Re: Education vs manuals

I agree. I don't want to admit to how many years I used SQL*Plus before I saw someone highlight some text and simultaneously hit the right mouse button copying it to the command line (no more Ctrl-C Ctrl-V). And while I've no doubt it is in some manual: I never saw it there.

The difference between good Oracle courses and mediocre ones ... is the difference between learning vocabulary and learning to communicate.

Daniel Morgan

"Howard J. Rogers" wrote:

> The perennial question! With all these manuals around, why do I need
> training?
>
> Well, personally, I love manuals -but I haven't got a clue how to access
> them until I have some vague idea of what it is that I'm looking for.
>
> Classic case in point: you know in the newer Windows how half your menu
> items disappear to be replaced by a couple of downward-pointing chevrons
> after a while? Apparently this annoys some people. They want to turn it
> off. Try searching the Microsoft Help for subjects relating to 'disappearing
> menu items' or 'downward-pointing chevrons' and you'll be out of luck.
> However, if you happen to know that this feature is called 'personalized
> menus', then you'll be fine. How do you find out what it's called until
> someone's called it that in your presence?
>
> I find training invaluable merely because it shows me what there is to
> learn. And that's the approach I take in the class room. Forget it if you
> think I can impart the sum total of my Oracle knowledge in a week or even
> several. My role (I think) is to show you the possible, and to give you
> some guidance that you might (I hope) remember... but you still have to do
> the learning, usually after the course.
>
> I don't think I've ever read a manual or guide book yet which has helped
> straight out of the dust jacket. But after a mere thiry minutes with
> someone showing me something, *then* the manual starts making sense. Not
> everyone's like that: some ( a very small minority, I think) can get all
> they need out of a book, and good luck to them.
>
> I think it's a false dichotomy, in other words, for most people, to suggest
> that it's either training or manuals. For most, I think it's a case of
> manuals making infinitely more sense after some training than before. And I
> don't think it really matters in that regard how well the manual is written
> (and as a writer of manuals myself, I try hard to make them readable and
> informative): it's just that hearing or seeing someone do something (and
> having a chance to do it yourself) is a prime requirement for reading about
> it afterwards. For most.
>
> Regards
> HJR
> --
> ----------------------------------------------
> Resources for Oracle: http://www.hjrdba.com
> ===============================
>
> "John Russell" <netnews2_at_johnrussell.mailshell.com> wrote in message
> news:k8ke4uonkchlhacjbumuo1bs2nk2qnkdie_at_4ax.com...
> > On Thu, 17 Jan 2002 16:27:39 -0000, "George Barbour"
> > <gbarbour_at_csc.com> wrote:
> > >Oracle is a good and essential product.
> > ...
> > >It has a very large and successful education and training arm.
> >
> > Yes, that's an interesting division, with sharp people spread all over
> > the world.
> >
> > I'm curious how the cost/benefit analysis works for enrolling in a
> > course or purchasing an online training product as opposed to
> > purchasing a manual. What are the advantages people find that make
> > the extra cost worthwhile? Some possibilities I can imagine are:
> >
> > - Availability of pre-tested systems to work through exercises.
> > - Tutorial (step-by-step) nature of material.
> > - Access to instructor to answer questions.
> > - Better focus or completeness of code examples.
> >
> > I'm also curious about the differences in purchasing and
> > authorization:
> >
> > - Are course enrollments usually funnelled through a company's
> > education coordinator, while manuals are purchased by individual
> > employees?
> > - Is it easier to sign up for a course because that money comes from
> > an education budget, while the cost of a manual might come out of a
> > department's budget?
> > - Is it standard practice to run everyone in a department through the
> > same CD-based self-study course, while a manual on the same topic sits
> > on one person's bookshelf?
> >
> > John
> > --
> > Got an Oracle database question?
> > Try the search engine for the database docs at:
> > http://tahiti.oracle.com/
Received on Fri Jan 18 2002 - 11:46:33 CST