Start Here (Q/A)

Example Assignment Grading

There are 100 points possible in the course. 100% = 100 points. A typical way of approaching grading is to use percentages.
90-100 = A
80-89.99 = B
70-79.99 = C
60-69.99 = D
Below 60 = F

Example Assignment Weight All assignments and their weights are the decision of your professor.  See the eCollege gradebook for details about grading.

• Discussion of Learning Activities 30%

• Core Assessment, including instructional Unit Steps 50%

• Final Exam or Self-Publishing the Unit 20% The final exam is typically NOT proctored.

Objectives
1. Define training.
2. Compare training with the processes of education, development, motivation, and consulting.
3. Describe three approaches to consulting.
4. Define and describe the communication process.
5. List skills that are frequently presented in communication, leadership, and management training seminars and workshops.
6. Identify and describe the nine steps involved in designing and presenting a training workshop.
 

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Chapter Overview
This chapter presents an overview that compares training to education and other methods of enhancing organizational effectiveness. Training may be part of the overall process of organizational development when the need is for employees to develop certain skills in order to more effectively perform a specific job or task.
The needs centered model of communication training is described.
 

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Chapter Lecture
I. Training is the process of developing skills in order to more effectively perform a specific job or task.
A. Communication, leadership, and management training involves teaching “people skills”.
1. A skill is an ability to do something as opposed to knowing something.
2. The goal of communication training is the performance of an observable and measurable skill that can be assessed in some way.
3. Over $200 billion dollars is spent annually on organizational training.
B. Education is the process of imparting knowledge or education.
1. Emphasizes knowledge.
2. Emphasizes achieving often in comparison to the knowledge level of others.
3. Emphasizes an open system perspective where there are many ways to achieve the goal.
a. Emphasizes knowledge that is not linked to a specific job or career.
b. Emphasizes an open ended approach where not every step in the process is described.
C. Training is the process of developing skills for a specific job or task.
1. Emphasizes doing rather than knowing.
2. Emphasizes achieving a certain level of skill attainment.
3. Emphasizes a closed system perspective with specific right and wrong ways of performing a skill.
4. Emphasizes a comprehensive listing and description of the skills required to perform a specific behavior.

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II. Motivation is useful for change.
A. Motivation is an internal state of readiness to take action or achieve a goal.
1. Motivation speakers seek change by using emotions to encourage people to take action to achieve a worthwhile goal.
2. Trainers seek change through teaching skills.
B. Change may require more than an emotional state of readiness.
1. Motivational messages may not have staying power.
2. Listeners may still need strategies and skills to enact change.

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III. Organizational development is linked to both training and human resources.
A. Development is any behavior, strategy, design, structuring, skill or skill set, strategic plan or motivational effort that is designed to produce growth or change over time.
1. Development encompasses education and training.
2. Combining training and development suggests training is designed to achieve a broader function than performing a specific skill.
3. Organizations may hire consultants to offer insight, advice, wisdom, research, or experience based intervention strategies to help solve the organization’s problems.
B. Communication or management consultants provide advice about some aspect of the organization’s communication or leadership.

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IV. There are three different approaches to consulting.
A. The Purchase approach is used when a member of the organization has diagnosed the problem and purchases a solution from the consultant.
B. The Doctor-Patient approach is used when the consultant diagnoses the problem and recommends a solution.
C. The Process approach uses a variety of assessment measures to determine the overall vitality of an organization and recommend strategies for improvement.
V. Understanding “Soft Skills”
A. “Soft Skills” are skills that focus on managing people, information, and ideas.
B. Communication and leadership skills are “soft skills” that are valued in the workplace.

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VI. Defining Communication
A. Human communication is the process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others by creating meaning by verbal and nonverbal messages.
1. It is inescapable.
2. It is irreversible.
3. It is complicated.
4. It emphasizes both content and relationships.
5. It is governed by rules.

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B. Communication is described as a transactive process in which both sender and receiver of a message simultaneously express and respond to messages.
1. The sender is the originator of the message.
2. The receiver is the person who decodes or makes sense of the message.
3. The message is the written, spoken, and unspoken elements of communication to which we assign meaning.
4. The channel is the pathway through which messages are sent.
5. Noise is interfering messages that decreases the accuracy of the communication.
6. Feedback is response to the message.
7. Context is the physical and psychological communication environment.

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VII. Communication, management, and leadership training is designed to teach people specific skills that will enhance the quality of messages and human relationships.
A. Helping people enhance the quality of communication is a positive, direct way of helping an organization become more effective.
B. Understanding communication as a transactive process helps learners understand and learn the skills taught in communication training.

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VIII. The needs-centered model of communication training.
A. Identify and understand the needs of the organization and the specific trainees.
1. Learn what the trainees need to know.
2. Analyze what the organization needs to achieve its mission.
3. Determine how training can help address those needs.
B. Analyze the training task.
C. Develop training objectives.
D. Organize training content.
E. Determine training methods.
F. Select training resources.
G. Complete training plans
H. Deliver training.
I. Assess training.

