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Pre-Training For Successful Learning
It is now widely accepted that eLearning is a crucial tool for a wide variety of training and education
programs. Web-based and technology-based learning formats are widely used, for everything from employee
orientations to addressing crucial core skill sets. What might be less obvious, though, is the benefit
of adding an eLearning pre-training component to your traditional training programs. In this article,
we will explore the reasons you should consider adding web-based pre-training to your next traditional
education or training program. We will also go over some simple tips for building a successful pre-training
module.
Pre-training might seem like an unusual concept. After all, your training program is supposed to give
your students the information they need. However, there are a number of benefits to pre-training.
Pre-training can:
- Set expectations. One of the most pernicious challenges that trainers must handle
in a classroom setting is the student who expected something different. The student may have misunderstood
prerequisites, expected more or less technical detail, or simply misunderstood the course description.
This student is unlikely to learn effectively; he or she will, quite literally, skim the content, looking
only for the expected information. Even worse, the student can become defensive or hostile, encouraging
others to learn less effectively with loaded questions and interruptions. This is an avoidable problem:
setting expectations can mean the difference between success and failure.
A web-based or technology-based component is crucial here: if you attempt to set expectations with offline
printed materials, many students will not even read your carefully prepared pre-training exercises. Setting
expectations in the classroom itself can be disastrous, as students "dig in" and become defensive,
further belittling the course content. Web-based pre-training can be both interactive and verified, while
also allowing students to correct their expectations about the content and understand different
perspectives without feeling defensive.
- Improve retention. Students often enter training with no prior exposure to the topic.
They are subjected to a concentrated learning experience, and many report feeling lost or overwhelmed. It
may be tempting to chalk this up to going too fast or saying too much. The truth, though, is that students
can learn a lot in a short time — if they have the mental connections to handle the content.
Creating those mental connections takes time, and is done subconsciously. Because of this, retention can
be improved greatly if students read an outline of the content a week prior to the actual training. Even
if the student spends no additional time consciously thinking about the subject, the subconscious mind is
hard at work, building the mental paths needed to understand the material when the instructor is present.
Again, though, students simply don't read offline printed material, and it's probably not cost-effective
to schedule two live sessions. Technology-based training is an excellent choice.
- Encourage student interaction. An engaging, interactive classroom is the goal of
every good instructor. However, many students fear the embarrassment or stigma of asking a "stupid
question" or missing the point. This negates the entire purpose of instructor-led training. There
is no shortage of theories on encouraging interaction in the classroom, but there's simply no avoiding
the fact that many students aren't comfortable discussing something before they've had a chance to think
it through.
Even a very rough overview of the subject prior to the training encourages many students to consider how
this subject relates to them. Given this information, students often arrive at the training event with
enthusiasm and receptiveness to a more interactive classroom, prepared to voice questions and concerns.
This is even more effective if a technology-based pre-training module prompts the student to consider
the application of the ideas.
- Overcome differences in students. A typical instructor-led training event will see
students from different backgrounds. It is difficult to connect with everyone's differing experiences
and goals at once. If this difficulty is not considered and a solution implemented, students may leave
with a negative impression. If students sometimes mention in evaluations that the training won't apply
in the real world or wasn't practical, this may be the underlying problem. Students are more able to
apply the content of a training event if they understand the various perspectives that multiple people
with different experiences bring to the subject.
Pre-training addresses this problem by helping your students see more of these different perspectives.
Sometimes all it takes is an example or two to help broaden a viewpoint and enable individuals to realize
that others are facing different challenges as well. The benefits of applying a web-based or
technology-based approach here have to do with the self-paced nature of technology-based training.
You can provide these different perspectives, without wasting the time of students who may have already
been working in that area for years. Adaptive course content in a pre-training module is a powerful
tool that can bring everyone onto the same page regardless of their background.
With these four points in mind, it may be well-worth developing a technology-based pre-training component
to your next traditional training event. As you prepare the pre-training module, keep the following
thoughts in mind. They will help to ensure that you gain all of the benefits discussed above.
- Concentrate on the challenges, not the solutions. You don't want to present the content from the actual
training event. Instead, you want to prime your students to learn by giving them a chance to think about
the problems your training will solve.
- Include plenty of examples, from a variety of perspectives. Examples help give students the context to
learn.
- Keep it interactive. Controlled exercises are good, but if possible, ask the student to type out free
responses as well. Students will form their thoughts more clearly if they are asked to type them out.
- Assure the student that their performance won't be graded... and keep the promise! If you grade the
student at this stage, it interferes with the exploration and openness you are trying to build.
- Use any adaptive learning techniques offered by your training platform. These include the ability to
jump around the course, skip sections if students answer a pre-test correctly, or link to additional
information outside the course for more interested readers.
Effectively applying pre-training can make a huge difference in your traditional training event's success.
The details of how you proceed will depend on the kind of training that you are putting together, but some
of the goals and techniques discussed here can likely be applied in any training program, be it a
classroom, e-learning, webinar, or even a formal mentoring or internship relationship. Of course, you know your
audience and subject best, so experiment and be creative as well.
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Celebrate With Us!
One Year Anniversary for Design-a-Course at Brindlewaye
As we celebrate the completion of our first year as the provider of the Design-a-Course online training
delivery solution, we invite you to reflect over the additions and improvements to our product in that time.
We have great and exciting new plans for our second year.
Top Ten Design-a-Course Happenings in 2009
- Homecoming! — Design-a-Course transitions from MindIQ to original
developers at Brindle Waye
- Amarillo by Morning... — Design-a-Course made the big move to a new, secure
hosting facility bringing it closer to its development and support teams.
- Design-a-Course delivers — new features to your e-learning door.
- Just call out our name... — Customer support excels
- Easy as ABC — Creating e-learning courses becomes even easier
- Keep in Touch — Noteworthy newsletter keeps you abreast of new developments, features,
e-learning tools, as well as what is happening in the world of online training
- Mind Movement — Interactive learning games score big!
- You Can Always Get What You Want! — ... with our custom e-learning course
development service.
- Free Learning! — Weekly webinars return. Get details at
http://www.brindlewaye.com/dac/training
- Getting Stronger Everyday — Design-a-Course–always strong, secure, reliable!
Now, our recent hardware and software upgrades provide even greater performance and features to embrace
2010.
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