Instructional Skills

INSTRUCTIONAL SKILLS ONLINE COURSE

WORKPLACING TRAINING - Learn to provide instruction in the workplace

This course develops your capacity to train staff how to undertake their work better in any type of workplace. It is an ideal course for supervisors, foremen or managers, who need to understand better how to instruct staff and develop their capacity to undertake new tasks well or old tasks better.

This course differs to similar courses offered in many other colleges in being a more "experiential and problem based style of learning (Often courses elsewhere are Competency Based Training -This is not!).

This course was originally developed to satisfy Workplace Trainer Category I & II curriculum in Australia in 2001, but since upgraded to be increasingly relevant in any country.

Lesson Structure

There are 11 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Training – Communication
2. Understanding Learning
3. Determining Training Requirements in The Workplace
4. Commencing Training
5. Developing a Lesson Plan
6. Assessment and Evaluation of Training Programs
7. Training Aids
8. One-To-One Training
9. Motivation Skills and Techniques
10. Promoting Training
11. Assessor Training

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Analyse the communication effectiveness within a training environment.
• Explain characteristics which influence the effectiveness of education, including aspects of both learning and teaching.
• Define training requirements for a specified workplace.
• Prepare for commencement of a training session.
• Develop a lesson plan for training a small group (less than twelve).
• Develop skills in the assessment and evaluation of training programs.
• Demonstrate the use of audio-visual equipment for lesson presentation.
• Demonstrate the instruction of a learner in a one-to-one situations.
• Determine the use of simple motivational skills in a training environment.
• Promote training and monitor the result of promotion.
• Prepare trainees to meet the requirements of the competency standards for assessors.

What is the Scope and Nature of Training in the Workplace?

Training may be either on the job or off the job.

A supervisor or manager of staff in a workplace will need to train or instruct their work staff in how to perfor their jobs.

Off job trainers may be conducting short courses, up skilling programs, staff initiation, or longer programs in a classroom or some other situation, outside of the actual work location.

Duties and responsibilities which might be required of a supervisor or manager (related to instructional skills) may be to teach some or all of the following:

• Attitude
  Developing a positive attitude towards defined tasks and towards the trainees.
• Teaching
  Instruct, interpret information and in general, broaden the trainees horizons.
• Assessment
  Assess trainees progress in an unbiased and standardised way.
• Enthusiasm
  Enthuse the trainees in whatever they are doing.
• Planning
  This is a major importance.  The trainer is responsible to see that programs are properly planned and prepared for.  The trainer should not necessarily do the planning, but should always ensure that it is done. Broad planning should develop content and syllabus. Specific planning and preparation is required for each training session. Make time to brief any guest (or visiting) trainers.
  Recommend new training needs as they are identified. Suggest ways of meeting such needs.
• Curriculum Development
  Contributing to, or writing documents that are used for training staff, or serving on curriculum development committees.
• Trainee Counselling
  Any trainer should be sensitive to individual problems and feelings; and should be supportive of the individual in need.
• Evaluation
  The success or failure of programs needs to be evaluated appropriate changes made in planning. Analyse changing needs and trends, then alter the program accordingly.
• Accessibility
  Provide opportunity for success to all trainees. A good trainer tries to get and keep everyone involved.
  Trainees should be organised for the best possible level of accomplishment (e.g. beginners and advanced participants really do not mix usually).
• Facilities
  Develop training resources (eg. visual aids, handouts etc). Manage and provide access to available facilities and equipment. This is sometimes restricted by money available, but the trainer should always do the best with whatever resources at his/her disposal.
  Arrange training venues.
• Equipment
  Be able to operate, use and maintain equipment (eg. projectors, whiteboards, computers, photocopiers, printers etc)
• Financial Management
  Prepare and manage training budgets.
  Set fees, prepare and submit tenders.
• Training Staff
  Arrange guest lecturers, excursions (with talks) etc.
  Interview and select training staff.
  Advise or instruct staff on their own professional development.

Characteristics of a Teacher:

•  the ability to convince students he/she wants to help them learn
•  enthusiasm for learning/desire to teach
•  ability to organise information to be taught
•  patience to wait for the learner to learn
•  needs to have a working knowledge of the subject being taught
•  empathy - to know how the student feels
•  tolerance - ability to develop good personal relationships
•  rationality - for problem solving and decision making
•  commitment - to give best when teaching
•  independence - initiative.

HELPING THEORY
A teacher/tutor basically helps the student/trainee through the learning stages. The trainer will however develop approaches suitable for their personalities and personal theories.
The main approaches to helping are:

1/ Psychodynamic  - emphasises unconscious causes of behaviour and early childhood experiences; is focuses more on content rather than on process.

2/ Phenomenological  - emphasises process more than content and stresses the helping relationship as a vehicle for change. This provides a situation whereby trainees explore their own feelings, thoughts and behaviour in order to change behaviour or insight. This approach focuses on present, not past.

3/ Behavioural  - emphasises environmental consequences of behaviour. It concentrates on the identification and removal of existing bad (dysfunctional) behaviours and the planning, adaptation and reinforcement of new desired behaviours.

4/ Cognitive-behavioural  - concerned with teaching new ways of thinking entailing exploring differences between values and behaviours. This approach focuses on the present.

5/ Transactional analysis  - focuses on relationships (communication) and lifestyle of clients, and aims at an integration of feelings, thoughts and actions.