Changes to the NHD Update Tool training include:

• using a training dataset with known data quality issues
• exercises to guide trainees through important tasks
• an outline to guide trainees through the class.

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USGS Partner Support created an ArcGIS Online Survey 123 Form to collect trainee feedback after the course.* This allows the Partner Support team to better understand trainees’ learning needs, skill level, and overall sentiment about class effectiveness. During each course, instructors also observe and identify points of confusion based on time expended and questions asked. These observations provide an indirect form of feedback to the instructors helping improve each training class.

After each course, Partner Support reviews the Survey 123 results, along with instructor notes from each class. Partner Support updates the training presentation with these items, then determines appropriate actions to take. As a result of these analyses, we have made numerous changes to the NHD Update Tool Training. For example, we improved training data to match imagery more closely and now focus on delivering the software and training data before classes begin. The NHD benefits when partners successfully become active new editors and data stewards and feel a sense of ownership as valued stakeholders in the NHD workflow.

►In the future, Partner Support will continue to revise the NHD Update Tool Training exercises to include adding step by step instructions for completing training jobs. If you have any suggestions on ways Partner Support can improve NHD Update Tool Training or interested in attending the training, please contact National Hydrography Support.

* Information collection approved under OMB Control. No. 1090-0011

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