Theoretical Foundations Web viewMy submission is a lesson plan I developed for an online ......
Transcript of Theoretical Foundations Web viewMy submission is a lesson plan I developed for an online ......
Running Head: Training Plan 1
Theoretical Foundations: Training Plan
Sara Richards
McDaniel College
Training Plan 2
For my second Theoretical Foundations submission, I have chosen an
educational entry from the Instructional Systems Design class taken as part of the
graduate program at McDaniel College. My submission is a lesson plan I developed for
an online training program called “Preventing Workplace Harassment”. In this course, I
learned the importance of the selection, implementation, and evaluation of various
training methods. This lesson plan demonstrates my understanding in theoretical
foundations by showing my ability to design a lesson plan with all necessary
components.
The attached lesson plans demonstrate my ability to create a training program
with all the appropriate action items included: 1) implementation, 2) gaining attention, 3)
direction, 4) recall, 5) content, 6) application feedback levels, 7) evaluation, and 8)
closure (Babbie, 2004). One of the most important things I have found throughout my
career is to include a level of revisions to the programs as many lesson plans evolve
over time. In essence, “a lesson plan is a living document; it is constantly evolving,”
(Toney, 1991, p.15). After finishing my class work for my graduate degree, I now feel
there are other factors that I should have considered in my lesson plan, and those will be
detailed throughout this paper.
As a new Human Resources department, I looked at the Harkins training
program with a new pair of eyes, viewing the matter from a different paradigm than a
construction manager. Previously, all training focused on construction-specific skills,
with managerial and compliance training being woefully lacking from my perspective. I
chose to focus on harassment training as a jumping off place. Since I viewed
harassment training as compliance training, I wanted to be able to regulate the content
and ensure each employee received the correct information. In a business setting,
training plans are deemed effective on more than one level. While the lesson plan must
Training Plan 3
be solid, efforts must also be taken to control costs, and the subject matter must be
relevant.
To provide the training, I chose a plan centered around an online environment for
several factors, including the nature of Harkins Builders, my current employer. Offering
the class in an online model fit this requirement well as each employee received the
exact same training and there was no disparity of the message from one session to the
next. The majority of Harkins employees are located at various job sites throughout
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Arranging for employees to come to corporate for
a training class is overly burdensome and expensive, not to mention reduces
productivity. “By implementing an online training program, facilities can provide more
training for staff, ensure consistency of content, realize time and money savings and fully
automate all training records,” (Gaver & Berge, 2010, p. 49). Online training also gives
freedom to employees to choose the most productive time to view the training. For
example, a rainy day for construction field employees is a great time for online training
as the weather limits their workplace activity choices. With regard to implementation, the
only equipment necessary is a computer with access to the company internet, products
and services that are standard throughout Harkins and which required minimal set-up.
Each jobsite trailer has a computer onsite, and most employees are given a personal
laptop as part of their company provided equipment. As such, I would not change how I
chose to hold this training, and would facilitate such trainings at Harkins in the future.
This type of online implementation also allowed a coordinated manner to gain the
attention of the attendees through a series of summaries of infamous sexual harassment
cases. Again, there is very little I may do differently in this regard other than to possibly
search out and/or incorporate a short training video or other media content as a part of
the presentation to help it seem more interactive.
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Direction of this project is fine in my opinion and I would concur with my original
plan that a short series of slides, or perhaps even just one, would succinctly allow the
employees to understand the scope and purpose of the training. Likewise, I would
emphasize specific points of recall with similar slides and once again do not see the
need to revise the original plan.
Content development is an area where I would go back and evaluate the
effectiveness of my original plan. According to Gaver (2010), “When considering the
process of developing online training, organizations are challenged to continue thinking
in terms of expanding the learning experience” (p.49). Prior to this training, Harkins had
solely used classroom style training and the content of this presentation would need to
be engaging and fulfilling. I believe that information-wise, my original plan is sufficient in
terms of information; however, I would likely now seek out peers for input into training
resources and development tools, gathering feedback into particularly effective content
for their training sessions. For instance, have Power Point presentations gathered good
feedback and why or why not? Likewise, in regard to developing the training, I would
incorporate some review from current Harkins employees prior to company-wide
implementation, perhaps using several employees at corporate as a sort of focus group.
As a sidebar, I would also be sure to not provide all of the content in one continuous
session and “chunk” the information into several main topics to enable learning several
small, specific points, rather than one long lesson.
The biggest weakness in my original plan was in my assumption that input
regarding Application Feedback would be unavailable in an online setting. At this time, I
would go back and provide application feedback on three levels – the instructor-lead
portion, any peer to peer interactions, and any independent work. I feel that one way to
accomplish Level 1 feedback would be to allow the submissions of questions
Training Plan 5
anonymously that may be answered at a later time. With regard to Level 2, I would
envision incorporating small quizzes into each chunk of the training. In this manner,
knowledge can be reinforced along the way and users have an activity to perform to
keep them engaged throughout the training. Finally, in regard to Level 3 feedback,
incorporating some sort of a challenge into the training could be a way to engage
participants and turn the training program into a fun activity, rather than a chore. For
instance, I would institute a small reward program for the highest scorer on the collected
quizzes, with the goal of making this reward attainable for every employee that actively
participated in the training. I also believe that there should be a way for an incorrect
answer to become a correct answer through corrective phrasing in the training. The
user could therefore be directed to the right answer and the proper information
reinforced.
I feel that an evaluation is vital and I would provide this by way of a short
evaluation survey that was a requirement to completing the training. I do believe in
short, concise feedback surveys but also feel that a narrative box may allow for
additional suggestions to improve the overall course. I believe that content, the length of
the training, and the ability to engage the trainee should all be measurements.
Finally, my original closure section is adequate. I strongly believe in a last
reinforcement of ideas, particularly why the training happened. A sincere appreciation
should be expressed and I stand by my original plan that all participants should be free
to contact me for additional information. Online training gives me the ability to get
attendance through sign-on information, and the results of each employee’s quizzes can
be sent to me electronically to create documentation of compliance for every employee
personnel file.
Training Plan 6
With my graduate coursework behind me, it has become very clear to me that
each of the competencies learned in the Human Resources program feed off of one
another. When working within one competency, if one takes the time to consider the
ramifications in other areas, only then has one truly mastered the skills in that
competency. By taking what I learned in my Instructional System Design class, and then
expanding on that knowledge with lessons learned from other classes, I feel this
submission shows my accomplishment of Theoretical Foundations. I also believe the
environment an HR professional works in is constantly changing, and what we know
today will be drastically different than what we need to know tomorrow. According to
Driscoll (1998), “with the rate of technical change, online learning is likely to become an
essential competency of training pros in the not-so-distant future” (p.45).
Training Plan 7
References
Babbie, E. (2004). The Practice of Social Research (10th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Thomson Wadsworth.
Driscoll, M. (Nov 1998). How to pilot web-based training. Training & Development,
52(11), 44-46.
Gaver, J., & Berge, ZL (Jan 2010). The role subject matter plays in the decision to offer
online training. Distance Learning, 7(1), 49.
Toney, MR (June 1991). Lesson plans-strategies for learning. Training & Development,
45(6), 15.