An apple for the teacher

My latest purchase (the Mac Book Pro) came with access to a variety of training opportunities. These are 'one to one', 'personal projects' and workshops.

I had my first 'one to one' last week with Joel a pale skinned, thin young man with a North American accent and the usual religious zeal for his employer's product. Joel began by providing a quick overview of all those orifices that dot the edges of the case and moved on to an explanation of the 'dock' and some of the basics about opening, closing and retrieving applications. I was familiar with most of it already but his lesson enhanced my confidence and I did learn a few things.

Joel drew a 'high five' slap of the palms from me at one stage which I found embarrassing but this is the Apple Store after all where such behaviour is de rigueur and unremarkable.

I raised a couple of problems I had already encountered with Joel including that the Mac Book would not recognise my hotmail account. When I demonstrated the problem he confidently informed me that hotmail accounts do not come with '.au' domains, an assertion I immediately and conclusively proved incorrect. Joel learnt something from me.

Joel persuaded me to book in for another 'one to one' next week for more advanced training. I'm happy to do that. He also persuaded me to book in for a 'personal project' session this week which he explained was for groups of four (maximum) with a trainer who monitors our projects and provides personal guidance during the session. I was less interested in this and had no thought of a personal project to pursue but according to Joel a project could include simple training. On that basis I decided to give it a try.

That session was yesterday and the trainer was Alexis - a name I have only ever associated with females but this Alexis is male - and he was the antithesis of Joel in appearance but also possesses a North American accent. Do they recruit these trainers from overseas or are they all backpacking in Australia?

I arrived just ahead of the scheduled start and true to Joel's advice there were only four of us but that soon changed. Eventually - the last participant arriving forty minutes after the start - there were nine sitting around the bench. It seems that some simply gatecrashed the session and no-one enforced the policy that participation in these sessions is pre-booked.

Joel was correct that the 'personal projects' were mainly further training needs and fortuitously most of us were happy to learn about emailing photographs but the environment for this training was disappointing. Only the most forward and assertive of the participants got a chance to steer the direction of the session, some sat mute for the entire two hours.

The Apple Store is a very noisy environment at the best of times and it was very difficult to hear what Alexis had to say. Eventually he was drawn into personal discussion with several participants and the rest of us contented ourselves by working solo to practice what we had learnt.

The third category of training - workshops - was underway elsewhere in the shop. These consisted of twelve or so participants sitting around a bench receiving training on a pre-determined topic from a trainer miked to amplify his voice. I'm not sure I'll bother with those but as my package provides for twelve months worth of unlimited training and I do not have to pay for the individual sessions it won't be a burden if I change my mind.

What is becoming increasingly clear to me is that if you want to maximise your Apple product then it is best to do it Apple's way. Diversity, especially if it involves Apple's competitors, is definitely not encouraged. Not surprising, I suppose.