Classrooms is easy to conduct but hard to prepare, this is my initial assessment, especially when I was a new trainer.
People
Supervisors: they have to know why I am taking people out for training that means they have to operate without that one personnel which sometimes effects production time. But knowing I m pulling their staffs out earlier means they can also plan for anything to happen.
Learners: They need to know why they are coming for training, what are the expectations of the training programs, what will they learn, how will they be learning, where will it be, etc. It is also good that an email is sent to them to prepare for the training. When writing to them, I usually write as if something fun is going to happen in the training classroom. (also better make sure the program will be fun for them otherwise the next time you send an email, they might not believe you) This breaks the ice with them.
Program
Training materials- sometimes I see the training materials that is set out for me before I start the training program, I groan in despair and go "This is going to be a long boring day". Sometimes it is good to make the materials is more fun, more pictorial instead of having a large technical reading manual which is good for collecting dust back in the office. Try using comics format for illustration of processes, graphics helps a lot.
Activities- I try to not talk more than 15 minutes at the beginning of a topic. I just introduce but then I turn the session into an activity. People must get out of their seats and do something to learn. Learning should not be passive, it should be active. It creates an environment to learn. Example: I had to teach a topic which was something really new in the industry. So instead of showing people how to use the service- I got the devices ready with simple comic-like illustration and I had a competition amongst the groups. Everyone had to prove that they can use the device and show it to someone else in the group, when "evidence" has been proven they sign on their training book and I give a time limit. What happened was people start learning from one another, someone who was more technically inclined helped those who were not. I went to some who needed help but mostly they learnt it on their own.
Music- learn about music and how it helps in training. I don't know whether there are studies about this but because I m not into a certain one types of music and I like many types, I tend to use music to help in training. It's like watching a movie- when I was young it was not the shark in Jaws that really frightened me the most- although the sight of the beast scared me, it was John Williams soundtrack of the attack that scared me more. So I try to find out the learners that attend the sessions, of their age or race and see what music I can use to start the session. When activities, I use a more exciting song and so on and so forth.
Jokes and one liners- I try to use a lot of humor to lighten up the classroom. It also creates a lively environment, people are excited to try new things. I always tell the class "Better to make the mistake here than back in the workplace, the most is you might get your friends here laughing at you, back there you can get into trouble" You can check out one-liners from http://www.siglets.com.
Showing posts with label Designing Training Program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Designing Training Program. Show all posts
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Designing Training Programs: Delivery Methods
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more.
Let's discuss some of the delivery methods here. I think there are basically 3 main categories here:
Traditional classroom training is where you invite people to attend the training which is set at a specific time and a specific location. According to Marc J. Rosenberg in his book Beyond E-Learning, classrooms are here to stay. Although classrooms have its limitations, there is still a need to have classrooms. We cannot discard the benefits of a classroom. What I tend to use classroom are workshops and I seldom use it for a lecture form of classroom or what my friend and I term it as "spray and pray" training (Meaning we just teach or train the content- the spray and then PRAY to God that they learnt)
Classrooms can be conducted indoors and/or outdoors. The real benefit is getting people to engage with one another, practice, network and have FUN learning. When I first joined the training and development unit back in 97, I attended the Train the Trainer program with SMR Malaysia and I do recommend their Train the Trainer course. Dr Palan introduced how to put the FUN in learning. Best practice is to have 80% activities and 20% facilitated by the trainer.
The limitations of a classroom are logistics and trainer. Sometimes it is logistically impossible to schedule people for training or commit to conduct a number of trainings. Most often supervisors would like to minimize their staff movements to ensure productivity is not "sacrificed" because of the KPI they will have to meet. Other problems are if there is a time limit set e.g. product launch- the content can only be confirmed one week before it launches and you have to train 600 people in 25 locations nationwide before it launches. (That was how I got into eLearning in the first place) After training, people might forget about the subject and many more limitations of the classroom. Refresher classes are often required but sometimes too late because the damage is already done. Lack of trainers is another factor or lack of GOOD trainers- sometimes you get those trainers who works better than the sleeping pill.
eLearning
There a variety of ways to deliver eLearning content. This includes simple pdf files, powerpoint slides, an instructional email to complex- contents from YouTube, SlideShares, content that you can buy from eLearning and eBookscourse vendors like Skillsoft.
