Welcome back fellow trainers,
JOURNEY
As I informed you last Friday March 20, I would write a report of what happened in Miri when I come back. Here it is.
I took a flight to Miri at 1.15pm using the Malaysian Airlines System from KL International Airport (KLIA) at Sepang, Selangor. KLIA is about 50 km from Kuala Lumpur. The flight was only less than two hours. But I had to leave my house at 11 am. Reached my hotel (Parkcity Everly Hotel) about 4pm. Lesson: When conducting training outstation you may have to 'waste' some time in travelling to and from the venue. In fact my journey home took even longer time. I left the hotel at 5.00pm and didn't reach home till 12.30am!
TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Normally, people who teach academic subjects are called 'lecturers'. We who teach skills are referred to as 'trainers'. In the case of this program in Miri called Work Based Diploma in Management (WBDIMP), its primary emphasis is on skill building. Students are guided in class on a particular business topic. They then apply it back at work and report. There were 27 students, all executives and managers from Samling group of companies, Sarawak. I have to handle the topic called "Manage Personal Work Priorities & Professional Development" over the two days. I covered the following sub-topics: Time a key resource, Understanding self, Tools for efficiency, Impact on others, and Personal development.
The central issue when trainers have to "train" people for an academic qualification is: How to make it interesting? The typical methodology, especially in instituions of higher learning is, slides-lecture approach. This method may be effective because the students are captive audience (they need to pass the exam!). Hence, they will force themselves to be "interested" in the subject matter. But training on management skills is not an academic exercise. It's developing people's competencies. Participants have the option of "switching off" when they are bored and not "entertained" by the trainer. Therefore, how do make teaching of an academic subject interesting, engaging, and even fun?
Below were some of what I did during the WBDIMP to engage the participants so that the two days were 'fun'. NOTE: In training fun does not mean making people laugh (of course it's great if they laugh in class!). Fun, in training, means people get involved, absorbed, and happily occupied in the process - learning new knowledge & skills.
1. Ice breakers and periodically energisers: I used brain teasers, "Traffic Jam", quiz, and puzzle. People need fun so that their endorphin flows and learning is thereby facilitated. Be kinaesthetic.
2. Small group discussions: Form dyads (group of 2 persons), triads (3 persons), quads (4 persons) and larger numbers as appropriate to the activities. Adults love to share their experiences with others.
3. Questionnaires: Find tools to measure one's personality (e.g. look for a book by Louis Janda), learning styles (ref Honey & Mumford), conflict style, etc. People are very interested to know about themselves.
4. Humour and Story Telling: Tell jokes on or about yourselves. A humorous, bizzare, or peculiar experience will bring 'relief' to people engaged in serious learning.
5. Address the needs of all four learning styles (the theorist, activist, reflector, and the pragmatist - I will elaborate at a later date).
6. Relate topics to what people can expect at their work place. Relevant and current subjects peak people's interests.
7. Exercises work-book style (but not too frequently). This will reinforce their learning.
8. Pose a question and ask participants to write the answer(s) on colour quarto size papers and stick them up on the wall. Then classify them accordingly (i.e.conceptualise them and integrate into some meaningful model or framework).
9. Help them do their assignment or project (if there is any). Again this will peak their interest and make them pay attention.
10. Track progress of the workshop by periodically making references to the agenda/program of the day. People want to see their progress and become enthusiastic if they notice concrete achievement hour by hour.
EVALUATION
The final judge of whether you are an excellent trainer or not is the students/participants. If, out of 5 (Likert scale), they rate you 4 and above (average), you are an excellent trainer. If they rate you 3.0-3.9, you are only moderately good. You have a lot of improvement to make. Seek out an established model for designing and delivering a training program such as the accelerative learning model by Georgi Lozanov. If you get only 2.9 and below you better attend skill-building course conducted by a master trainer.
My 27 students rated me as follows:-
1. Trainer's Knowledge of topic
4.59
2. Trainer's/Facilitator's presentation skills
4.48
3. Ability to generate participation
4.37
4. Punctuality
4.77
5. Trainer's overall performance
4.44
Taj
23/3/13
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