Focus Questions for Chapters 4 (Session 7)
1. Explain the term "Delivery Decision. What are some of the factors to consider when making a delivery decision?
Delivery Decision is basically how you plan to hold your training. This means how will your information be given to the people needing the information. The most common methods are; instructor-led classrooms, on-the-job training, self-instruction, technology-based training, job performance aids, and training by documentation. Of course each of these has its advantages and disadvantages, which make different methods ideal for different situations. On the other hand, these methods can be mixed and combined to make a training module. For example, if you want to teach teachers how to connect to the wireless Internet at a school site and you know the teachers at the site already have the knowledge (previous trainings) to connect to wireless, but they need to be informed of the new technique to connect to the network in which requires usernames and passwords. This case I would create a flyer or a quick-tip sheet to send out to the teachers with instructions and of course offering my assistance if needed.
Some of the factors to consider when choosing the delivery system are the trainees, time, and material to be taught among other things. You need to consider the trainees when making your trainings because if they were not comfortable with computers, then a technology-based training would not be a good choice. When you create trainings you need to take into account the time trainees would need to complete and learn the task being taught. Also the company needing the training might want the training to only take an hour to complete, depending on the task being learned. With the material needed to be in the training you would need to consider this when planning how the training should be delivered. For example, if the task needs to be experienced you cannot do self-instruction training.
2. Explain "self instruction". Under what circumstances would you consider using "self instruction"?
Self-instruction training is where there is little or no need for a facilitator. This is where the training is created on a CD-Rom or located on the Internet. This strategy requires you to determine what specific skills your facilitator will need in order to use this strategy, and acquire these trainers and see if they have the time for this project. There are two specific examples that the book covers where there is a need for a facilitator, learning center and electronic. In the learning center, the facilitator should be available during the lab hours for assistance. The electronic version, the facilitator is the person who observes the trainees doing the task to see if the trainees learned from the training.
3. What is a "Design Document Template"? Construct a scenario in which you would use one.
Basically what a Design document template is it is an outline of what has been accomplished so far for the training and what is needed. For example, when constructing the training for a school site you might want to create a design document template to present to the principal of the site for them to analyze and decide if the training is what they need and want. In this example, if I wanted to create a lesson for teachers to learn how to troubleshoot typical computer problems in the classroom. I would need to compile information and reasons why this is needed and estimate the cost of the training for the teachers. In this case, it would not cost a thing (Salary wise) because I would be the one implementing the trainings and the trainings could be held at their weekly teacher meetings. This would be something I would create for my situation.
4. What is a "Performance Checklist"? Construct a scenario in which you would use one.
The performance checklist is a test where it would test the trainee on their performance of a task or many tasks after they were instructed on how to perform these tasks and in some cases after the task is performed in real situations. This test is actually a checklist where the evaluator is able to check off the criteria in which the trainee has performed. As my example above, if I did a training about word processing software and I wanted the teachers to be able to use it and able to teach their students how to do basic word processing skills. This can be accomplished by training the teachers how to use the basics of the program, then observing the teachers, with a checklist, in the classroom teaching their students to use the program to make their final copy of a writing assignment. This is one example I could think of using this tool.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Session 4
Summarization of Focus Group
Our in class task was to hold a focus group with the fellow students to talk about our reasons for choosing our masters program at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). This is what I learned from this experience.
One thing I learned was that some of us in the focus group had same reasons for choosing CSUSB and I found out others had different reasons. That was one obvious thing I learned from the task, but I also learned different things about focus groups. One detail I learned about focus groups is the amount of discussion and information that can be acquired using this method of analysis. I realized that I could not get the information that I received from the focus group from a survey or an interview. In the focus group we also came up with questions and discussions that revealed more useful information we could use. During the focus group I did notice some things that can make it hard to gather data.
When you have any discussion there are factors that happen out of your control. There are people who control or rule the conversation and I learned ways to keep the conversation going and allowing other participants participate more in the conversation. I also learned that the conservation could go in the wrong direction when you have a focus group. To help the conservation go the way you want, I learned you could give time for each participant to talk or give them the opportunity to pass until they are ready. I also learned that if a conversation does go in the wrong direction that you can and should redirect it to get back to the point of the discussion because these conversations could drag on and get off topic. This is what I have learned from this experience and I am planning to use this method in my thesis project.
Our in class task was to hold a focus group with the fellow students to talk about our reasons for choosing our masters program at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). This is what I learned from this experience.
One thing I learned was that some of us in the focus group had same reasons for choosing CSUSB and I found out others had different reasons. That was one obvious thing I learned from the task, but I also learned different things about focus groups. One detail I learned about focus groups is the amount of discussion and information that can be acquired using this method of analysis. I realized that I could not get the information that I received from the focus group from a survey or an interview. In the focus group we also came up with questions and discussions that revealed more useful information we could use. During the focus group I did notice some things that can make it hard to gather data.
When you have any discussion there are factors that happen out of your control. There are people who control or rule the conversation and I learned ways to keep the conversation going and allowing other participants participate more in the conversation. I also learned that the conservation could go in the wrong direction when you have a focus group. To help the conservation go the way you want, I learned you could give time for each participant to talk or give them the opportunity to pass until they are ready. I also learned that if a conversation does go in the wrong direction that you can and should redirect it to get back to the point of the discussion because these conversations could drag on and get off topic. This is what I have learned from this experience and I am planning to use this method in my thesis project.
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