Today I had to do some ACDelco Training modules for an automotive technology class I'm taking at the local technical college. What's always surprising to me about a lot of these online training programs, automotive and non-automotive related, is just how horribly and terribly designed they are.
First I had to do go through several menus to manually type in the selected course I needed. On the homepage you have to go to take Take Training >> Catalog >> Catalog Search and then type in the course you want. In this case S-SS-4-13-01 WBT, which I had to manually type in. This mind you took me awhile to figure out in the first place.
Once I found it and got the training module up and working I noticed it kept freezing. I kept getting this error and had to reload the tests. Often when I would reload the test I had to start over again even though I got all the answers right. Since this is
I tried a few different browsers like Opera, Firefox, and Chrome until I realized some geniuses at ACDelco only like to test software in Internet Explorer. Who the f$#% made that decision? Let's be clear you have to use Internet Explorer to use ACDelco Training. Here's what it said above training course module;
Sometimes the Web-based training component you've launched doesn't seem to be functioning properly. Perhaps the module is frozen and will not allow you to progress or the screens don’t look correct, with misplaced objects, or the module test will not accept your submission, etc. This means the training component you're attempting to complete may have been developed and released for an earlier version of Internet Explorer.
To correct this issue, you may need to adjust your Compatibility View Settings. In Compatibility View, the training component will be displayed as if you were viewing it in a previous version of Internet Explorer, which will often correct any display or functionality issues.
Click here to view the steps to modify these settings if you're using IE Version 9.0, IE Version 10.0 or IE Version 11.0
So basically what this is saying is that, “Yeah, we only coded this for an early version of Internet Explorer. We are too lazy to update it and you have to do a work around because we don't like people using secure browsers like Chrome or Firefox.” The ACDelco Training modules are also written in Java mind you, so there are a ton of problems with the code. It basically intermittently works even with updated Internet Explorer versions, which I never use. Who would over Chrome and Firefox? We also don't like anyone updating our modules with better code, on bad software, and with a confusing interface and design.
Bottom line, I see a lot of badly coded and designed online training but ACDelco Training takes the cake. Companies like ACDelco have no excuse, and I mean no excuse, when they have the amount of money resources to keep these things updated and make them easy for people to use.
Honestly I wouldn't use this online ACDelco Training unless I had to. It is a class requirement that I complete these modules.
If you are an auto technician or automotive technology student and have used the ACDelco Training modules which are online based, do you agree?