For companies that would like to implement eLearning there are things to consider like a learning management system (LMS) or a learning content management system (LCMS), etc. I started eLearning without the LMS and just basic creating a website of the content for people to just read with no quiz or mastery test. Slowly I played with a few more authoring softwares like Authorware which is difficult for people who are new in elearning content development to Articulate Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker which was easier to create.
For those looking for elearning development tools, whether free stuffs or licensed, you can visit the sites that I recommend in my blog especially Zaid's & Jane eLearning blog which posts a lot of new things available. Some of the things Zaid finds in the internet amazes me and what I particularly like about his blog is that he gives his honest input about the application. You should also read what another blogger wrote about Zaid's blog site in the 4th paragraph.
But what I do advice is to also start planning an eLearning strategy before you start purchasing or developing anything.
The one thing I learnt from Brian Chapman in his session Implementing eLearning Strategy in KL, is to move away from the long hours of web based course and break it up into smaller chunks of content and make it a meta content so that you can re-use the content for a different purpose and save time in development or custom tailor the content for a different audience.
The benefit about elearning is that you are able to deliver contents to anyone and at anytime.
You can create very exciting content with a very dull subject. In terms of ROI (or what the term my team uses ROTI- Return Of Training Investment- which bread translated from Malay ironically for those not in Malaysia), it gives more returns because initial investment is high but once it is rolled out, the returns are enormous. But I keep telling people that there are sunk cost like purchasing hardwares like servers, applications like LMS or LCMS to consider and those are huge costs.
The limitations of eLearning are it is usually self learning so it takes a lot of discipline. That is something a lot of people, especially adults and those higher in management find difficulty in. ELearning can also be one way in some cases, trainer to student but student have no one to ask when they do not understand certain parts of the subject. You can argue that this is the human side and eLearning cannot be at fault in this but still if you look at the objectives of training is to prepare them for their work, and if eLearning is there but cannot help then it is considered a failure. What helps is that you promote eLearning in your company/ institutions daily, monthly, constantly. I have developed a nickname in my company "The Virtual Pain in the..." but I have started to see "fruits of my labour", people are asking me about new contents in eLearning, and some have asked whether we can have workshops based on the elearning and so on. Planning is essential and crucial for the success in the eLearning initiative.
Blended Learning
Blended learning is about taking the program and see how you can deliver different sections using classroom and elearning. Basically taking the strength each delivery has to offer and bring the learning to whole new level or retention and success.
Example: You can ask the learners to read about the topic before they attend the class so that in the class, they can start discussing about it or already start practicing like roleplays, etc. After training, you can use forums to discuss about how they are doing, were there any success stories learners can share with each other or learnings from failed attempts and so on. In this sense, learning is not confined to the classrooms (or given back to the trainer after so many days after the training) or to PC.
To me it makes sense to create programs which are blended to ensure learning and continuous development takes place.
Let's discuss some of the delivery methods here. I think there are basically 3 main categories here:
- Classroom
- eLearning
- Blended Learning
Traditional classroom training is where you invite people to attend the training which is set at a specific time and a specific location. According to Marc J. Rosenberg in his book Beyond E-Learning, classrooms are here to stay. Although classrooms have its limitations, there is still a need to have classrooms. We cannot discard the benefits of a classroom. What I tend to use classroom are workshops and I seldom use it for a lecture form of classroom or what my friend and I term it as "spray and pray" training (Meaning we just teach or train the content- the spray and then PRAY to God that they learnt)
Classrooms can be conducted indoors and/or outdoors. The real benefit is getting people to engage with one another, practice, network and have FUN learning. When I first joined the training and development unit back in 97, I attended the Train the Trainer program with SMR Malaysia and I do recommend their Train the Trainer course. Dr Palan introduced how to put the FUN in learning. Best practice is to have 80% activities and 20% facilitated by the trainer.
