On the Job Training is beneficial to everyone. After attending a general training course for a specific job, there is a need to refresh everyone's memories or introduce changes to a job through online tutorials. They have sight, sound and actions to make the tutorial memorable.
Depending on the job, there is a lot of information to remember. Most of it relates to procedure. Even when walking through a building and getting to work, there will be many educational talks with a Manager or Supervisor before being able to perform the job autonomously.
One pizza place likes a thin crust. Another one prefers a crust that is toasted until it is golden. Their Customers like the pizza they ordered in the past. There is a standard introduction on how to make the pizza. Most of the information remains in memory. It is in use constantly.
One day, there is a problem. Several Employees who decide brushing garlic butter along the edges is better. New Trainees do not know the difference. A Manager will have to host a meeting to verify that the crust is golden. Customers are complaining. An Employee might mention they had this type of pizza at another restaurant. Your Customers go to your restaurant not their restaurant.
Consistency is important. It is similar to branding. When ordering something, they get what they ordered. I did not want to pay for this or that. I wanted to buy the same thing as last time. If it is my first impression, I might not want to return to the store. I was downsized on cheese after other Employees gave everyone else too much cheese. (I went to a familiar restaurant for a long time. Twice, they gave me light cheese. I avoid them now.)
Constructive tutorials work in conjunction with a question and answer database. This is called a help page. A person needs to know the answer to questions and types in keywords to query the database. The data base uses a title, keyword or text search to find relevant answers to the question.
A database can use all three types of queries. It is better if there is a structure of importance. The most logical answer to the question is presented first. This is formed into an if and then statement to create the list. If the word is not in the title then find keywords next. Keywords can also be tags; however, tags are similar titles to explain content.
When reviewing the same information, it is easy to remember how to find information or jot down a title when realizing you have seen the same screen. You might want to bookmark it.
It is not so easy to remember to things you learned once in training. You read about it. After thinking, you remember the trivia game addressing the issue. When there is an ongoing issue or specific information is critical to job performance, it is placed into an online tutorial.
I remember tutorials at work. Every month we had to check the desktop to review tutorials. Google has tons of tutorials. Not all of them are in videos. If it is in a video, I imagine it is critical information or several people have trouble understanding the concept.
I have been searching help to improve my back office. Having experience with computers, there are questions that need answers. Though not seeing these tutorials online, I thought it would be fun to demonstrate a tutorial by condensing questions and answers from Google Help Pages.
Tutorials do not have to be amazingly intricate. They are better with a voice-overs to explain bullet points; instead of, music in the background. Though not amazingly professional, it accomplishes the goal of teaching someone how to do something in a brief format that is less time consuming. This is similar to reading. It still takes focus and concentration to benefit from the tutorial.
Tutorials are replacing office memos. Everyone receives the written memo and reads it. Placing important or urgent memos into a tutorial emphasizes an upcoming change or existing change to procedure is extremely important.
The old method is gathering everyone to a meeting; instead of, talking to Employees when you see them. The more grandiose show of effort is making a tutorial. The amount of time and effort to make the video demonstrates how important it is to Management that Employees are learning specific policies and procedures. This might follow a meeting if the information is crucial to the functioning of a company.
Tutorials have sight, sound and action to make information memorable for all learning types. It is information that is easily converted to storage. This information builds a database archive. Writing may or may not be meaningful to everyone. Writing a tutorial simplifies statements when revising question and answer screens in the database. This helps boost effectiveness and is also efficient.
