A big part of my job is to help design and develop training courseware in various formats. Lately, I've been wondering how much of the training is actually needed and how we'll know for certain that it was effective. I felt that we were creating too many training materials without being entirely sure about the objectives.
Those wonderings led me to finding a course called "Foundations of Instructional Design", which was facilitated by Learning and Performance Partners, Inc. (LPPI). The instructor & LPPI's prez, Armi Treñas, is an established Learning and Development (L&D) specialist who works with various major corporations and organizations in different countries. "Instructional Systems Design" (ISD) seems to be a fairly new concept in the Philippines and, as far as my recent googling has revealed, LPPI is the only ISD practitioner in the country.
In a nutshell, ISD focuses not only on what should be in a training course, but also on how to check that training really is needed; how much and what type of training is needed; and how to ascertain that its objectives have been achieved.
Here are some of my key takeaways from the ISD course:
1. Not all training "needs" can actually be addressed by training.
Analyze the situation first before concluding that it can be improved with training.
Armi shared some insights that are very smart: Is it really a problem? Is it the right problem? Are you the right person who should be solving that problem? Because if there is no problem, or the problem you're trying to solve is not the right one, or you're not the right person to solve it, then it will become a source of frustration.
2. Use appropriate verbs when writing objectives; these should describe exactly what trainees will ultimately achieve from the course and be expected to do after the training.
A common mistake is to just write about the topics to be learned from the course.
3. These words (and similar forms of these) should NEVER be used in your training objectives:
- Learn
- Understand / Gain understanding
- Know
- Familiarize / Be familiar with
- Appreciate
- Comprehend
- Acquaint
4. A quality training does not do a "knowledge dump", which simply transfers a body of knowledge with no clear sense of purpose and direction.
Armi pointed out: you don't train because you're the smartest SME (subject-matter expert). Don't just teach what you know. Your job as a trainer is to teach simply and to help your trainees learn deeply. You should be able to synthesize all your training content into a format that will enable your learners to easily digest and recall information and apply what they've learned.
5. All training courses should be assessed based on the objective/s, thus they should have measurable results that can clearly tell you that you have succeeded as a trainer.
Note that this assessment is different from feedback surveys asking what you liked/disliked about the training or the venue or the food.
There are actually many ways to evaluate training. For example, you could:
- conduct a short exam
- improve recall by playing a guessing game
- ask trainees to give small-group presentations and then facilitate critique/feedback from other groups
If you're involved in training in one way or another, I highly recommend taking up the ISD course with LPPI to learn a structured approach to creating a quality and high-impact training plan.
To contact LPPI, visit http://www.learnperformance.com
Those wonderings led me to finding a course called "Foundations of Instructional Design", which was facilitated by Learning and Performance Partners, Inc. (LPPI). The instructor & LPPI's prez, Armi Treñas, is an established Learning and Development (L&D) specialist who works with various major corporations and organizations in different countries. "Instructional Systems Design" (ISD) seems to be a fairly new concept in the Philippines and, as far as my recent googling has revealed, LPPI is the only ISD practitioner in the country.
In a nutshell, ISD focuses not only on what should be in a training course, but also on how to check that training really is needed; how much and what type of training is needed; and how to ascertain that its objectives have been achieved.
Here are some of my key takeaways from the ISD course:
1. Not all training "needs" can actually be addressed by training.
Analyze the situation first before concluding that it can be improved with training.
Armi shared some insights that are very smart: Is it really a problem? Is it the right problem? Are you the right person who should be solving that problem? Because if there is no problem, or the problem you're trying to solve is not the right one, or you're not the right person to solve it, then it will become a source of frustration.
2. Use appropriate verbs when writing objectives; these should describe exactly what trainees will ultimately achieve from the course and be expected to do after the training.
A common mistake is to just write about the topics to be learned from the course.
3. These words (and similar forms of these) should NEVER be used in your training objectives:
- Learn
- Understand / Gain understanding
- Know
- Familiarize / Be familiar with
- Appreciate
- Comprehend
- Acquaint
4. A quality training does not do a "knowledge dump", which simply transfers a body of knowledge with no clear sense of purpose and direction.
Armi pointed out: you don't train because you're the smartest SME (subject-matter expert). Don't just teach what you know. Your job as a trainer is to teach simply and to help your trainees learn deeply. You should be able to synthesize all your training content into a format that will enable your learners to easily digest and recall information and apply what they've learned.
5. All training courses should be assessed based on the objective/s, thus they should have measurable results that can clearly tell you that you have succeeded as a trainer.
Note that this assessment is different from feedback surveys asking what you liked/disliked about the training or the venue or the food.
There are actually many ways to evaluate training. For example, you could:
- conduct a short exam
- improve recall by playing a guessing game
- ask trainees to give small-group presentations and then facilitate critique/feedback from other groups
If you're involved in training in one way or another, I highly recommend taking up the ISD course with LPPI to learn a structured approach to creating a quality and high-impact training plan.
To contact LPPI, visit http://www.learnperformance.com
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