Emphasizing employee development is a sure way to create a work environment that is made of employees that are capable of doing their jobs with a greater purpose in mind. Doing so provides employees with the ability to do that which they value and to grow beyond their initial vision for their careers (Laureate, 2011). As a novice to the field of Instructional Design and appropriately using technology to design training material, I would love to have an employee development plan that would allow me to gain more experience in this profession. Below is a development plan that I believe would get me off to a great start in making the above happen.
Interpersonal/Formal Education
Because I am employed by a learning institution, the classes are available for furthering one’s education in a particular field. However, there is a lack of guidance when it comes to trying to figure out the best path to take. As a result, I believe participating in a staff-to-staff mentoring program would be a great way to establish that. I know that there are several great staff mentor-mentee relationships in existence across campus, but I am sure the majority of them are informal. With that said, I think it would be beneficial to not only myself but other new employees to have the option to pair up with an experienced employee to attempt to establish that great, rewarding mentor-mentee partnership that can offer the needed guidance.
Job Experiences
Experience, quite often, appears to be the best teacher. With that said I believe that incorporating, instructional design and the use of technology into my job duties would be a great way to enforce development as well. Our department just adopted a new housing assignment system that interact with the systems of quite a few other University departments and being involved in the training material development process would be a great way to gain experience in the instructional design arena. I believe the fact of having employees from departments involved as learners will not only allow me to develop a great since of what it means to do the job but also for who the job needs to be done for.
Assessment
When an effort is being made to learn or improve something, I believe that assessment must be included. With my goal to develop as a professional in the ID industry, if the actions/roads that I take to make that happened are not critiqued, I find it hard to be able to get a sense of how well my performance is coming across. With that said, I believe that different forms of assessment must be included in my development plan. Customer, peer, and supervisorial assessment are three forms of assessment that I think will be most beneficial and valuable because they would allow all of the individuals that play a part in my development process to give an evaluation of my progress.
Education
Informal educational opportunities are certainly ways that I see relevant to my development. I think that a person that wants help should first make an effort to help themselves. Informal education is probably the first step taken when beginning to develop a particular skill or concept…one tries to seek out knowledge to help build upon his or her desired skill. I believe that is something I must continue to do in order to stay true to the profession. Time, people, and especially technology these days, change and keeping in the know of how these changes affect the ID field, I feel, will be crucial to my success and contributions to any of my employers.
References
Laureate Education. (2011). Employee Development [Web media]. Retrieved on August 9, 2011 from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5364569&Survey=1&47=6323855&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
HIGH-TECH TRAINING
The use of technology in training is certainly on the rise and, if used properly, brings great advantages along with it. It brings to the training arena a convenient sense of learning that strives to cater to learners of all styles. In this blog, I will point out five different technologies that have had a positive impact in the work of training.
List-servs
List-servs are group emails where trainees comment on topic and the comment(s) are then sent to everyone who is a member of/subscribed to the list-serv. This technology is one that I, personally, like to use. It serves as a great way to sort of continue training after the official training had ended. List-servs allow individuals that use the same software, programs, equipment, etc, to learn from each other. There may be a particular part of a program that you are new to using and as a result you want to get ideas or feedback from other users on they go about making it work for their needs. List-servs provide a great environment for such communication. Below is a link the EDTECH, a list-serv on the use of technology in education. Feel free to check it out.
http://www.h-net.org/~edweb/
Groupware
Groupware is a special type of software application that enables multiple users to track, share, and organize information and to work on the same document simultaneously. This type of software could probably be used for training and also for the training material development process. For the training aspect, such software could be used to help organizations organize and mandate processes for their employees. For the development of training material, it could be used in a similar fashion. With projects to development training material often having a team of individuals responsible for different jobs, using groupware makes it possible for all team members to report on their progress, see the progress of others, share documents, and also share feedback. Below is a video on the purpose of SharePoint, groupware developed by Microsoft. At your convenience, check it out to get an idea of the experience.
Interactive Video
Interactive video combines the advantages of video and computer-based instruction. A problem that is often seen in the training environment is a lack of consistency. Without guidelines and structure, there lies the chance of information being distorted and as a result, you end up with incorrectly trained employees. That in turn, can produce a decrease in performance. Training that is evolved around interactive video technology helps to reduce such situations by providing greater accessibility to consistent training as well as facilitate learning.
Click on the link below for an example of how interactive video is used in training.
http://www.aaae.org/training_professional_development/interactive_employee_training/
Virtual Lab
A virtual lab is a technology that allows trainees to interact with a computer presentation of the job or concept for which they are being trained. Trainees often learn better when they are able to get an actual look at and feel for what it they are trying to learn. This technology is a type of simulation that provides a great way for trainees to get that almost hands-on feeling for their soon to be jobs/tasks. It takes learners through the lessons that actually mimic what they will be expected to perform in reality –again, giving that realistic feeling. This link below
Cisco WebEx
Cisco Webex is a web conferencing program the makes it possible for one to connect to anyone else, anywhere in real time. It combines desktop sharing through a web browser with conferencing and video so everyone sees the same thing while they converse. In my opinion, this technology is an awesome help to the training world. The convenience it provides from one person to several different people, all at one time, in many different locations can be such a great help. Program/software that companies invest in, often have support headquarters that are nowhere close to their location. A technology such as webex makes it possible for that real-time support to happen between individuals that are hundreds to thousands of miles away. It makes it possible for trainees to get that clear explanation that does not quite come across in an email the same way that it may when one is able to speak to a trainer as he or she shares a computer screen to actually show a trainee how to do a particular task.
With my current position and projects, WebEx has been such a help for me and several of my colleagues. I can attest to the convenience and relief its capable providing to the training world. Feel free to click on the link below to check on Cisco WebEx.
http://www.webex.com/
As we all know, there are several technologies available that are being used to enhance the training experience. These were just a few that I thought to share.
References
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
The use of technology in training is certainly on the rise and, if used properly, brings great advantages along with it. It brings to the training arena a convenient sense of learning that strives to cater to learners of all styles. In this blog, I will point out five different technologies that have had a positive impact in the work of training.
List-servs
List-servs are group emails where trainees comment on topic and the comment(s) are then sent to everyone who is a member of/subscribed to the list-serv. This technology is one that I, personally, like to use. It serves as a great way to sort of continue training after the official training had ended. List-servs allow individuals that use the same software, programs, equipment, etc, to learn from each other. There may be a particular part of a program that you are new to using and as a result you want to get ideas or feedback from other users on they go about making it work for their needs. List-servs provide a great environment for such communication. Below is a link the EDTECH, a list-serv on the use of technology in education. