Chapter 4: Developing Objectives and Designing a Curriculum

In this chapter you will learn that in training and development you must start off with one key element in order to have an efficient and successful training course, this being a training objective. The training objective is the seed to which from this creates your training goals and curriculum for actually training each individual. Without this objective, you would have no direction in which to follow to create the training curriculum, the text states a great example on understanding just how important these training objectives are. With a group of people take a moment from reading and all point which way each person believes is north. You should get a variation of answers. The point of that activity is to show you that if you do not know where you are headed, you will not likely get there. Organizing your training content and designing the general structure of your training will help build your training curriculum. Although a training objective is as simple as a one single statement that will describe what the trainees should be able to do when they complete the training, it consists of 5 specific steps. Step one is to identify the training skill outcomes; this is achieved by looking back over your task analysis and needs-assessment of the trainees. This needs to be done because everything revolves around the specific needs of the trainee. After identifying the specific training outcomes the next part, step 2, is to make your objectives observable. You need to recognize one type of behavior you can observe the trainee doing at the end of the course. Next is step 3, with this you should assess the measurable side of your training objective. You will need to be able to evaluate how effectively the behavior was performed. Step 4 states that the objectives need to be attainable. This is meaning that given the trainees background, these objectives should be achievable. Lastly, you have step 5. This is the final part in writing your training objective and making it specific. In this step you make sure to have a verb such as “feel”, “understand”, “know”, and identify precise actions that you expect the trainee to perform. As stated earlier, with this training objective and course outcome developed, you are now able to start creating your core curriculum. This curriculum is essentially the content of your training program with organization and the teaching skills of the information needing to be used in this training session. With designing a curriculum, you as the trainer need to understand a few things about training yourself. First is teaching information, whether it being technological or simple leadership skills, it needs to always be in chronological order. In doing so, make sure you are teaching and helping the trainees understand the more simple skills before moving into the more complex skills when it comes to dealing with students during advising. The next principle with it comes to designing a curriculum is showing the trainees each problem identification and then each problem solution. By showing them each problem and then addressing the problem solution you are presenting that trainee with specific skills on how to better diagnose the students issues and questions. This principle has helped the trainees in bettering their knowledge of problem-centered and has practical inferences for improving work productivity and effectiveness. Once you have organized your training curriculum principles you can now move into the physical part of the curriculum, training methods. These training methods are procedures you use to show information and establish actions you want the trainees to use. There are several different training methods such as group participation, role plays, discussions, and more. Out of all training methods, you still only have one goal, and that is to teach a skill. Whether you pick group participation or role play as a training method there will always be 5 simple steps in structuring your effective skill training. (1) Tell them what you want to do, what skills you want them to develop, and what your goals of the training are. (2) Show the steps on how to perform the certain skill by seeing that skill done, also known as behavior modeling. (3) Invite those trainees to perform each skill you have taught them by practicing it in role playing by providing the scenarios, case study simulations, and many more. (4) Encourage the trainees by coaching them to perform each new skill they have learned right away. You do this by providing feedback, point out what they are doing correctly, along with incorrectly, and possibly ask the trainee themselves what they feel are doing correctly. (5) Correct the trainees in what it is they are doing wrong by structuring this feedback, all while making sure to remain positive. Please Review this Article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/12/19/the-1-reason-leadership-development-fails/ By: Anna Brockley