“Learning comes from education while knowing comes from revelation.”
- Myles Munroe
In my first post, I talked about "Reluctant" Revit learners and how to work with them. The next “R” I want to discuss is "Revelation". This is the point in the training when the student starts to understand how the software works and what they can start to do with it.
I often refer to this revelation as the "light bulb moment". It's the moment in a class where you can see the student is finally getting it. Often you can notice it right on their faces. It starts with a slight scowl but then they'll raise their eyebrows and their eyes widen just a little. I love seeing that moment in a class.
I also often see it during introductory training with my architects when we start cutting sections and elevations. During the first part of the class, I have my students work only on a floor plan. We will make new wall types, place doors, and windows, change detail levels, etc. Then I’ll have them cut a section or two and place some elevations. Once they see that what they do in one view is reflected in all other views, that’s often when I see that light bulb turn on.
It's most noticeable with CAD drafters learning BIM but I also see it a lot with both interns and senior staff like Project Managers or Lead Architects learning Revit for the first time. I often see this with my engineers when we start talking about analysis tools and schedules. Up until that point, it’s just “modeling”. Even though we're putting in all the information, it doesn’t click. In the training, we lay out a full duct or pipe system in a plan view. When I'm confident they understand that, I’ll show them a color-fill legend of their design. They can then see how the information we put in the model is affecting everything else. I’ll have them make some changes and watch the legend shift colors.
Next, we will move on to analysis, schedules, and reports to see even more information about their systems. With these new revelations, they realize they don’t have to manually count items over dozens of sheets and no longer have to redraw as many plans, elevations, and sections when something shifts. You realize changing information in schedules pushes that information to the model elements. And there's so much more to be revealed!
After it happens once, revelation becomes a recurring theme. As you learn more about Revit you'll learn more ways it can be used to help them make better designs.
How have you handled similar scenarios in your own training experiences? Let me know in the comments!
