My Lightbulb moment

During the weeks of lockdown, we all of us had to embrace different forms of working and, for many of us, different forms of learning, too. But, for me, the 'lightbulb moment' that totally changed my approach to training and thinking around CPD happened well before the pandemic, back in 2017.I was casually speaking to someone who I had asked to research a topic for me. Being of the internet generation, the first thing he had done was to reach for Google, Then YouTube.

As someone who had up to then always taken and provided training on a face-to face basis, the conversation stuck with me; how comfortable he had been about using online tools to solve a problem or improve his practice, how it had been his default approach to problem-solving and, crucially, how easy it had been to do.

Some months later I came across a support problem with a user of Lighting Reality who could not understand masking and the different layers available.

I had explained it by phone and email. But he was still not confident. How could I resolve this? I took a deep breath and recorded my first YouTube tutorial. Later, and I suppose as a result of that first venturing into the world of online training, a few of my face-to-face students contacted me asking if the Lighting Reality training could be taken online?

So, back in the summer of last year I started recording tutorials to enable me to offer the course completely online on their tablet, iPad, phone, laptop or any internet-enabled device, so the students could still undertake the training without the need to travel to avenue.

The bundled course now has more than 70 tutorial videos, covering seven hours of video material, ranging from anything from two minutes in length up to 35 minutes. Without wanting to make this too much of a 'plug', it is published through Thinkific or just search for me under 'Nick Smith Associates training'.

DIFFERENT PLATFORMS AND TOOLS

For me, the revelation of that first tutorial - however bad it now seems technically when I look back - was that, just like the time before, it had worked; the user went away understanding the process.

Some three years later, I have a thriving YouTube channel with support videos in the use of Lighting Reality and other topics (through www.nicksmithassociates.co.uk). In fact, I have recently recorded a suite of all-new videos.

I've embraced a range of learning tools and platforms. I learn from tutorials on Evernote (www.evernote.com) and Todoist (www.todoist.com). I use the Autodesk website (www.autodesk.co.uk) for AutoCAD webinars on new software releases and tools I need more help with. I use (and rate) platforms such as Udemy (www.udemy.com), Vimeo (www.vimeo.com) and Thinkific (www.thinkific.com), as well as You Tube, obviously. I should also mention an old school friend who is now an English teacher in South Korea, Carl Pullein. Carl introduced me to Evernote and Todoist and has some excellent tutorials on YouTube or at https://www.carlpullein.com/.

Equally, I have used YouTube videos and online courses by Steve Dotto (https://dottotech.com/) to learn how to 'capture' the screen when preparing videos.

CHANGE DRIVEN BY THE PANDEMIC

Because of the pandemic, we've all suddenly had to embrace digital and video communication, conferencing, webinars and training. The ILP too has started down this route, in part again because of the lockdown restricting access to face to face training, although it was a transition that was already underway. Online training is the future and it is evolving and improving all the time. What I have learnt since 2017 - and what, imagine, has become clearer for all of us over the past few months - is that, as lighting professionals, we should never be scared of trying out new ways of working and new ways of learning. I am sure there will probably always be a place for face-to-face CPD and training, but it should not because of either/or

For me, it was that conversation three years ago that lit the spark. But, for all of us, I strongly believe the idea of 'blended' learning where, as a professional in your field, you take advantage of training and CPD across whatever multiple platforms or formats work for you has to be very much the way forward.

Nick Smith IEng FILP MIES