CC Sep-Oct 2023

INDUSTRY focus
Leaning into learning
Graphisoft Learn is
Graphisoft’s official knowhow
and training programme
for anyone interested in
learning more about Archicad
and BIM, whether they are
designers, coordinators or a
BIM Manager. David
Chadwick reports
Panteleimon Ioannidis, Director, Global
Professional Services at Graphisoft
How would you fare when presented
with 20 questions to determine how
much you know about the software
you are currently using? Let me give you
some examples: Which field/button would
you use to add a new thermal block? You
are provided with four possible answers
numbered on the accompanying drawing.
With more focus on the drawing than the
design, how do you create pointers for
dimension texts - with four possible
solutions provided for you? The 20
questions are drawn from a large bank, so
running the test a second time won't raise
the same questions.
Graphisoft is serious about its Learn
programme. It began running it online
seven years ago and it has since
developed into a comprehensive set of
learning programmes that can be aimed at
individual Archicad users or dedicated
groups, like a single practice, with a
programme researched and based on the
client's industry niche. It also creates
training courses ranging from basic BIM
levels teaching architects, trainees and
students the rudiments of BIM through to
BIM Authoring, Coordination, and
Management.
I spoke to Panteleimon Ioannidis, Director,
Global Professional Services at Graphisoft,
who runs the 40-strong team that
developed and helps run Graphisoft Learn,
about the motivations and philosophy
behind the programme. He explained that
it was always Graphisoft's goal to offer a
vendor-based training programme,
initially starting with classroom-based
courses. Still, with the growth of online
sessions, accelerated by COVID-19,
these have naturally expanded into
a full range of online sessions.
Graphisoft wanted to do
something more though, explained
Panteleimon. Instead of just putting
somebody in front of a screen and
running through a company
PowerPoint, they wanted to make it
more relevant to their users, offering a
range of options to suit their requirements,
age, experience, and need, or otherwise,
for human interaction. A flexible programme
was developed to cover all issues.
FROM MICROLEARNING TO BIM
MANAGEMENT
It can all start with Microlearning or
Foundation training, which are very snappy
topics with short training curves. There is
no restriction on the topics being covered,
but the website or short course-based
sessions provide either what you need to
know about a product or a sample to
encourage you to dig deeper.
The next, advanced, level, provides users
with the ability to use the tools more
efficiently, covering most of the topics in
greater detail. From there, students can go
on to expert training, where the focus is
more on strategies which is more useful for
project architects or BIM Managers. The
whole development process is flexible,
allowing users to progress at their level.
Each of these courses can be
approached independently, but putting
them all together gives students the ability
to create workflows, which demystifies the
whole process of building and managing a
project, and where BIM workflows sit within
your BIM Authoring tool.
BIM AUTHOR, COORDINATOR
AND MANAGER
Three simple programmes that crystallise
roles within an architectural practice.
Graphisoft wanted the training programme
to reflect the needs of a practice. Pantelis
used his previous role as a BIM manager in
one of the large practices in London as his
blueprint. He explained that an architect's
role could be defined in three stages -
creating the model, coordinating the
model, or managing a project and the
whole office. He aimed to ensure that the
training programme reflected people's
needs, enabling them to relate to
Graphisoft's architectural solutions.
The BIM Author module, he said, focuses
16
September/October 2023