The limitations of a classroom are logistics and trainer. Sometimes it is logistically impossible to schedule people for training or commit to conduct a number of trainings. Most often supervisors would like to minimize their staff movements to ensure productivity is not "sacrificed" because of the KPI they will have to meet. Other problems are if there is a time limit set e.g. product launch- the content can only be confirmed one week before it launches and you have to train 600 people in 25 locations nationwide before it launches. (That was how I got into eLearning in the first place) After training, people might forget about the subject and many more limitations of the classroom. Refresher classes are often required but sometimes too late because the damage is already done. Lack of trainers is another factor or lack of GOOD trainers- sometimes you get those trainers who works better than the sleeping pill.
eLearning
There a variety of ways to deliver eLearning content. This includes simple pdf files, powerpoint slides, an instructional email to complex- contents from YouTube, SlideShares, content that you can buy from eLearning and eBookscourse vendors like Skillsoft.
For companies that would like to implement eLearning there are things to consider like a learning management system (LMS) or a learning content management system (LCMS), etc. I started eLearning without the LMS and just basic creating a website of the content for people to just read with no quiz or mastery test. Slowly I played with a few more authoring softwares like Authorware which is difficult for people who are new in elearning content development to Articulate Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker which was easier to create.
For those looking for elearning development tools, whether free stuffs or licensed, you can visit the sites that I recommend in my blog especially Zaid's & Jane eLearning blog which posts a lot of new things available. Some of the things Zaid finds in the internet amazes me and what I particularly like about his blog is that he gives his honest input about the application. You should also read what another blogger wrote about Zaid's blog site in the 4th paragraph.
But what I do advice is to also start planning an eLearning strategy before you start purchasing or developing anything.
The one thing I learnt from Brian Chapman in his session Implementing eLearning Strategy in KL, is to move away from the long hours of web based course and break it up into smaller chunks of content and make it a meta content so that you can re-use the content for a different purpose and save time in development or custom tailor the content for a different audience.
The benefit about elearning is that you are able to deliver contents to anyone and at anytime.
You can create very exciting content with a very dull subject. In terms of ROI (or what the term my team uses ROTI- Return Of Training Investment- which bread translated from Malay ironically for those not in Malaysia), it gives more returns because initial investment is high but once it is rolled out, the returns are enormous. But I keep telling people that there are sunk cost like purchasing hardwares like servers, applications like LMS or LCMS to consider and those are huge costs.
The limitations of eLearning are it is usually self learning so it takes a lot of discipline. That is something a lot of people, especially adults and those higher in management find difficulty in. ELearning can also be one way in some cases, trainer to student but student have no one to ask when they do not understand certain parts of the subject. You can argue that this is the human side and eLearning cannot be at fault in this but still if you look at the objectives of training is to prepare them for their work, and if eLearning is there but cannot help then it is considered a failure. What helps is that you promote eLearning in your company/ institutions daily, monthly, constantly. I have developed a nickname in my company "The Virtual Pain in the..." but I have started to see "fruits of my labour", people are asking me about new contents in eLearning, and some have asked whether we can have workshops based on the elearning and so on. Planning is essential and crucial for the success in the eLearning initiative.
Blended Learning
Blended learning is about taking the program and see how you can deliver different sections using classroom and elearning. Basically taking the strength each delivery has to offer and bring the learning to whole new level or retention and success.
Example: You can ask the learners to read about the topic before they attend the class so that in the class, they can start discussing about it or already start practicing like roleplays, etc. After training, you can use forums to discuss about how they are doing, were there any success stories learners can share with each other or learnings from failed attempts and so on. In this sense, learning is not confined to the classrooms (or given back to the trainer after so many days after the training) or to PC.
To me it makes sense to create programs which are blended to ensure learning and continuous development takes place.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Designing Training Programs- Getting to the Training Blueprints
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more.
