Demystifying Training
Design
Defining Effective Training Objectives
Copyright © 1997 Claire
Belilos, Chic
Hospitality Consulting Services
http://www.easytraining.com/training.htm
Terms:
For reading only. Not to be sold, reprinted,re-written, distributed,
re-broadcast, uploaded, or used to conduct training by others without
written agreement
A main guideline
in the design of a training program or session is to set aside the
ego, the self, and to direct one's thoughts towards the alter, the other, the trainee or audience; to
think in terms of what
the trainee(s) will be able to do, demonstrate, or explain by the
end of the training.
The only exception to
this rule is in the preliminary stage of design, and the subsequent
actions you take:
- "What
do I (as instructor or trainer) want the trainee(s) to be able
to do, demonstrate, or explain by the end of the training?"
- "What
training resources and activities will I use to facilitate learning?"
- "How will
I measure that the desired change in behaviour took place?"
- "What
tools and process will I use to evaluate my method of instruction
and the training content?"
- "What
is the best way for me to reinforce learning?".
At this preliminary
stage of design, you are the central figure as the planner, decision-maker,
trainer, and facilitator. Yet the above cannot be planned until
you will have conducted a needs analysis and identified training
needs, which are conditional on perceived gaps between a desired and an actual
situation,
(the measurable or observable performance and behaviour of the trainee/s),
which brings us back to the truth that the main protagonists here
are the intended trainees and that training takes place only if
it is perceived as needed to help those trainees perform as expected.
With this principle
in mind, we can now concentrate on the writing of learning objectives - you as a trainer have a training objective
in mind (what you want them to be able to do, demonstrate, or explain),
which you have already translated into a learning objective when
expressing it in terms of trainee
behaviour,
e.g. instead of planning a training session along the lines "I
shall teach them how to set a table"; an effective objective
would be : "By
the end of a 30-minute training session, the trainees will be able
to set a table as described in the restaurant's manual".
Once you have written
down the learning objective, you communicate it to the trainees
and even write it down clearly on a white board, inviting comments,
queries or questions.
There are several important
points to note in the above-quoted learning objective:
- The training (learning)
objective is performance-based
- The objective is
clear and not subject to misinterpretations
- the trainees know exactly what is expected of them and how
they will be tested
- The shift and onus for learning is upon the trainees themselves
- The training lesson
is action-oriented (an active
verb is
used) "will be able to set" that guides the learning process (method) and will demonstrate
whether the lesson has been learned
- The end-result
is observable
and measurable.
The very wording of
the learning objective obligates you as trainer to plan a training
session that will include:
- An explanation and a demonstration by the trainer or an experienced trainee
- Learner activities (active involvement by
the participants, (rehearsals)
- Providing learning aids to the participants (a
list, restaurant manual, a table, the required linen, utensils,
condiments, etc.)
- The training will
take place in a
simulated work setting or actual work area
- The preparation
of an evaluation
tool for
the actual performance of each trainee - in this case, a check list based on the restaurant
manual, which can
be objectively used
by anyone, including the trainees, to evaluate results
- A time-frame has been set
- A clear, objective,
measurable, observable, and reasonable criterion has been set and communicated
for congruent
testing
(in line with the training that took place).
By the nature of the
subject chosen, reinforcing
learning (follow-up)
will take place on the actual work site and while the trainees are
actually performing the lesson learned, enabling the trainer to
perform follow-up "on-site" evaluations.
Before we wrap up, let
us note the three
learning domains,
which have their own hierarchies:
* Cognitive
(knowledge, retention)
* Affective (behaviour,
attitude)
* Psychomotor (skill performance).
The above example is predominantly psychomotor in nature
(performing a skill, (combining operations) but also includes a
great element of cognitive learning (which will be reinforced by
explanations on what and why the table is set up in that fashion,
accompanied by the written list and manual as "hand-outs")
and some degree of affective learning (some aspects of the why,
especially as applicable to sanitation, customer expectations, professionalism,
esteem, good repute).
Thank you for visiting. We hope you will find value in the free
online information provided in our "how to" articles
Copyright
© 1997 Claire Belilos Contact:
http://www.easytraining.com/contact.htm
This
article is not to be uploaded, sold or distributed in any form or
manner or used for commercial purposes without the author's written
permission
Input from Kevin Williams, Academic Program
Consultant, Rhodes University in South Africa:
" Thank
you for the URL you gave. I have forwarded this to my Web-based
learning colleague. I have also referred him to your site, in particular
the explanation you give of your concern for intellectual property
rights, something which we are going to need to attend to as well.
" Let me
thank you once again for access to your site and to the page Demystifying
Training Design Defining Effective Training Objectives. As
I noted in my first mail I am involved in the training and academic
development of lecturers in a mainstream university in South Africa
which does not in any way involve itself in training for the hospitality
industry.
" Despite
the differences in our purposes your description of the breakdown
of the process so succinctly summarised much of the wider reading
on the subject, and much of the wordier material I have designed,
that although it is not directly applicable (being more psychomotor
rather than the cognitive / affective we would need, for example)
I would like to refer staff with whom I am working to your site,
and to this page in particular.
" My
colleagues to whom I mailed the URL to your site have both expressed
appreciation for the clarity of your 'unpacking' of the outcomes
writing process - a delightful contrast to the bureaucratic wordiness
with which we have had to content in most of our officially supplied
guidelines! I showed your material to my wife - a professor of ICT
in Education, but formerly an IT trainer from the commercial world
- and she too was impressed by the neat way in which you put the
concepts across.
" Many
thanks and best wishes for your work in the future. "
Kevin Williams
Academic
Development Consultant
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South
Africa
+27 +46 603 8171
http://www.ru.ac.za
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Claire
Belilos, CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services, http://www.easytraining.com, specializes in Hospitality,
human resources strategies, organizational training and development,
Customer Service and problem-solving. She offers "on site",
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training and evaluation tools, and custom-tailored solutions to
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