Welcome to an article which goes into the land of SharePoint
Training; attempts to examine various levels of training and how
they can and are being mapped to SharePoint information
workers.

Please note, that whilst I go into some detail on training
delivery that I am not a SharePoint Trainer. I think though I’ve
had enough experience through the implementation of SharePoint
Training strategies for many organizations (and myself) , so I
suppose I’ve got some points that may be useful either to you as a
trainer, or SharePoint user, or even a programme manager seeking to
identify the key areas of SharePoint training delivery.

Let’s begin with an example from a SharePoint support
perspective featuring the SharePoint Administrator:

You’re a SharePoint Administrator who is troubleshooting a
SharePoint environment and faces a whole bunch of reds (Errors) in
the Application Event log. After trawling through SharePoint logs,
Web.Configs and IIS logs on the screen for several hours, trying
this and that, crashing out on numerous occasions; you’ve may have
just about had enough. Your pride may already hurting from the fact
that the SharePoint reference manuals are piled high all over the
desk, and still the flashes of understanding and inspiration simply
won’t come…

Crossing over to the Information Worker; another
scenario.

You have joined an organization who has adopted SharePoint. You
have been told to use a SharePoint site so you can store your work
content in. After accessing your site for the first time you are
daunted by the options there. Site Actions? What’s that? What’s the
Breadcrumb Trail? Someone said to get to the ‘Projects Document
Library’ by looking in the Quick Launch Bar – What’s that and where
is that? In fact, what’s a Document Library? Faced with these
bewildering features and options, and faced with having to just
read a book to try to understand what they all mean, you decide to
use e-mail.

Cross again to the ‘experienced’ SharePoint worker.

You are comfortable with SharePoint because it does what you
currently want it to do. You are aware of the relevant functions in
SharePoint that makes you productive, but want to learn more.

And again to a SharePoint Developer…

You are a SharePoint developer tasked with customizing SharePoint.
You need to write a mail enabled app for SharePoint 2015 but don’t
know where to start. You start digging into forumns, followed by
blogs, followed by user groups, digging in e-Books and getting
bewildered with the options available. You need to get a definitive
answer, and getting that worried feeling that you need to
understand SharePoint development more.

I could carry on with say SharePoint administrator backend
scenarios, Solution Architect security scenarios ad-infinitum
concerning training material and knowledge building they will face
in the march to understand how to do things in SharePoint – what is
needed is to understand what kinds of training materials there are
and where are some good places to start getting them from, and why
you would go there in the first place!

So where do you go to get the answers you need?

We are already in the world where we have our ‘intelligent agents’
(known to previous tech generations as a genie or guardian angel)
can be summoned using good ole’ Google Bing, to hunt down that
famous and grail-like Blog, TechNet article- ad-infinitum’.
However, as we all know life as a SharePoint Admin, Developer or
Architect doesn’t necessarily mean you find the information you
want first time! Sometime, hunting down the right answer is like
looking for a needle in a stack of needles!

In truth, there is not yet that silver bullet in training where,
at a click of a button, or using some kind of ‘Star Trek like’
speaking into your computer response to answer your SharePoint
queries. The ‘Hey; computer – tell me how to setup Kerberos on
SharePoint’, or ‘show me what the version history is on my
documents” is just not there – yet!

So, perhaps some good old fashioned training is better than
nothing. To a lot of people, especially developers in SharePoint
I’ve seen, training is ‘the T word’, and almost an admission of
defeat.

However, as I’ll describe in this article, there are many ways
SharePoint training can be delivered – through the written and
spoken word, on the desktop as well as the classroom.- most which
are inexpensive and above all, interesting and fun.

Also, lots of SharePoint tools are available that go some way
towards realising the equivalent of the genie in the bottle
🙂

A potted theory of learning

Just in case you’ve never considered how or why you’ve ever
learned anything – from being able to read this article to driving
a car, time to go back to basics.

The Competency Ladder.

If you view learning primarily as a ‘damage limitation’ process
whilst trying to acquire competency in SharePoint, the following
series of stages can be applied to most situations:

Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence – Making large
amounts of mistakes.

Stage 2: Conscious incompetence – I see and admit
to myself and others I’m making mistakes.

Stage 3: Conscious competence – I am learning new
concepts and skills, my error rate is decreasing (normally in a
non-linear fashion :)).

Stage 4: Unconscious competence – or ‘what was
all the fuss about?’

Now, this four stage cycle is sometimes referred to as the
Competency Model for (hopefully) obvious reasons. Where do you
think you are on this model? If you are implementing SharePoint,
where do you think those about to use SharePoint would be?

Additionally, the competency model really does come into its own
when considering your role in SharePoint. Taking the SharePoint
Administrator situation described earlier; if the SharePoint
Administrator is at Stage 1, then making ‘mission critical’
mistakes could result in damage to the relevant SharePoint
environment. For SharePoint Information workers, making many
mistakes could result in a loss of productivity and confidence in
using SharePoint. Both of course could also result in the company
loosing money.

In order to move up the competency ladder, we tend to accept that
Stages 1 and 2 shouldn’t last for too long at all, and that Stage 3
is worth investing time and money in training. However, learning is
never a Stage 1 to 4 kind of deal. Its a loop as we consider new
areas of SharePoint to learn; and; we ensure there are tools
available to mitigate Stage 1 and 2 (for example, getting a
SharePoint test site to play in).

Training = competency = Training.

So, it is very important to consider that training surrounds the
level of competency one has relevant to the tasks they have to
perform. Consider the common activity of learning to drive a car.
Think of all the would-be Michael Schumachers in cars displaying
‘L’ plates, their terrified parents, and the huge number of driving
schools that make a multi-billion pound business from the accepted
norm of the need for formal training.

The other accepted of ‘mission critical’ competency is that we
need to prove Stage 4 has been reached (hence the driving test) and
achieve recognition and certification (the driving license). This
certification then allows us to perform various other job roles and
for some people it acts as a pre-requisite qualification to apply
for a further specialist training, such as the Heavy Goods Vehicle
(HGV) License.

The final point to note is the model of cyclical, that is, the
tendency is for skills needing to be renewed or modified over time.
This is not just because ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, but for the
environment in which the original skill set was valid has probably
changed. Consider the continued debates about including motorway
driving as part of the standard test?

The amount of training you think you need is based on the amount
of knowledge to cover your ‘mission critical’ needs. What I mean by
‘mission critical’ needs are the basic skills needed to ensure that
what you do is carried out to the satisfaction of ‘your peers,
makes you productive and meets / enhances the profile of yourself
and the organisation you work for.

So, do you identify your ‘mission critical’? training needs? If
you don’t, consider that if crashing your car is obviously a bad
thing, then as a SharePoint Administrator isn’t regularly crashing
your SharePoint environment equally unacceptable?

If the answer is ‘yes’ then doesn’t that mean from the outset,
without admitting defeat, that some investment in training is
justified?

Even if you answer ‘no’, implying your using SharePoint as a
hobby, not as a means to make a living, would not investing in
training help you achieve more satisfaction and avoid some
sleepless nights in the process?

People take it as faith that when somebody goes for SharePoint
training, they will return wiser and better for the experience. In
most cases, they may see a gain in productivity, but whether they
failed to learn to their full potential because the course was too
easy or too advanced is normally impossible to judge unless some
kind of pre-requisite test is available.

Specialist Learning and Exams.

There are some specialist areas of SharePoint where training is
very important. SharePoint web development, Administration or
Architecture involves diverse skill sets and key underpinning
knowledge of SharePoint. To ensure competency for those roles can
be measured there are recognised Microsoft Certification
exams:

1. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification (MCTS);
covers developer and administrators in SharePoint 2010 and 2007;
basically the technical driving test of SharePoint Server.

2. The Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) and Microsoft
Certified Professional Developer (MCPD); these build on the MCTS
certification and relates specifically to SharePoint 2010.

There is a vast number of training providers for the above
certifications; listed on the Microsoft Learning site. Using the
class locator is a good way to locate classes, training providers
in your area. I tried one for classes in SharePoint in the UK and
got this:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/classlocator.aspx

Beyond the MCITP and MCTS certifications are the dizzying heights
of MCM and MCA.

· Microsoft Certified Master program (MCM); this is an instructor
lead offering provided by Microsoft SharePoint experts and requires
all of the exams passed relevant to MCITP and MCPD.

· Microsoft Certified Architect certification (MCA); this is the
highest level of certification and requires submission of work
history, a project case study, presentation, including exam. Only
those who have completed the MCM can do the MCA.

