What are the Advantages of Instructor-Led Technical Training?

What do you look for in a Technical Training Course? Of course you want to make sure that the training course meets your own or your staff’s technical objectives. Is the training to lead to some form of certification, or is it just the technical skills you require? Whatever your objectives, you only have a few choices on the format of the training, with the main contenders being Instructor-Led Technical Training courses or maybe an online training course.

I personally have been involved in Network Training and Telecoms training for a number of years and have a lot of experience of Instructor-Led Training.

Online training courses normally expect the delegates to log on via the Internet before having access to a number of training resources. The quality of e-learning courses varies an awful lot, as does the quality of the training material itself. Some e-learning vendors offer a comprehensive range of training materials including good visual aids and access to a tutor for questions and explanations. Before you embark on this type of learning experience, you need to have confidence in not only the quality of the course materials, but also on the quality and availability of a qualified or experienced tutor. Also, after completion of the training course, do you continue to have access to training resources and or a tutor? This can be critical when planning to continue to progress at your chosen discipline.

Another important aspect of online training courses is the question of access to technical equipment, and this is particularly important for Network Training Courses.  For example, if your chosen subject is some form of data communications, data networking or telecommunications, how will you access the appropriate equipment so that you can put into practice what you have learned? If you are going to pay good money on an e-learning course then you need to ensure that the practical aspects of the training course are sufficient to meet your learning objectives. Some online training vendors will give you access to remote labs, where you can log on to practical simulators, whereas others will give you remote access to actual live hardware.

What about Instructor-Led Technical Training, often referred to as Classroom Training? The main benefits of this type of training are in the fact that you have face to face interaction with a Tutor, who should be able to answer your questions there and then. Obviously the tutor or trainer needs to be an expert in the subject and just as important is the fact that he or she must have the ability to convey the subject matter in a professional and effective manner.

Some Instructor-Led Technical Training courses utilise remote labs so the training environment only requires each delegate to have access to the Internet to be able to configure and interrogate the technical equipment. Once again the remote labs may use simulators and some offer access to real live equipment. This is ok for a lot of delegates but I always feel that beginners certainly need to get a real feel for the equipment, so live equipment in the classroom can be a real benefit. Once again, Network Training really benefits in having real equipment in the classroom. The benefit of remote labs is more a benefit for the vendor than the delegate generally, as it means the training course can be run from any location provided Internet access is available. Being able to physically see how equipment is connected together, observe status and warning lights and have a real hands-on feel certainly outweigh the benefits of remote access in my opinion.

Having real equipment in the classroom allows the trainer to simulate a wider range of faults and scenarios and offers the delegate the chance to troubleshoot problems using a variety of methods instead of just relying on a Command Line Interface. For the training vendor this type of training does pose logistical problems, as it means transporting the equipment to the training venue and there is always a danger of physical damage.

I personally think the advantages of Instructor Led Technical Training outweigh any advantages of online training, although I concede that e-learning does suit some delegates. Think carefully before you commit to a training package and consider all the alternatives before making a decision. Price is always a big consideration, but the quality and effectiveness of the training course should also be high on your agenda.

This article on Instructor-Led Technical Training was written by David Christie, MD at NSTUK Ltd, Website http://www.nstuk.com . Additional resources to be found at http://www.ipexpress.co.uk/info/Training

What is VoIP and Where Can I Find VoIP Training in the UK?

VoIP is an abbreviation for Voice over Internet Protocol and it is a number of technologies that allow telephony to be conducted over an IP network instead of using the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). VoIP has been around for something like 17 years or so,ever since the Israeli company Vocaltech first released their software-based Internet phone. 

So how does VoIP operate? 

In order to explain VoIP we will just look at a very brief explanation of traditional telephony.

In the traditional telecommunications world a fixed line telephone user is connected to a local telephone exchange by a pair of copper wires, which enable both analogue voice signals (speech) to be passed from the user, through a network of telecoms switches to the intended recipient in another area of the network. In order for this to happen the telecommunications network must have a number of components in place as well as a number of basic procedures. Firstly the user must be able to communicate with the Local Exchange (LEX) and signal its intent to connect to another user. A signalling protocol known as CAS (Channel Associated Signalling) is used for this purpose using telephone numbers that are broken down rather like postal codes. The telecommunications network must convey this signalling information in order to connect to a remote receiver. Telecommunications networks us something known as CCS (Common Channel Signalling) to do this. Finally, once the signalling CAS and CCS has resulted in the recipients phone ringing at the remote end, a circuit is set up through the network to pass the speech which is digitised prior to entering the network using a common Codec (Coder / Decoder). We refer to this method of communications as Circuit Switching, where the digitised speech is passed over a telecommunications circuit between telecoms switches where the circuit is created in advance of the flow of voice media.

True Voice over IP utilises a packet switched network using the Internet Protocol and associated protocols within the TCP/IP protocol suite. The analogue speech from the talker is first digitised using one of a number of industry recognised codecs and then broken up into small chunks which are then packetized ready for transmission using IP. The digitised speech is routed towards the recipient by means of IP Addressing and Routing Protocols in the same manner that other data such as HTTP and FTP are routed.

