly trained in this field, am furious about the material in the courseware and have to go outside of it to even hope to learn it, then how in the world is a student going to take anything away from the class. If they get stuck in the real world and try to turn to their courseware book, they're just screwed!

I have seen the courseware decline over the last 4 years. I have always had to work with students to help them to understand why the labs and demos do not work, and what you have to do to make them work. I have also always supplemented by providing tons of personal samples.

I am to the point of recommending to my training center that instead of training MOC, we just pick a $40 book on the topic and run with it. It would be better quality and save a TON of money!

Is there anyone at Microsoft who cares about the quallity of training?

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