As a trainer, sometimes the content of the training course is dictated by the learner or the learners boss. Understandably companies may try to get as much covered within the training timeframe believing they are getting more for their money. This used to leave me in a bit of a dilemma. Do I teach best practices?
If the learner only wants to be able to edit an existing document, then why confuse them by insisting they always approach a new project in the correct manner? As a trainer, teaching someone who has never used or seen InDesign before is a responsibility. Explaining to them the value of learning the software in the proper way should be a fundamental part of any training course.
If a learner can see the benefits of best practices they are more likely to ensure they don’t take ‘short cuts’ once the training is over.
Showing examples of how a little bit of discipline at the early stages can save so much time is always helpful. Highlighting how best practices will create a more efficient workflow as well as improve accuracy and consistency throughout their project will encourage them to stick with it.
When teaching Adobe InDesign advanced courses, ensuring learners have an understanding of best practices means they quickly get up and running with InDesign’s more automated features.
As with any new knowledge, if you don’t use it you lose it. I always leave the learner with a simple lesson which allows them to consolidate their new knowledge and allowing best practises to become automatic in a very short time.
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