Just like traditional telecommunications, a signalling protocol is needed to allow the sender to indicate which remote ip phone should receive the call. In the late 1990s there were two signalling protocols competing for role. These two protocols were the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) H.323 protocol suite and the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). H.323 lost the battle and SIP has become the dominant signalling protocol for VoIP. IP Addresses and Telephone numbers need to be linked together and SiP actually uses URLs in a similar manner to which the HTTP protocol uses URLs. This allows SIP to use the services of DNS (Domain Name Service), and therefore is routable across the Internet.

Just like traditional telephony can use PBX (Private Branch Exchanges) to provide local telephony services to an office or organisation, VoIP has spawned the introduction of IP PBXs to carry out the sale role. The IP PBX can have a trunk connection via a telecommunications network to allow VoIP calls to be routed across the existing telecoms networks. Gateways are used to interface the VoIP area of the network with the telecoms area of the network which can translate not only the signalling between different formats, but also media formats where the codec formats might differ.

VoIP has had an impact in the telecommunications world by being one factor in the reduction of telephone charges for consumers.

It is important for company and organisation telephony engineers, who are used to managing, troubleshooting and supporting traditional telephony in the workplace to receive training on VoIP and SIP when the company or organisation decides to switch to this maturing technology.

There are many training organisations offering VoIP training courses in the UK, and doing a search in Google or one of the many other search engines will produce many training provider websites offering Voice over IP and SIP training.

Perpetual Solutions training consultancy are based in London and have 9 different VoIP training courses for delivery as either Public Scheduled or available for onsite training worldwide. Some of their training courses are:

Understanding Voice over IP (2 days)

Hands-On Voice over IP (5 days)

Voice over IP using SIP (3 days)

Voice over IP Foundations (5 days

In the North of England, Network Systems Training (UK) Ltd have a number of VoIP training courses for delivery including:

Voice over IP Fundamentals (2 days)

VoIP with SIP (3 days)

Practical Voice over IP (5 days)

This article on VoIP and Voice over IP Training was written by David Christie, MD at NSTUK Ltd, Website http://www.nstuk.com . NSTUK Ltd offer a range of Data Networking Instructor-Led Training Courses including VoIP and SIP, and deliver those courses within the UK and throughout the World. Other training resources can be found at http://www.ipexpress.co.uk/info/Training

How Do I Design an Effective Training Course or Training Programme?

Good research, meticulous preparation, good quality presentation material and a training instructor with the right skills and personality are only a few of the key components that make up a good, effective training course. Some trainers are very good at presenting training courses, but if you are a trainer and about to embark on designing and preparing your own training course, you must follow a well prepared plan and see it through without compromising.

A lot of trainers or training consultants think they know exactly what clients require when it comes to designing a training course. Although the training consultant might be an expert in his field, it does not mean that he or she fully understands a client’s needs. One of the first tasks to be completed by a trainer deciding to write a training course is to research not only the subject matter, but also potential clients, which basically amounts to market research. When a large company or organisation embarks upon a large training program then normally they will or should conduct some form of Training Needs Analysis (TNA), to determine the specific needs of the particular group or groups that need to be skilled in a number of disciplines. This TNA can be broken down into some specific steps:

1.            The organisation must conduct some form of scoping study to essentially provide a overview of the reasons behind the need for the training course or training programme. Could it be the introduction of new hardware, new software or maybe a change in the way the company or organisation supports clients or partners. Within some areas of TNA methodology it is sometimes referred to as an Operational Task Statement, and identifies all the deliverable attributes.

2.            A detailed list of the tasks that need to be performed following the completion of the training programme need to be identified. This may include sub-groups of tasks to be performed by different groups within the company or organisation. Individual tasks need to be assigned some form of importance criteria so as to be able to differentiate between absolutely essential tasks and those with a lesser importance.

3.            What skills do the existing staff or delegates already have and what new skills will they need. Differences are often referred to as Training Gaps and these are going to form the basis of any training programme subsequently delivered.

4.            What options do you have for delivering the key competencies previously identified? All options should be considered and analysed, and when this is conducted by a specific organisation, the advantages and disadvantages of each option must be clearly presented.

5.            A final report should detail all the findings from stages 1 – 4 and present senior management within an organisation with all the facts and recommendations which will include a recommended implementation plan.

Now those 5 steps outline in brief are how an organisation might approach a project to introduce new equipment or practices, but a similar approach must be undertaken even when designing a training course to be offered for public consumption. One of the main differences being that you probably don’t have access to the management or specific, individual staff who will receive the training. This should not mean that you just make assumptions on what individuals or organisations may require. What I am saying here is that you should get as much advice and constructive criticism at each stage of the course development, particularly when setting the course aims and objectives. Don’t feel tempted to deviate from the objectives once they have been set, without further consultation with your potential audience.

Once those objectives have been set then the hard work of producing the training material begins and regardless of the media used, try and ensure a professional and consistent look, which should be informative, eye catching and free from error. If your training course is on a topic that is subject to change then ensure that the training material is updated at regular intervals, which will help ensure its longevity.

This article on how to design an effective training course or programme was written by David Christie, MD at NSTUK Ltd, Website http://www.nstuk.com . Other training resources can be found at http://www.ipexpress.co.uk/info/Training