Hello from Centennial, CO
Drafted started: Monday evening – May, 18 2020 (First post of this travelogue)
It has been a long time since I last posted, but that reflects the fact that I have not travelled since November. With the present COVID 19 situation, I am not sure when Pat and I will get to travel, or when I will travel for NTT.
I am working at the NTT office for three days doing some training for our Live Online Training program. Over the past couple of months I have had an assignment to develop our Bearings and Lubrication class so that it could be presented as an online class.
While it might seem like a fairly easy conversion, the project was pretty complex. This three day session is for us to learn to use all of the technology and equipment. We are using Zoom as the primary platform, and a second software package called Canvas that lets us do polling questions and several other functions.
I was really impressed with the hygiene measures that NTT has implemented. We had to wear masks when there were more than six people in a room and a limit of 10 people max to a room. Our temperature was measured and recorded each morning that we arrived.
As I finish this travelogue, I have to say that I have mixed thoughts on the online training process. On the one hand it is really difficult not to have face to face contact and interaction with the students. On the other hand, there are some really neat tools the NTT has adopted.
For sure, it will really cut down on the time we spend on the road. Almost anywhere I go, it takes a day of travel to get to the site and another day of travel to get home. For a two day class, I spent the better part of four days of my time.
For the first session or two, NTT has mandated that we do the training from the office. That is fine with me, since I will not have to be concerned about the equipment. Perhaps later I will be able to do the teaching from home. Traveling to the office only takes about an hour, and they put me up at a hotel close to the office.
It is interesting to note that NTT has tried to market online training for a couple of years. There was minimal interest. However, with the COVID restrictions, our customers have quickly changed their attitude and NTT has had to accelerate their development work. Fortunately the company that owns NTT is a specialized college that does a lot of online courses. They have funded our development program at a level that is quite generous.
I have now been certified as LOT instructor. Now all I have to do is wait for our sales group to get the customers rounded up.
That is all for this trip.