Boost Your Googling Skills

I'm focusing on a content solution for this posting.  I was trying to find some statistics I saw a long time ago about how much employee time is wasted by poorly executed Google searches - and it did feel slightly odd googling for such data via Google!

I didn't do too badly though with my search, as I not only found some data that looked similar to that I had seen before, but I also uncovered this e-learning solution from Boost eLearning, a company that specialises in providing training to help corporate knowledge professionals get the most from their online searches.

There are two types of course on offer:

1. Quick Lessons - 2 to 4 minute long skills-based modules that teach the key search skills quickly.  The total course in this format would take about an hour to complete.

2. Step by Step Lessons - 6 to 18 minute long scenario based modules that present the techniques in the context of everyday search requirements.  Studied this way, the total course time is 2 hours and 40 minutes.

What's more, you can preview one of each of the above without the need to part with your personal details.  I found both modules of interest, particularly the Step by Step Lesson.  The scenario, whilst not in my field of work, was one I could easily relate to.  The fact that I knew I was learning a valuable skill that would make my own Google searches more productive seemed to draw me in to this training.  It was actually refreshing to take an e-learning course that screamed "this will really help me straightaway!".

You can buy the course for personal use for $50, but corporate pricing is also available.  The enterprise solutions can be hosted on your own LMS or by the vendor.

Oh, and the data I was looking for:

• Average number of searches per day - 12
• Average number of failed serches per day - 4.7
• Percentage of searched that did not obtain the desired results:  39%
• Number of minutes spent daily on unsuccessful searches:  12.12

If this training can address the above, then it would be a powerful e-learning resource to have in any organisation.