After you have created the Training Goals, you then design the program itself. Even at this stage I don't think about delivery yet but I keep it at the back of my head to create possibilities of how I would like to deliver the subject. I put in the content at this stage following the training goals.
E.g. You will be able to confidently demonstrate at least 3 benefits of using the product to a customer in 3 minutes.
They would need to learn what is the product all about? What can it do? How does it benefit the customer? Also have to consider materials used- product brochure? slide presentation? If they need to be demonstrating, maybe they would need a hands on session. So it would roughly look something like this
Product Description and Information is something maybe they can learn on their own and maybe before they come for a hands on session. Normally I would like it if the learners can read on their own, maybe a technical read out in a pdf file or word document or if the subject already available somewhere in the company's intranet or Internet.
Hands On Section does not necessarily be in a classroom, it can be back at workplace- if the subject can be easily learnt and the resources are available, if it is too complex then maybe classroom would be required. Again classroom, would it be virtual or actual physical depends on a few factors like time you will need to deliver this, complexity of the product, etc.
Roleplaying usually means it is a classroom setting but they are several ways you can do this with technology as well like Second Life. The trick of roleplaying is that they learners try to simulate the roles in reality. The tendency is they love to play the overly irritated customer and so on. So a level of control is required if roleplaying is to be successful.
In delivery, I try design it using FUN. You might ask how do you inject fun in the Product Description and Information? It is too boring. If you think creatively, you can put in a challenge and say that they will need to do a presentation the first thing they come into the classroom and you can also put in a prize for best presentation, or best creative presentation. It can also be a group work, so they have like 20 min to prepare and so on. Go nuts, get creative. The more time you put into planning this, the better it gets.
After you have created the Training Goals, you then design the program itself. Even at this stage I don't think about delivery yet but I keep it at the back of my head to create possibilities of how I would like to deliver the subject. I put in the content at this stage following the training goals.
E.g. You will be able to confidently demonstrate at least 3 benefits of using the product to a customer in 3 minutes.
They would need to learn what is the product all about? What can it do? How does it benefit the customer? Also have to consider materials used- product brochure? slide presentation? If they need to be demonstrating, maybe they would need a hands on session. So it would roughly look something like this
- Product Description & Information
- Hands On Section
- Roleplaying
Product Description and Information is something maybe they can learn on their own and maybe before they come for a hands on session. Normally I would like it if the learners can read on their own, maybe a technical read out in a pdf file or word document or if the subject already available somewhere in the company's intranet or Internet.
Hands On Section does not necessarily be in a classroom, it can be back at workplace- if the subject can be easily learnt and the resources are available, if it is too complex then maybe classroom would be required. Again classroom, would it be virtual or actual physical depends on a few factors like time you will need to deliver this, complexity of the product, etc.
Roleplaying usually means it is a classroom setting but they are several ways you can do this with technology as well like Second Life. The trick of roleplaying is that they learners try to simulate the roles in reality. The tendency is they love to play the overly irritated customer and so on. So a level of control is required if roleplaying is to be successful.
In delivery, I try design it using FUN. You might ask how do you inject fun in the Product Description and Information? It is too boring. If you think creatively, you can put in a challenge and say that they will need to do a presentation the first thing they come into the classroom and you can also put in a prize for best presentation, or best creative presentation. It can also be a group work, so they have like 20 min to prepare and so on. Go nuts, get creative. The more time you put into planning this, the better it gets.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Designing Training Programs- Creating Training Goals
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more.
So you have learn how adults learn, and I placed some of the theory behind it that should be able to assist you in the design. So let's go to the writing training goals.
To writing training goals, you take a look at your TNA and see what has been agreed with the requestor/ supervisor. I think most people would know how to write a SMART goal:
Specific- be sure to tell them what they are going to learn, adults don't like surprises. If there is going to be a roleplay, tell them about it and what is expected of them. If there is an elearning course, tell about it and how to go about doing it and if there is a quiz or test so that they can prepare for it.
Measurable- tell them how you will be measuring the success of the training. If there is a quiz, tell them, when it will be conducted, how it will be conducted, WHY it is being conducted and of course what is the passing mark.
