Training Needs Assessment Step-By-Step Helpcard guides you through conducting a training needs assessment, and it’s all on two sides of an 8.5 x11 inch “card”. Meant for busy people who haven’t time to read books on the subject and need to get the job done NOW. Also an economical job aid to keep with you.
Training Needs Assessment Helpcard (Partial Picture)
I’ve had something like 10+ books published and had a long career as a trainer and management consultant, and I’d say that, at the core of all my books lies the issue of communication. I’d also say that almost all the training and consulting I’ve done has had to do, at least in part with communication.
That’s one reason why it drives me crazy when people who otherwise act and speak like they have expertise and understanding put forth broad generalizations as prescriptions for how others should communicate. I understand why they do it. It’s because, in almost every case, they have been indoctrinated into the field of interpersonal communication within a humanistic model of communication is more idealogical than real. It’s simple. That ideology says, “Always play nice, take nice to everyone”. Extensions of this involve prescriptions like: Continue reading
Teaching Critical Reflection, Myths and Realities 7. by David Stein. 2000 PDF Available
The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowledge constructions and new behaviors or insights.
Task Analysis Strategies and Practices, Practice Application Brief, by Bettina Lankard Brown 1998
This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. ED-99-CO-0013. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. ERIC/ACVE publications may be freely reproduced.
Worker-oriented, job-oriented, and cognitive task analyses have all been used as tools for closing the gap between what curriculum teaches and what workers do. Although they share a commonality of purpose, the focus, cost, and practicality of task analysis techniques vary. This Practice Application Brief presents information on current practices and examples of the various types of task analyses, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and detailing how they can be used in diverse settings to promote knowledge and skill development.
Task Analysis Models
It is no secret that I believe adult learning principles and styles are essentially vague and useless in terms of instructing “adults” versus “non-adults” and that the work of many popular adult learning “experts” is terrible, and that includes Knowles. I’m not alone in that respect.
So I was browsing around and came across a well written article entitled How to Use Adult Learning Principles and Styles in Your Next Course, which I believe is typical of the thinking in that field. Despite the fact that it is well written, and clear, it’s nonsense, and it doesn’t even take much thought to realize it IS nonsense. Why many people can’t see the lack of clothing on this particular emperor is beyond me.
If you believe learning by doing is a superior method of learning, and training, certainly better than old boring lectures, reading, etc, you’re in good (well, maybe not good) company. Many educators and trainers believe the same — that “real” learning can only occur if learners are demonstrably active. That is, you can see them doing something. Then again most trainers lack a sound education in learning and learning theories, at least to the breadth and depth needed to be competent in helping other people learn.
Here’s the thing. Despite the fact that most trainers come at learning from a humanistic perspective that emerged from the 60′s, they tend to ignore some human capabilities that distinguish us from animals. Animals tend to learn by doing because they lack abilities that we have. Hamsters learn by trial and error, primarily, and by the effects of reinforcement, but that mode of learning by doing is one of the least effective methods. Then again, hamsters don’t have many other options. And yet again, again, a wrong move in the learning by doing might result in the hamster’s demise.
Productivity, Excellence and Giftedness
Gregorio Billikopf
University of California
Ed. This piece was originally posted on HRNET by Gregorio Billikopf of the University of California. It has some excellent thoughts, but even more important it’s a great stimulus for thinking and discussion around many HR, training, performance and learning issues. Gregorio has kind given permission to reprint here on our blog. Also added in the reply section is Robert Bacal’s reply, also from HRNET.
Over the last week I have had a very stimulating conversation with a renowned physician and pathologist, Oliver Stanton, and Anders Ericsson, author of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) paper, “The making of an Expert.”1 The HBR article centers on the old question, “Are gifted people—or those who succeed in a field—born or made?” This has been the question employers have asked over the years. Can I, they ask. Train my weaker employees by putting them alongside the best to bring them up to the level of these outstandi΅g employees? Anders Eriΰsson et al suggest that indeed there are differῥnces in giftednesῳ, but that for the most part exerts and giftῥd performers are made, not born. In their paper they introduce three concepts that I wish to share here: 1) the importance of deliberate practice, 2) the avoidance of creeping intuition and 3) tῨe value of providing excῥllent coaches.
Anders has found that behind excellence there is almost always a lot of practice. He uses the expression deliberate practice because it is one thing to rehearse what one has already conquered, but deliberate practice involves working on those areas that do not come so effortlessly. For those truly seeking to excel, the paper recommends two hours per day of such focused practice. Many incorrectly come to think that these gifts just fall on peoples laps. One sportsman explained that people perceive him as a natural golfer, but what they do not see are the endless hours of practice that often yielded bloody hands. Many interesting examples are given from the fields of sport, literature, music and chess. Practice is especially productive under the eyes of the right coach, they argue persuasively. I would add that deliberate practice through introspection and self-learning is an important complement to having an excellent coach.
The second concept, creeping intuition, is the refusal of those who excel to automatically classify new information as something they have already seen before. Individuals who avoid the creeping intuition trap do not allow themselves to think they have already learned what there is to learn. Such successful individuals are constantly trying to improve and think of new possibilities. They do not fall into a rut.
Let us return to the question, “Are gifted people born or made? Is it enough for managers to get the right training? Without a doubt, better and more focused training will be of great help. Three decades ago I worked with a number of Junior Colleges and helped them introduce welding and mechanics training for farm workers. We used an individualized training metῨod which permitted participants to learn and progress at their own pace and become so outstandingdespite their limited formal educationthat one of the long time college instructors declared that these workers as a whole had outperformed his previous students. I have been conducting quality control studies along with a number ofᾠcolleagues in Chile. The results will permit us to help individuals to focus, through deliberate practice, on the type of plant or fruit defects that are difficult to identifyat both the group and individual level. These same principles can be applied to
non-agricultural jobs.
My own perspective on the topic of giftedness, productivity and excellence goes along these lines: There are great differences in individual productivity and these follow a normal distribution curve. My studies show that the best crew worker is typically capable of working 4 to 8 times faster than the worst in the same crew. Oliver Stanton shared data with me from his own pathology lab that confirms these numbers outside of agriculture. Differences in capability and productivity include ability to discern issues of quality, not just faster work. I am a great believer in job sample tests for all applicants, regardless of the job. Continue reading
Myths and Realities no. 19 by Ralf St. Clair
Malcolm Knowles’ theory of andragogy is almost certainly the best known concept in adult education, and it often appears to gain uncritical acceptance based on name recognition rather than careful consideration of its propositions. Since Knowles introduced his theory in the mid-1960s, many concerns have been raised about how the claims of andragogy are grounded. Like any theoretical perspective, andragogy reflects both the context of its conception and the convictions of its creator. Illuminating this background can help educators to engage with andragogy more fully. This Myths and Realities examines the viability of andragogy in the 21st century by considering this background and asking which aspects of the theory are still useful more than 30 years later. Continue reading
This is a deceptively simple concept that affects much of our lives. It explains that from a distance, or with people we don’t know well (and we may not know many people well) everyone seems psychologically intact, or “normal”.
Until you know people well, they will not tend to display their abnormalities, or neuroses.