I'm a little annoyed at the training videos on roofing

General Inspection Topics
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I’m new around here but not new to schools and training. I have a pretty diverse background, software engineering, IT, military, home improvement retail, private investigation, now home inspection.
with that said, I do not recall the last time I’ve seen a more poorly made training video. It completely lacks a sense of professionalism and gives me the feeling that it was a student project created by some high school AV team.

I am a bit particular when it comes to training videos. I don’t like training videos that are obvious attempts at time stretching. The following video link is an example of a “briefing” and not a “training video”. It is a dump of information from a someone reading a prompter, poorly.

What makes it really grating on my nerves (AND MY EARS BECAUSE I’M WEARING HEADPHONES, OH WAIT LET ME TURN DOWN THE F’ING VOLUME!) are the loud, out of nowhere, hip hop, drum solos, and other weird scores with cheesy 90’s power-point special effects with poor editing that serve no purpose but to distract from the material.

There are points in the video where it cuts to photos of an inspection with zero context or explanation. There are also areas where the video’s director inexplicably decides to zoom and pan around an info-graphic. why? WHY!?

My wife, an educator who teaches and designs courses, had this to say: “this is giving me a headache” and “whoever made this was very proud of themselves”. That should tell you just how bad this video is.

I like the content, I hate the format, design, direction, and narration, of the video.

Here is a link to the video, which does not work on Firefox, I had to use Chrome.
I had to extract out the link from of whatever garbage the “copy link” on the video gave me.

https://education.nachi.org/show.php?course_id=2&wvideo=y4d9jej769

here is a copy of the html dump the “save link” gave me. Full of html formatting crap I did not ask for.

<p><a href="https://education.nachi.org/show.php?course_id=2&amp;wvideo=y4d9jej769"><img src="https://embed-ssl.wistia.com/deliveries/3eefcc7f224697b09da2a88b5782d422.jpg?image_play_button_size=2x&amp;image_crop_resized=960x540&amp;image_play_button=1&amp;image_play_button_color=001033e0" width="400" height="225" style="width: 400px; height: 225px;"></a></p><p><a href="https://education.nachi.org/show.php?course_id=2&amp;wvideo=y4d9jej769">10 Steps to Inspecting a Roof</a></p>

I don’t know who “wistia” but the fact that their videos don’t work on Firefox and they don’t understand the concept of “copy link” tells me enough that perhaps it’s a good idea to shop for a better video host. vimeo is pretty good and ad free. youtube if free but with stupid ads.
either is much better than this “wistia”.

I really hope that the quality of videos improves as I continue these courses and that this example. This video though needs replaced with something more professional.

And that is sad.

I really think there is a lot of good knowledge to be learned on these online courses…It is a pity that that the poor quality of the presentation distracts from the education.

In the time it took me to write this, I could have been another half hour into the training module.

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Shouldn’t waste your learning time… :man_shrugging:

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At the end of each course, there is a section for course feedback. I am sure the education department would love the feedback. I say don’t hold back! Tell 'em what you really think.

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Im sure You got them all straightened out Dorian, They will prolly re-do all the videos now especially the early ones where people we not quite as polished…look for You phone to ring any second for Your expert guidance…

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Sometimes free training just isn’t good enough.

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Oh and just as a casual add on, I’m really annoyed when I have to wake up before the sun does, and when my coffee gets cold…I feel better now thanks…

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His experience sounds like a long list of failed careers. Why does his post deserve merit?

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Because Mr Kenny, “Certified Master Inspector®”, not mean “Certified Master Instructor®”

You can be a subject matter expert. But that does not mean you are qualified instructor.

And I think that is a point missed a lot in this home inspection industry. Be it InterNACHI or ASHI. And the reason I joined InterNACHI was to see how it’s education compares to my experiences at ASHI. And I like many aspects of InterNACHI’s training. I like the web format and ability to train at my own pace.

I’m sorry if I came across as harsh on my criticism.

But wearing headphones and suddenly being blasted with loud random music for a video I am forced to watch aggravated me. This is a video that I am required to watch in it’s entirety to get credit towards my certification.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have shared my wife’s opinions. It was rude and she was upset that I shared what she said. She’s a lot nicer and diplomatic than I am and she’s a career educator and curriculum designer for over 25 years and does not have a “long list of failed careers” like you feel I do.

So her opinion does count as something. She would not have said what she said to me to the designer’s face. She would have been kinder, diplomatic and positive.

In contrast,
I’m not diplomatic or kind in these regards. I have high expectations when it comes to these things. I’m also a cynical harsh person who decided that 25 years working as a software engineer and creating inventions for other people to patent and get rich was a waste of my time and decided to be a private investigator, which I still am since 2019 and felt that home inspection was a good complement to private investigation. It was recommend to me by friends, neighbors, and family.

Also, like you, I decided that It is better to run my own business and have an opinion of my own. And judging by your gatekeeping and condescending post, It seems to me that you would have had a “long list of failed careers” had you been an employee at the companies I had worked for.

Just because I wasn’t a specialized electrician or framer for 30 years does not mean I don’t take my career seriously or don’t have something to offer even If I lack tact and politeness. But from my experience over the past few years: Tact and politeness and Home Inspectors are not a common thing.

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I did not wear headphones while going through the courses, but I do remember that corny music and how the volume seemed to jump, lol. I’m guessing it is amplified with headphones.

But yeah, some of the course video is dated and some of the newer editing stuff probably wasn’t available back then. They did pretty good for what they probably had to work with. Remember, NACHI probably didn’t have the resources at the time to produce videos like they might now. I’m guessing they will get updated on occasion as time and resources permit.

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The truth is, he is kind of yelling at the choir here—corporate breakroom-type complaint.

Of course, we are defensive. Many of us are invested in the people or the work product and don’t take too kindly to a noob going on about our shortcomings.

In the end, he may or may not determine if this video adds up to a hill of beans in the big picture. Meanwhile, he can enjoy the attention. Possibly report back to ASHI. I am sure they would love to hear all about it.

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Since I started reading this thread, It took me a minute to figure out what course he was talking about.

Once I found it, I went ahead and took it. The video is a bit annoying and you can tell it’s old, because Ben is young ;).

I have to admit I skipped through the Video a bit, but yeah it’s a little jarring.

I passed by the way.

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It will likely suffice until AI takes over :smile: :sunny: :sunny:

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I literally just went to photoshop and said, and I quote “A young Blonde woman giving an instructional video on Roofing”.

I got this back and while Ben may be great and all, I’d prefer her narration.

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Here’s our new HVAC trainer. Internachi is definitely improving. :wink:

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I want to learn how to install cap shingles like that. What the crap is going on there?!? and those single tab shingle strips. :face_with_peeking_eye:

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And the size of that tablet. It’s like a small TV, lol. How’d she even get that thing up the ladder with her?

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See that pale skin on an inspector? And this morphed hand? She is obviously supernatural, possibly a shape shifter.

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That’s what I do with with almost every course. I have to agree with the OP. Most of the videos are very drawn out, with little meaningful info. And the music… well

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Welcome to NACHI…

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It’s big in Europe. They last 200 years.