How bad is it when the text doesn't match the software?

I have a friend attending a small college here in the OC who has an issue with his class. I thought it might make an interesting discussion.

THE ISSUE: He is taking a class that requires the use of proprietary software. There is a text required that teaches how to use the software. The text is written to address version 5 of the software yet the school requires purchase of software version 6 (5 is no longer available). The text does not match the software and there are numerous problems because of that. It says things like "push this button here to do that" yet there is no such button in version 6. He is able to figure it out after awhile but it is taking him twice as long because of the mismatched text. My friend spoke with the dean who said that there was no book available yet for V6, so my friend should just figure it out on his own. He would not help in any way. He asked the professor and the professor has version 5 and does not know anything about V6.

How bad of a thing is this? What do you think? My friend is angry.

 

depends on what it is maybe. Something you can figure out by looking for a few minutes, or perhaps checking the net?

 

He says he just starts poking around all of the menus and finally finds the feature the text is talking about in a completely different place, but it takes him quite a while to find it. I aslo suggested the net but he said he looked and found very little help.

 

Now I am intrigued, what is it?

 

I would assume the college has a technical support line, they will be able to help (and/or determine who can fix the "help file") I know I have students email me with issues with logging in to the e-book software and I haven't a clue!!

 

It is a fairly common occurrence; a new version of software comes out with a time lag before the ‘how to’ manuals catch up. Unfortunate perhaps from the student’s perspective, but nothing to get mad about. Learning is facilitated by the exploration and discovery process. The student has no valid complaint.

 

This is the kind of thing that would make want to me drop the class and would definitely cause me to question the quality of the program and the school.

With that being said, is there a technical support line for the software itself? Go around the professor and the dean. There might be a user guide available directly from the company that created the software.

Might there be a book on the market the professor and dean are not aware of, and is it possible that other training is available, from sites like elementK or lynda.com?

How important is this one class to your friend's overall program, and could it be worth his sanity to withdraw for now and take the course when the V6 guide comes out?

This kind of stuff really gets under my skin. Good luck to your friend!

 

Yeah, that type of situation is awful. Heck, it sounds like it would be taking a class on MSOffice 2003 and being told to use Office 2007 or 2010 for all the work.

 

Actually, that is VERY good education for the real world.. In the REAL IT world, this situation happens quite often. Software is always updated faster than documentation.. if he learns to understand the underlying concepts rather than just following screenshots or step by step instructions, he will be much better prepared for a career in IS/IT.

Unintentionally, the University is giving him an invaluable lesson and potentially a very good skill...

 

Completely agree. Yeah sure, the university seems not to be so much on the "caring" side, but in the end being able to transfer outdated things to the current scenario is an essential skill in any technology related field.

 

I can certainly understand the frustration, but I agree with those that have said this could be a not-so-bad thing, since the same sort of thing happens often enough in the real world.

Still, your friend has my sympathy!

 

I am going to make him read this thread and try to convince him that he will be better off for the extra headache he is enduring. The almost comical aspect of this is the fact that his professor doesn't even have the latest version, but the students do. I wonder how he will teach the students who are mostly using a different version? I would be interested in sitting in on a class just to see.