More information concerning these technical certifications, the
prerequisites, exams, is located at:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-sharepoint-server.aspx#

Information workers also have certification tracks available to
measure their SharePoint competency. Starting with Office 2010 and
its tight integration with SharePoint 2010 came MOS.
MOS stands for Microsoft Office
Specialist. Because SharePoint is part of Microsoft Office
the reach of this certification extends to the user of Office and
Office365. Microsoft certification exams are now also aimed at
those using SharePoint from an end-users perspective. After earning
an MOS certification, you receive access to a member Web site where
you can print transcripts to demonstrate proof of certification and
receive a certificate that verifies your successful completion of
the exam. Additionally, professionals who earn this certification
gain access to a certification logo that they can display on their
resumes and other business materials. A huge amount of information
Microsoft Office Specialist is available on the
Certiport (http://ww.certiport.com).

More information concerning the SharePoint 2010 certification for
Information workers is located here:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=77-886&Locale=en-us

On that page there is a link which allows you to schedule the exam
through a Certiport exam provider. Also, you can find out more
about the Microsoft Office Specialist courses (which includes
Office365) by visiting the Certiport site here:

http://www.certiport.com/Portal/desktopdefault.aspx?page=common/pagelibrary/mos2010.html

Self Paced Training

Given the intangible nature of traditional training benefits,
there is a natural appeal to invest in tangible training products,
as well as the additional benefits that self-paced training brings
– savings in travel and accommodation costs, consistency of
delivery, reusability and so on.

Generally, self-paced training always begins with the humble book,
yes, in the beginning was the word. The book is the original
self-paced training package, and still provides the low-cost
learning option, and may be sufficient if your learning
requirements are modest or you have no time pressures.

Dividing this into three camps, end user, administration and
development, development is more a practical skill. In this
respect, books that include the opportunity for hands-on are a more
useful choice. In the early days, this included the good ole
‘CDrom’ at the back of the book, and snippets of information that
could be entered. Whilst this also occurs for SharePoint
Administrators, the format is different.

For instance, programming related books would contain many worked
through examples of code ready used. Administrators books would
include scripts and maybe code blocks to apply to SharePoint site
collections and servers. End user books would include practice
files to apply as you followed guides in the book.

Nowadays though, virtually all SharePoint books now come as
e-Books making that kind of information easier to get to. So has
the e-Book fully replaced the book? An interesting argument ensues.
In chatting to a SharePoint Architect the other day, they indicated
that having an e-book cluttered the desktop, as opposed to having
the book opened so they could work through a problem and fully
understand how to do something without having to swop between
screens. In other cases, people have found the e-Book easier
because of its portability, and additionally because it’s easier to
copy a script from an e-Book than having to re-key all of it or
having to access a CDrom to get to the information.

The key here though is to understand that self-paced training is
based on the resources that you use. e-Books and Books are not the
only resources available. There are online resources as well from
sites providing blocks of information related to a particular
aspect of SharePoint, to those other which cover entire courses and
include ‘check’ exams at the end.

As you can imagine there are a vast number of e-book providers,
and I am not going to list each one! They all have advantages and
disadvantages; am therefore going to list the Microsoft Learning repository for e-Books located
here and managed by Microsoft Press and SharePoint books from
o’Reilly can be found here.

Computer Based Training

Part of the problem was the need for high cost specialist software
and/or lack of mainstream, high level authoring tools and the
special skills required to create the relevant packages.

Whilst this section really addresses CBT that is available for
information workers, lets do a quick review on CBT for technical
workers. On the SharePoint 2010 development track, there is a training course called the SharePoint 2010
Developer Training Course, which provides the download of the
course so that it can be completed offline.

For SharePoint IT Professionals, there is video related training material, again, this
page provides downloadable material and is split into modules

Another problem is the amount of overhead administration given
that the CBT would most likely record results of the ‘student’ and
these would need to be audited and managed to gauge user
productivity and usability of the product. Am sure this will come
with SharePoint 2015 because of the featureset concerning Education
Services and Quizzes integration features.

However, the sign of a good quality CBT is the inclusion of
challenge testing so that students can quickly ‘opt out’ of a
section of check understanding plus animated expert solutions and
demonstrations to help in those difficult moments. If the product
behaves like a linear book with nothing more than electronic page
turning, what value does it add over a paper based book? Even with
the a mass of computer based training for SharePoint (i.e.
downloadable material from a huge number of providers); what needs
is to define the scope of training that needs to be provided at
either end user, developer, administrator and tailor that against
the organization. After all, there is little point in providing
several types of learning kits for different types of Microsoft
products, or indeed other technology available to the organization
(i.e. mobiles, laptops, phones, third party software guides
etc.)