Achievable- set achievable tasks that they gradually move on with learning. Make the goal challenging but most importantly make it achievable. This also ties in with the next point.
Realistic- set realistic a environment and goal. Don't make it too ideal until becomes a dream fantasy. Don't give them tasks that even you as a trainer cannot do.
Timeliness- set a time limit for them to achieve the goals. I.e. you will be able to promote to the customer with ease in 3 minutes. So that they can challenge themselves bearing in mind achievable & realistic as well.
Writing SMART goals take time but it should not take all day. Mostly when I write the goals I keep one thing in mind- what do they need to perform or do in order to complete the training goal i.e. promote, sell, illustrate. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Selling
You will be able to confidently promote at least 3 benefits of the product using the product brochure to a customer in 3 minutes.
I used the word confidently as a goal for the participants to achieve when they are doing the roleplaying and although I can't measure confidence, it is more of a realistic goal. I specifically stated I wanted them to use the 3 benefits stated in the product brochure so they know how I want them to achieve the goal and I gave them a time.
Procedures
You will be able to accurately illustrate the Product X registration procedure in 5 minutes
I used another word accurately to describe the measurement of the goal and specifically mentioned the which registration product I wanted them to illustrate. I like using illustrate because it is better to draw it out and that becomes the achievement of the training goals
I try to avoid goals like Understand or Know because you can never tell whether they have learnt it. You can ask them "Do you understand?" and they can just yes but in their minds they go "I have no idea but I don't want to look stupid in front of the rest"
I am still trying to write better training goals and sometimes I learn something new and improve on what I am doing now. So my advice to those who are starting to write training goals- just write them and improve as you go along. Don't be afraid of making a mistake.
So you have learn how adults learn, and I placed some of the theory behind it that should be able to assist you in the design. So let's go to the writing training goals.
To writing training goals, you take a look at your TNA and see what has been agreed with the requestor/ supervisor. I think most people would know how to write a SMART goal:
Specific- be sure to tell them what they are going to learn, adults don't like surprises. If there is going to be a roleplay, tell them about it and what is expected of them. If there is an elearning course, tell about it and how to go about doing it and if there is a quiz or test so that they can prepare for it.
Measurable- tell them how you will be measuring the success of the training. If there is a quiz, tell them, when it will be conducted, how it will be conducted, WHY it is being conducted and of course what is the passing mark.
Achievable- set achievable tasks that they gradually move on with learning. Make the goal challenging but most importantly make it achievable. This also ties in with the next point.
Realistic- set realistic a environment and goal. Don't make it too ideal until becomes a dream fantasy. Don't give them tasks that even you as a trainer cannot do.
Timeliness- set a time limit for them to achieve the goals. I.e. you will be able to promote to the customer with ease in 3 minutes. So that they can challenge themselves bearing in mind achievable & realistic as well.
Writing SMART goals take time but it should not take all day. Mostly when I write the goals I keep one thing in mind- what do they need to perform or do in order to complete the training goal i.e. promote, sell, illustrate. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Selling
You will be able to confidently promote at least 3 benefits of the product using the product brochure to a customer in 3 minutes.
I used the word confidently as a goal for the participants to achieve when they are doing the roleplaying and although I can't measure confidence, it is more of a realistic goal. I specifically stated I wanted them to use the 3 benefits stated in the product brochure so they know how I want them to achieve the goal and I gave them a time.
Procedures
You will be able to accurately illustrate the Product X registration procedure in 5 minutes
I used another word accurately to describe the measurement of the goal and specifically mentioned the which registration product I wanted them to illustrate. I like using illustrate because it is better to draw it out and that becomes the achievement of the training goals
I try to avoid goals like Understand or Know because you can never tell whether they have learnt it. You can ask them "Do you understand?" and they can just yes but in their minds they go "I have no idea but I don't want to look stupid in front of the rest"
I am still trying to write better training goals and sometimes I learn something new and improve on what I am doing now. So my advice to those who are starting to write training goals- just write them and improve as you go along. Don't be afraid of making a mistake.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Designing Training Programs: More about Adult Learning
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more.
