Vocaroo an absent member, and tell him what he or she missed in the session

Summary of the 3^rd session

Project 2

Vocaroo an absent member, and tell him what he or she missed in the session.

In this session, we worked on how to plan, design and deliver training sessions. This preparatory work will help trainers elaborate and clarify points raised within the training and generally enhance trainers’ confidence and competence to deliver the training. There are several major steps in training session preparation, actually this week we learned about a five-step procedure, which enables us to design and structure our training more effectively.

The first step, prior to any creation, involves asking five wh questions of who, what, where, when and why. Answering these 5 ws would create a clearer picture of what is going to happen in our training session, and also what outcomes will probably result from the training.

Before stepping into planning and structuring our session, obviously we need to know who exactly we are offering this training to. We need to know about their needs and the type of skills they need to do their work. We need to know about their professional backgrounds and any relevant personal characteristics that would help us create more effective lesson.

The next wh question is a what question. Naturally, for any training program, we need to identify what learning objectives we are going to focus on during our training session. Answering this question is a key to the success of our training because without having clear objectives in mind, the whole training session might be wasted on irrelevant subjects.

Another important question is where the training session is going to take place. Answering this question can help us identify the room set up, the materials, and the tools we need to conduct the training as efficiently as possible. In addition to the venue, we need to ask about when the session is held and check if the time of the event is ok with all the participants and possibly make some changes so that everyone can attend the class.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to know why we are offering this training after all. Unless this question is precisely answered and communicated, the kind of deep learning and behavior change that we expect might not result from our training.

So these were guiding wh questions that can get us thinking and brainstorming before any actual structuring of the training session.

Moving on to the step, once we explored the five ws, we get into the stage where we need to choose topics of our training. For this, we need to identify which type of gap exists, knowledge gap or skill gap. We know that mainly there two reasons why people do not perform at their best: either they do not know something or they do not possess the required skills. Therefore, what we need to do, as trainer is to identify these gaps and focus our training around well-defined topics and hands-on involvement and follow-up so that we are able to examine their understanding and progress later on.

In order to choose relevant topics, we need to read both horizontally and vertically. Horizontal reading refers to reading various books, articles to learn about different attitudes and approaches regarding the perceived gap. Vertical reading, on the other hand is focusing on one or two approaches and selecting bits and parts from different sources, and choose those parts that would satisfy our training needs better.

The two type of reading help trainers choose their topics more meticulously and thereby define more relevant content and more effective activities.

The third step of preparing for a training session involves structuring our lesson, which deals with how to sequence and present the content of the training.

For the beginning of the session, we need to think of an interesting learning hook, which is an attention getter and gets people interested in the topic. It also draws theirs attention to the existing gap and highlights the importance of training.

Then we get into the activities and projects, which are our route map in essence and help our trainees, close the gap.

In the end of the session, we need to go through a recapping or reviewing phase by highlighting the key points from the training. Then we need to decide on action plan to help the trainees figure out how they should implement the new knowledge or skill into their real practice. We also need to think of some refreshers or follow- ups to gauge their progress and offer support with possible obstacles.

Finally for our session to be fully engaging, we need to prepare for a intriguing encapsulation of the content. Just like the learning hook at the beginning of the session, an intriguing ending will definitely help our trainees remember the content of the session for a longer time and therefore use it in their practice.

So overall we can say that the overall structure of a training session look like this:

1. 
   Bang: learning hook
   
2. 
   Noticing the gap
   
3. 
   Need to close the gap
   
4. 
   Route map
   

And the end of our session involves:

1. 
   Recapping
   
2. 
   Action plan
   
3. 
   Follow-up
   
4. 
   Bang: ending hook
   

Following this introduction to overall structure of a training session, we also had our first ETO or experienced trainer observation, which allowed us to practically experience what a training lesson plan on error management, looks like and how different stages unravel throughout the session.