So this means some kind of learning kit which not only provides
the material but tracks your progress through it. There was one for
SharePoint 2007, a Virtual Learning Environment which one could
download, configure as a separated site collection. That took a lot
of work to update and maintain. There were others provided on
Codeplex. The SharePoint 2010 Productivity hub provided the ability
to structure content and included the ability to include rich media
like Flash hypermedia, videos – including webcasts etc., so hours
of audio-visual tuition could be created by information workers as
well (using a simple web cam and some video editing
software).

For those who enjoy a bit of history, for SharePoint 2007, there
was a Learning package available for SharePoint which will enable
users to actively learn how to use SharePoint and their learning is
tracked; it’s on this link.

There is also SLK located on codeplex which appears to be
SharePoint 2007, however, could not identify if it was compliant
with SharePoint 2010.

As mentioned above, for SharePoint 2010, the Productivity 2010 Hub
is targeted at those who need to quickly setup a central location
for a knowledge base on SharePoint, Word, Lync and more. Like
SharePoint 2007 hub, the 2010 Hub is a SharePoint Server site
collection that serves as a learning community and is fully
customisable. It provides a central place for your training
efforts, and includes training content from Microsoft’s core
products. Microsoft also provides ongoing and updated content
packs. Overview and download is available here.

I’ve noticed an change in the delivery of training material to
bring the look and feel into focus with the format of latest
Microsoft products using the ‘Windows 8’ interface; again the provision of video materials is clear here for IT
Professionals and here for Developers.

Support Resources

Strictly speaking, Support Resources are not training tools, but
are part of the renewal process once Stage 4 (unconscious
competence) has been reached, providing ‘on the job’ information at
your fingertips. The most basic form is the electronic manual with
a search and retrieval engine, with linked hypertext, a memory of
topics visited, suggested related topics and the ability to copy
and paste code and scripts for SharePoint.

There are so many places to get SharePoint information one could
get overwhelmed with the best places to go; you may have your
favorites, however, this article looks only at Microsoft ‘managed’
providers; Microsoft Press and O’Reilly.

Additionally, there are a vast list of forum based online
resources, like TechNet, MSDN (mentioned in this article) and many
others. Again, with all of this information available the issue is
the same as having someone ask for a SharePoint site but doesn’t
know what to put in it – meaning, what do I need, where do I need
it, how will I record it, how will I retrieve it. Increasingly,
there are a number of online providers now pushing Knowledge Bases
on SharePoint. Slowly, these are becoming more structured and
standardised into their own lands of expertise.

This I think is a good thing. Someone once said to me ‘I’m going
to provide a central blog on the Internet that will provide
information on everything to do with SharePoint’. I said ‘Wow…
That’s going to either take a long time or you will need a hell of
a lot of help’ (thinking of it at the time I was being diplomatic –
its impossible to provide let along support that resource unless
you know everything there is to know about SharePoint and have a
huge amount of time to gathering and maintaining that
resource).

Note that whilst I call these ‘support resources’ they are
definitely not designed to simply be a replacement for your
SharePoint company support resource. Information provides on these
resources should be tested in your own test environments and
validated before putting them into your production
environment.

I’ve listed some of these support resources at the end of this
article.

Learning Centres

In SharePoint land, in fact, probably with any kind of
development, workers find that the normal workplace is not suitable
for self-paced learning. They are subject to many interruptions and
cannot dedicate the time needed to learn or develop.

Self-Paced products can form the core of a facilitated ‘Learning
Centre’.

Lets’ take SharePoint’s learning centre that can be installed as a
separated site collection. That Learning Centre concept uses
training technology to help people learn and become more effective.
It does this by recording their activities; how long they are
working through a topic and pointers as to where they may get
further information concerning an aspect of SharePoint.

Microsoft provides a Learning Centre which displays end user
courses, and provides material that should be used when the user
wishes to engage in Microsoft Certifications. There is also an IT
Academy

Certiport provides end user certification and
has for the first time provided a MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist)
route for Microsoft Office and SharePoint users. The exam for end
users on MOS is Exam 77-886. As I understand it, the next level of
MOS certifications will not appear until late next year.

There are others, carrying out a Google search for training
providers on SharePoint will give you a mass of results. How valid
they are depends on the strategy you adopt for yourself and others,
especially if you are setting out a strategy for SharePoint
training in the organisation.