To kick off the designing stage, you need to view back a couple of slides I added in my blog on which I think you need to have a good grasp of. You cannot teach if you don't know how to learn- that is what I find that is a fundamental requirement of any good trainer.
I am adding a new one which is something you need to also take into consideration when designing programs. This slide, Bloom's Taxanomy talks about the different levels of learning and was uploaded by mrjportman in slideshare.
To kick off the designing stage, you need to view back a couple of slides I added in my blog on which I think you need to have a good grasp of. You cannot teach if you don't know how to learn- that is what I find that is a fundamental requirement of any good trainer.
I am adding a new one which is something you need to also take into consideration when designing programs. This slide, Bloom's Taxanomy talks about the different levels of learning and was uploaded by mrjportman in slideshare.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Learning about Learning
Although I set up this blog as a record of my journal in elearning but sometimes I wonder if I should just call the learning process- learning and the delivery of the knowledge either phsycial (classroom/ face to face coaching) or electronical (eLearning/ any knowledge delivered by electronical device methods) is just another delivery system.
I guess I want to focus on LEARNING. Here is a slide that caught my interest: Learning with the Brain in Mind by Bertha Levia-
What is essential is that we understand how the brain learns and maybe we can be better learners.
I guess I want to focus on LEARNING. Here is a slide that caught my interest: Learning with the Brain in Mind by Bertha Levia-
What is essential is that we understand how the brain learns and maybe we can be better learners.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Instructional Design: How do Adults Learn
At first I thought I had to write a lot about designing a training program but I realised some of these are already available in the internet... the things I learn. To begin designing a training program, first thing you need to know is how people learn or in this case how adults learn. The basic principle of learning for an adult is that you cannot control what they learn- the adult themselves decide what, when and how they want to learn. Choice is the basic element trainers can never control, only influence. Standing in front of a crowd and giving a lecture works in the universities because students want to score in the subject, however the situation changes in the workplace- unless you can guarantee them a promotion or a big pay rise after completing the course- they can decide NOT to listen to you. Adults have a choice- doesn't mean the boss says go get training, meaning they will learn- they can decide to take a holiday and escape from work.
This slide explains the basic principle of adult learning:
I hope you will learn about how adults learn from this. What is the motivation? Because you want to be a better trainer or a better designer. Whether you want to be or not is up to you- the learner.
This slide explains the basic principle of adult learning:
I hope you will learn about how adults learn from this. What is the motivation? Because you want to be a better trainer or a better designer. Whether you want to be or not is up to you- the learner.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more. So here goes, part two- TNA 101 by Chris Chew.
This took quite sometime for me to write because there is so much to write about and I was worried whether this too much information, and the blog will turn out to be a book instead. So I have decided to keep this short but willing to share more if you have questions. Basically, training needs analysis is about finding out where the skill/knowledge gap is and investigating what needs to be trained and to what level the learner needs to achieve. That means you have to find out what is the expected outcome of the training program and get an agreement from the line managers/ training requestor. It is important at this phase not to have any plans on how to deliver the lesson.
TNA is usually done at these levels:
Next: Designing Training Program in the 21st century (This is my favourite part)
This took quite sometime for me to write because there is so much to write about and I was worried whether this too much information, and the blog will turn out to be a book instead. So I have decided to keep this short but willing to share more if you have questions. Basically, training needs analysis is about finding out where the skill/knowledge gap is and investigating what needs to be trained and to what level the learner needs to achieve. That means you have to find out what is the expected outcome of the training program and get an agreement from the line managers/ training requestor. It is important at this phase not to have any plans on how to deliver the lesson.
TNA is usually done at these levels:
- Organization
- Examples of training requested at these levels are: core competencies, new brand values, etc which is something that involves all employees or new hires or a new product launched.
- Departmental/ Division
- Examples of training requested at these levels are functional skills, teamwork or teambuilding, etc which involves employees from a certain department/ division e.g. finance, sales, customer service, etc. It can also be cross functional as in project focus teams.
