Introduction to training!

During the last one hundred years in the training development field, it has seen many rapidly changes and still continues experiencing them in its head long rush to keep up with the evolutionary process of adaptation to an ever changing world and its ever changing technology. With this comes the never-ending process of developing new learning process and methods to meet this changing technology.

The word “Training” is an encompassing term, which is often used, in describing changes occurring in our behaviors because of an experience we have encountered at some point in our lives. We usually call it Training. Example, How many time have your heard someone say,  “well did that experience teach you anything? ” or “What did you learn from that experience?”

Webster dictionary defines “training” as, the act, process, or method of one that trains, the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains, the state of being trained. And defines the word experience as a direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge, the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation, practical knowledge, skill, or practice derived from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity, the conscious events that make up an individual life and the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or mankind generally something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality

These encounter experiences we call often call learning are really changes in or modification of our behavior because of an encounter of some kind in our lives, it caused us to change, modify or altar our behavior because of these encounters, as a results we formed an image of these events storing them in our mind as an experience. The events or experiences which we store in our minds are from us seeing, feeling or hearing something or even thinking about something real or imaginary, whatever the event was, we will retain this as an experience or as a memory of that experience. This process of us experiencing and storing them as experiences in our memory banks is in essences how we learn. These experiences which we experience which are stored away as memories then (usually) become instantly available for us to recall the next time we encounter a similar event or experience. Some of these events or experiences can be measured with a certain degree of accuracy, of course with emotional experience it’s hard to measure. And because of all of this our behavior has been changed and modified in some form, this is a constant never-ending process we all experience from the moment of birth to the day we die.

This acquisition of knowledge we humans receive from experiencing different events and encounters within our lives are often referred to as “learning Behaviors” and have been the focus of studies for centuries trying to understand how we humans learn and acquire new knowledge about new things. And over those same centuries we have also seen the development of many different learning theories, some working and others have not. However, many of these fundamental learning theories used within the last century, have been either redefined and validated and categorized into different theories, such as, the Behaviorists, Cognitive, Constructist, Motivation, and Elaboration theories, and many or a combination of them are currently in use today. Yes, there are more learning theories out there, but we’re not going to go into them in any great depth because its well beyond the scope of things that we want to accomplish here today.

Well, so much for all those theories, theories are just that, “theories.” You can write the best training program ever designed but.

None of them will work, unless the learners themselves are ready, able, and willing to learn whatever it is they are to learn.

Adding to the old adages “you can lead them to water but can’t make them drink.”

Many factors can and often do affect an individual ability to learn, but usually before any learning can really occur several things must be present. Maybe the foremost important factor in learning is the learners themselves and how receptive are they to learning. Yes. There is theory about that too, its called the “Conditions of Learning.”

The “Condition of Learning” theory stipulates there are several different types or levels of learning. The significance of these classifications is important to understand as a trainer, because each level of learning requires different types of instruction.

This theory identify five major categories of learning:

• Verbal information
• Intellectual skills
• Cognitive strategies
• Motor skills
• Attitudes

To plan and develop a successful training program and teach it effectively, an instructor needs to understand some of the basic in human learning behaviors to know what skills their students brings with them to use to learn with. The instructor who is knowledgeable about these learning behaviors can and often does apply this knowledge during the design phase of a training program and even during their interacting with learners during the actual training process itself.

Most instructional designers are very knowledgeable when it comes to how we humans learn things and design their training programs around this information. They will use many different types of training models to develop training programs with this objective in mind realizing that no two individuals will learn the same way. A well-developed training program will the learners to use all or in combination any one of those skill set to learn the subject been taught.

One of the more generally used training model used in developing training programs which can achieve these objectives of reaching broad range of learners is a training model known as the “ADDIE” training system which consist of the following five element making up the ADDIE model:

• Assess
• Design
• Develop
• Implement
• Evaluate

We can use these five planning elements in the model when in the developmental and planning stages of a new training program to develop a very effective training program, and once all of the individual phases making up the model have been implemented. The model then closes the loop in the training developmental cycle by validating the effectives of the training program.

The evaluation and validation of any training process is a very important key element not to be overlooked or treated lightly in the development of any training development process. Why?  Because it becomes the tool used to tell us if we reached our intended goals or objectives. The evaluation and validation data (testing results) will show us where and/or what is needs to be tweaked or changed in our training program to improve it.

During the course, we will discuss more on the training development models and their history and usages and how they apply to you as the trainer.

It’s your choice!