Session 7

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.