 

Objectives
 
1. Define and explain learning.
2. List and explain the three general laws of learning.
3. Differentiate andragogy from pedagogy.
4. List and explain the five principles of andragogy.
5. Define learning style.
6. Differentiate visual, aural, and kinesthetic learners and explain how trainers can
accommodate these types of learners.
7. Differentiate reflective and impulsive learners and explain how trainers can
accommodate these types of learners.
8. Differentiate whole-part and part-whole learners and explain how trainers can
accommodate these types of learners.
9. Differentiate divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators and explain
how trainers can accommodate these types of learners.
10. Differentiate the matching, bridging, and style-flexing approaches to training.

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Chapter Overview
 
This chapter helps students understand the three general laws of learning that are relevant to the training practitioner, explains and compares the concepts of pedagogy and andragogy, explains different learning styles, and offers suggestions on how to apply this information to a training session.

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Chapter Lecture
 
I. Learning is a change in individuals, due to the interaction of the individuals and their environment, which fills a need and makes them more capable of dealing adequately with their environment.
A. After trainees have learned something, trainers should be able to recognize changes in the trainee’s behavior and attitudes.
B. Change addresses the need or reason for training.
C. New behavior or attitude allows trainees to more effectively manage their environment.

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II. A law of learning is a statement that describes the condition that must be met in order for trainees to learn.
A. The law of effect states that people learn best under pleasant and rewarding circumstances.
1. Create a pleasant physical environment.
a. Classrooms that are well lighted, temperature controlled, and clean promote learning.
b. Large table and chairs arranged in a horseshoe or circle invite interaction and allow trainees room to spread out.
2. Accommodate the trainees’ work schedule by allowing trainees to choose from a list of training times.
3. Schedule appropriate breaks to allow for a change of scenery and/or refreshments after about 90 minutes.
B. The law of frequency suggests that the more often you practice a trained behavior, the more likely you will continue using the trained behavior.
1. Make sure trainees are practicing the correct skills.
2. Use “plus-one” mastery technique to learn a process one step at a time while adding a new step to the steps already mastered.
3. Have trainees train the trainer by switching roles.
C. The law of association suggests that every new fact, idea, concept, or behavior is best learned if you can relate it to or with something you already know.
1. Use analogies
2. Compare and contrast with other familiar processes.

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III. Teaching and training adults is not the same as teaching and training young students.
A. Pedagogy is the science and art of teaching children.
1. Children learn for learning’s sake.
2. Children have limited life experience on which to build (limited schema).
3. Children are motivated by external rewards or punishment.
4. Children are more dependent on others for what they “should” know.
5. Children are learning to learn and approach learning subject by subject.
B. Andragogy is the science and art of teaching adults.

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IV. Applying the five assumptions of andragogy.
A. Adult learners need to see the meaning and relationship of what they are learning to their lives and experience.
1. A needs assessment will identify what learners do not yet know or the important or necessary skills they can’t yet perform.
2. Train employees for their “in baskets” - those action items that need immediate attention.
B. Adult learners will use their own experience and information in the classroom.
1. Get information from trainees about how training can be applied immediately.
2. Negative experience can be used in a positive way.
a. Acknowledge their less than positive experiences and empathize with trainees.
b. Suggest that training can be used to reduce the number of negative experiences.
c. Ask trainees how new training content might address some negative experiences.
d. Place the negative experiences in context.
C. Adult learners tend to be self or internally motivated.
1. They are motivated by increased job satisfaction, self esteem, sense of accomplishment, and quality of life issues.
2. Job promotions or terminations may provide motivation to learn.
3. Challenge employees to focus on the task.
4. Set realistic expectations and provide constant support, praise,
encouragement, and constructive feedback.
D. Adult learners are self directed and know their learning deficiencies.
1. Make training “needs based” or “learner centered”.
2. Encourage self directed learning to allow trainees to target their specific problems and control their own stop and start times.
3. Make training timely by providing smaller chunks of “just in time” information when it is needed.
4. Coach trainees through mistakes by providing a safe environment and address performance deficiencies using specific behavioral and descriptive terms.
E. Adult learners are task or problem centered.
1. Group trainees by years of experience or types of problems experienced.
2. Ask trainees to forward problems ahead of time so they can be addressed in training.
3. Provide trainees with a bibliography or set of resources.
4. Provide trainees with a series of training classes ranging from basic to more complex.

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V. Learning styles are the ways individuals perceive, organize, process and remember information.
A. Perceptual differences (modalities) include auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learners.
1. Learners may prefer learning in one, two, or all three modalities.
2. Visual and mixed visual and auditory are the most common modalities with
each accounting for 30% of the U.S. population.
3. 25% of the population prefers using the auditory modality.
4. 15% prefers the kinesthetic or tactile modality.
C. Visual learners learn by reading or viewing.
1. Training for visual learners will provide modeling, an opportunity for observation of appropriate behavior by others.
2. Use of prepackaged materials, handouts, flip charts, chalkboard and electronic presentation software will be preferred.
a. Set realistic expectations for trainees.
b. Model real, true to life behavior.
c. Praise models for their behavior: acknowledge and reward successful work.
d. Use models that are similar to trainees.
D. Aural (or auditory) learners learn though hearing or speaking.
1. They clarify their understanding by articulating what they learn.
2. Use peer presentations, lectures, audiocassettes and sound tracks.
E. Kinesthetic learners learn by touching and doing.
1. They are partial to action and prefer to be engaged in movement.
2. Engage learners by using simulations, case studies, role playing, and demonstrations.

