Trailhead Academy Instructor Tips to Make Salesforce Concepts Stick
Trailhead Academy experts share the songs, mnemonic devices, and analogies that will help you earn Trailhead badges and become a Salesforce pro in this new, all-virtual world.
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Let’s be real — learning today looks a LOT different than it did just a year ago. Instead of going into a classroom and sitting with peers, students and teachers must adapt and find new ways to connect and teach while doing distance learning.
Whether it’s with mini Zoom meetings or hangouts for smaller group discussions, homework office hours, individual Zoom tutoring sessions, or custom backgrounds to catch students’ attention, teachers are pulling out all the stops to help their students learn.
And the same goes for our amazing team of Trailhead Academy instructors who deliver expert-led classes globally in more than 13 languages for every Salesforce Cloud, role, and level. Now more than ever, our customers are looking to skill up and build expertise so they can adapt and keep up with the all-digital world we live in.
And they can do this through our virtual, expert-led classes or with Trailhead Virtual Bootcamps for Admins, App Builders, and Developers.
Our instructors are adapting
Educators in the school system are embracing virtual teaching — finding new, creative ways to engage with students by bringing the fun and the personalization. As learning experts, they know that using songs, mnemonics, analogies, and rhymes are a great way to hammer home a topic or concept and make it stick.
This is the secret sauce to helping people learn — something educators have been doing for years by leveraging catchy songs to teach everyday concepts like grammar, mathematics, and history.
So, let’s hear from some of our awesome Salesforce instructors as they share how they bring the fun to make learning Salesforce stick.
Songs you can hum along to
“Mnemonics, rhymes, and songs help us learn things faster and for longer periods of time. When you say the alphabet, do you still sing the song in your head? Of course you do!
I know ‘dessert’ vs. ‘desert’ because dessert is the one with ss (strawberry shortcake) in the middle! I used memory tricks to help me get my certifications, and I am glad to pay it forward.”
While he hasn’t reached the Billboard Hot 100 yet, Brian’s getting some major props for his three (yes, three!) Salesforce raps.
These catchy tunes help you learn Salesforce concepts, and it’s safe to say that if one of them gets stuck in your head, you’ll be humming the tune as you sit for (and pass) your Salesforce Administrator Certification exam.
Mnemonics to help you remember
“New admins who are preparing for their exam can sometimes feel overwhelmed by how much detail they need to remember.
Analogies, acronyms, and songs help take the pressure off, as they are likely to remember them even if they try not to — just like earworms and sticky songs!”
VESTeD privileges 🔐
When it comes to data security and record access, there are only two types of records in Salesforce: those you own and those you don’t. Simple as that!
If you’re the owner of a record, you have VESTeD privileges to it. You can View, Edit, Share, Transfer, and Delete the record. For the records you don’t own, access will be defined by other features, such as OWDs, Role Hierarchy, Sharing Rules, Teams, and Manual Sharing.
Let’s TACO-bout it 🌮
Teams is a great feature you can use to “bucket” groups of people that work together to achieve a shared outcome, whether it’s swarming around solving a customer issue or successfully managing an important customer account.
But there are so many types of teams to remember, so just remember to TACO-bout it: Teams, Account, Case, Opportunity.
“In preparing for certification, remembering details works even better when you are able to add more than one memorization technique.
A simple drawing like a stick figure, a backpack, and an inverted pyramid translates to stories about everything an admin needs to know about Profiles, Permission Sets, and Record Security.”
Keep it C-C-CLASsy 🕺
The Data Import Wizard makes it easy to import up to 50,000 records at a time, but sometimes it’s hard to remember which objects you can import to.
A great way to remember is to keep it C-C-CLASsy (pronounced C C Class): Contacts, Campaign Members, Custom, Leads, Accounts, Solutions.
Analogies you can relate to
“Being a good instructor doesn’t mean being the most knowledgeable about a topic. It’s about how you’re able to break down concepts within that subject, and how you then take the learners with you on that journey so that they also understand it.
Analogies are a great way of taking a sometimes alien or unknown topic, and making it relevant to the learners to help them put it into a context they find familiar.”
Login Hours, IP Ranges, and Account Verification as a music festival
When you arrive at a music festival, your ticket tells you what day/s and when you’re allowed to be there (Login Hours), and which gate you need to enter from — the blue gate, green gate, etc. (IP Ranges).
In this analogy, you arrive at a festival and walk up to a gate.
Security will check your ticket to a) make sure you’re entering through the right gate, and b) make sure your ticket says you can be there at that time.
Salesforce does the exact same thing when a user tries to log in; Salesforce checks to see if there are any IP Ranges (or gates, in this analogy) on the profile and, if so, are they within them.
Salesforce also checks to see if there are any Login Hours (festival days and times) and if they are within them. If the person trying to gain access is within the restrictions on both fronts, then they are allowed in — and that festival feeling can start!
This analogy can also be applied to Account Verification — It would be annoying to have to show your ticket every time you enter the festival just to prove who you are.
At festivals, once you go through a particular gate and show your ticket (identify verification) you’re given a wristband, which means you don’t have to stop every time you enter that gate to verify yourself.
Salesforce does the same thing. If you’re trying to access Salesforce for the first time via a new browser, you’ll need to verify yourself, usually via an email.
Once you’ve done this, a cookie is placed in that browser, which means you don’t have to repeat the process when using the same device/browser over and over again. Cookie on the browser = wristband at a festival.
Songs, mnemonics, and analogies, oh my!
A lot of knowledge was just dropped by the people who know Salesforce best — our Salesforce-certified Trailhead Academy instructors.
If you’re looking to get your hands on more amazing tips like these, and ask our experts the questions you’ve been struggling with the most, look no further!
Register today for one of our virtual, expert-led classes or Trailhead Virtual Bootcamps, and get ready to have Salesforce concepts stick in a fun, new way.
Hope to see you soon.