The Human Touch

Whilst self-paced courses can provide the majority of training
needed, do not forget the value human experience can bring. A
hybrid approach is to attend scheduled events where an experienced
trainer is available to provide assistance and advice as the
student progresses through a self-paced programme. The student also
gains from meeting other SharePoint developers, administrators,
architects, program managers, exchanging ideas and attending
optional break-out sessions on additional topics given by the class
leader.

Certain technologies may be best covered by traditional means
involving lectures and presentations. Some of these may
include:

Microsoft Seminars and Conferences. These are
very useful since they bring additional training sessions and
normally rolled into the cost. Additionally good to meet with other
SharePoint peeps, learn best practices and find out how others are
using SharePoint. These are regional and there are many of these. A
search on Google gave this:

SharePoint Conferences

SharePoint User Groups and Forums.

There are so many benefits to belonging to a SharePoint user
group. You can learn about SharePoint related events applicable to
your user group when they become available. You can find out how
your peers are solving problems and even sharpen your leadership
and managerial skills by serving as a user group manager. The
reason why user groups appear as a human touch is because social
events usually evolve around them. User groups, whilst revolving
around a bulletin board or forum, are regional / local so getting
to see faces is definitely an option. This is very useful since it
increases your social network and allows you to focus your training
resources.

Forums are great – SharePoint TechNet forum is the place to go to
get answers from peers as they are populated by those who are
extremely knowledgeable in the product, and for references they
point to validated (by peers) articles that give answers. Note
however that other great forums are there specific to differing
areas of SharePoint, particularly for information workers, and
those who are based within a geographical boundary (relates to user
groups as indicated above).

Externally Provided Training

Going back to competency, if you want human touch training you had
better make sure that you choose a relevant arena – in SharePoint,
there are a number of these – I’ve listed the key ones and in no
particular order:

· Content Management

· Find-ability

· Social Computing

· Business Productivity

· Look and Feel

· Deployment

· Administration

· Business Solutions

Within these sections you will find training companies providing
resources and instructors in one or more of those arenas. In my
experience, make sure you define a strategy for training that
connects SharePoint to the business in terms of what other tools
SharePoint integrates with. Get a trainer who can instruct and
provide resources on those additional levels.

Finding a good training company can be a daunting task. Make sure
you choose wisely and read-up on their credentials and customer
reviews. A good source to get started on choosing a SharePoint
training company is here:

http://www.sharepointreviews.com/training-companies.html

Are you a model student?

In the land of SharePoint everyday I learn something new about the
product. Whether it is a technical bit of knowledge or even
business, governance, implementation – everyday is a voyage of
discovery. I am I think, a student but far from being a model
student. I reckon a model student is that who has all the resources
at hand for the topic area they wish to cover.

So after reading this article, ask yourself these questions.

· What kind of training suits you the most? Book? e-Book? Online
Training? CBT? A combination?

· Where do you stand on the competency ladder?

· Do you have access to the resources you need? How do you collate
them? Can you quickly find the answers in the resources you
have?

· What area do you excel in? Do you have a blog and is this
communicated to others?

· How did you learn SharePoint? Reading? Diving into the Platform?
Certification? A combination?

Whatever happens, when tackling your SharePoint Training needs,
try to get a vision of where would want to get to, whether you need
training to prove to others you are competent, whether you want to
solve a problem, or even whether you are attempting to build a
strategy for others. Doing this will help you identify the planning
that needs to be done, how long it will take and what is needed to
succeed.

Conclusion

I wrote this article in the hope that you will be able to identify
what training there is available and how you can build a basic
strategy that links training to you and meeting your organisations
SharePoint training aspirations. To end, I thought it wise to give
a short list of some training resources for SharePoint listed
through Microsoft and in no particular order (explanations of these
are on the page you visit when you click the link):

Geoff
Evelyn is a SharePoint MVP, and likes to be known as a “Hands
on” Technical Evangelist and works as a SharePoint Solutions
Architect. He has published many articles, guides and books about
SharePoint. With over 25 years of experience in information
systems, he is a Fellow of the Institute of the Analysts and
Programmers, a Fellow of the Institute of Computer Technology, a
Member of the Institute of Management Information Systems, a Prince
2 Practitioner, with MCDST, MCSD, MCTS, MCITP Microsoft
certifications and is M.O.S (Microsoft Office Specialist)
Certified.

Check out our resource centre  for more
SharePoint content from Geoff and other SharePoint
specialists!