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VI. Learning styles can be approached by looking at learning time differences.
A. Reflective learners take time to process information and are concerned with accuracy and precision.
1. Allow ample time for trainees to complete work.
2. Set realistic learning objectives.
B. Impulsive learners quickly process information and complete tasks and are less concerned with accuracy and precision.
1. Discourage impulsive learners by not rewarding quantity over quality.
2. Limiting time may encourage quantity.

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VII. Learning styles can be approached by looking at information processing differences.
A. Whole-part learners prefer having the big picture before moving into the details of the concept or idea.
1. These learners need a schema or way to organize big ideas before receiving detailed information.
2. Training applications include showing the trainees what the product will look like when completed before breaking it down into its various parts.
3. Use demonstrations or other visual representations.
B. Part-whole learners prefer learning the small parts or details before learning the big picture.
1. Show the trainees the various parts that make up the whole product.
2. Use demonstrations of other visual representations.

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VIII. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory can be used as a diagnostic instrument to identify a learning style preference.
A. Divergers prefer observing a situation rather than taking action.
1. They are innovative, imaginative, and concerned with personal relevance.
2. They need to know how new information relates to prior experiences before learning new information.
3. Make use of buzz groups, brainstorming, and mentor/mentee relationships.
B. Assimilators learn by listening to experts and prefer sequentially ordering information into logical forms.
1. Make use of lectures, presentations by experts, and assigning individual research projects.
C. Convergers learn by analyzing problems and doing the work themselves.
1. They prefer to find solutions by thinking logically through problems.
2. Introduce new problem-solving processes, demonstrate these processes, and
use “problem based” training methods such as case studies, simulations, and
role plays.
D. Accomodators learn by “hands on” field experience and by trial and error.
1. Conduct experiments
2. Place trainees in the field or in an internship program.

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IX. Applying the learning styles information to develop and present training programs.
A. Don’t assume everyone learns like you do.
B. Don’t always train in the way you were trained.
C. Use a variety of training techniques and methods to tap into all learning styles.
1. Matching involves using the trainees’ preferred learning style.
2. Bridging includes accommodating individual trainee’s learning styles when they are having difficulty.
3. Style-flexing accommodates and challenges trainees by learning in ways that are different from their preferred learning styles.

 

Objectives
 
1. Explain why a needs assessment is crucial to developing a successful training program.
2. List, describe, compare and contrast the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains of learning.
3. Develop a well-worded needs-assessment survey.
4. Conduct interviews to assess learner needs.
5. Use appropriate observation methods to assess learner needs.
6. Describe and use appropriate assessment tests to identify learner needs.
7. Write an effective task analysis of a skill appropriate for training.

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Chapter Overview
 
This chapter presents the initial steps in designing a training workshop by describing the process of developing needs assessments for the three domain of learning and developing a task analysis of skill to be taught.

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Chapter Lecture
 
I. A needs assessment is a systematic method of determining what skills or deficiencies are needed in order to design an effective training program.
A. Identify what learners do not yet know or the important or necessary skills they can’t perform.
B. Identify what skills and information learners already possess.
C. Assessing trainee needs is the primary way to pinpoint the problem.
D. Confirm that a problem really exists, and develop solutions that may involve training to help manage the problem.

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II. Training may involve different domains of learning.
A. The cognitive domain emphasizes remembering facts, knowledge, principles and theories.
B. The affective domain focuses on changing attitudes, feelings, enhancing motivation, and on enhancing the value or appreciation for something.
C. The psychomotor domain focuses on teaching people behavior or skills.

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III. Conducting a needs assessment may involve several methods.
A. Surveys (or questionnaires) are a series of written questions or statements to gain responses from others to learn about their knowledge, attitudes, or behavior related to your training topic.
1. They may be tailor-made to suit your specific training topic.
2. It is critical to develop clear unbiased questions in order to get accurate information.
B. Surveys can utilize several formats.
1. Likert scales offer a statement and then ask to what degree a respondent agrees, is undecided, or disagrees with the statement.
2. These can be used to measure attitudes, behavior, or skill level.
3. Check lists provide a list of skills and knowledge and asks respondents to indicate their degree of need for the information.
4. Yes and no responses may be used when you need a direct response.
5. Rank order is used to allow respondents to indicate the importance of specific skills and behaviors.
C. Multiple choice questions allow a limited number of choices for a respondent to select.
1. The stem is the question or statement to which you want respondents to select their responses.
2. The foils are the choices following the stem.
D. Open ended questions provide no structure for a respondents’ response.
E. 360 Survey method seeks information from the employee and the employees colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors.
F. Interviews are oral interactions structured to gather information.
1. A focus group interview is conducted by a moderator who asks open ended questions to allow group members to share their views.
2. Interviews may provide richer information because the trainer can ask follow up questions and probe for more detailed explanations.
3.