- Managers
- This would be more specific training requirements to a small group e.g. writing business proposals, target accounts selling skills for corporate accounts
- At this stage, meet with the requestor to discuss about the reason for the training. What are the current situation at the workplace and what are the current practice and what does the manager expects by the end of the training. If training is not done, what are the impact to the organization? What are the key indicators that will determine the success of the training- this can be used to determine the over all training exercise was successful or strayed away during initial implementation or ROI (Return of Investment).
- Setting goals for this level would be essential. Use the SMART principle in the planning (e.g. was the training goal specific, measureable, acheivable, realistic and timelines to conduct training agreed by everyone) One of the most important part, which in my experience, that is always left out is the agreement of the level of expertise that the learners will achieve by the end of the training. Managers will always set high expectations that once their staff goes through the training program, they will come out experts of the field but when in usual case, people will take time to master a particular subject, dependant on the levels of complexity. Classroom courses are not magical palaces which people go in and come out wearing blue suits with red cape and flying around. Skills usually take time to practice and the more they practice, the better they get at it. So usually after classroom, there should be post training activities to allow participants to put into practice what they learnt. This has to be agreed with the managers to happen back in the workplace and it will not come to a shock to them during this stage.
- If this is not something new, sometimes you can skip this step but I always believe in not assuming so finding out what is happening at the current workplace is good preparation. You might even find someone who might be excelling in their work and be a good resource as well. There are several ways, you can do this:
- Survey
- Pretest
- Discussion groups
- Observation
Next: Designing Training Program in the 21st century (This is my favourite part)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
How to Develop, Design and Deliver a Learning Course (Part 1)
I am putting down in my blog what I learnt in my 10 years as a trainer. I have delivered courses in classroom, created web based courses, coached via face to face, email and other means. Now I believe I have acquired new ideas and skills that will enhance the way I deliver training programs. But what I put down here is not something that is perfect and I know if I put it down here and there are people who can comment, I will learn more. So here goes, part one- Instruction Design 101 by Chris Chew.
To develop a learning course requires a process which I m sure almost all trainers would follow the diagram above.
Training Needs Analysis (TNA)
This part is where the trainer finds out what are the learning gaps of the learners, what needs to be trained. There are various ways to do this-
- discussion with line managers, supervisors, or even the senior leadership team
- new product/ services or even new processes implemented
- development plans of an employee
- competency assessment, and more
Design and Developing Stage
After conducting the TNA, it is time to go to the blueprints of the developing and designing the course. To start off, we need to create course objectives which are what the learners will learn at the end of the course. Generally I like to use the phrase "By the end of the course, you will be able to...", the other rule I always adhere to is that the objectives is an action e.g. illustrate, design, etc. This is because I believe that if the person can demonstrate what he has learnt then that becomes actual proof that learning has take place. This does not mean the learner will adopt new learning back in the workplace however. I will discuss this more in detail in the future.
Delivery
Most people would think that the best delivery is via classroom- however, given factors like time (most people cannot come out for long training sessions), personal learning methodology, etc classroom would not be effective enough. Today, we have so much opportunities in technology to deliver training. What I believe classroom is really effective if the session was conducted in a workshop format- there is where classroom training or face to face instructor has it's most benefits. Consider options like a simple pdf file for people to read about the topic or short audio files. Theories and presentation are effective if delivered by a trainer who can present very well but sometimes a movie or a multimedia type presentation would do the job better and more effectively. Five years ago, people would have difficulty looking for all these multimedia but with YouTube, Google, Flickr, Blogs, Slideshare, etc looking for these content is not impossible anymore and the internet has so much to offer. More coming your way.
Evaluation
There are many ways to evaluate your training. There is a slide that I found and put in my blog about Measuring ROI in Training by exploreHR has some interesting insights and I do encourage you to take a look at it. This is also relatively new to me but I am going to learn and then share with you whatever I know.
Next: Analysing Training Needs Analysis Process
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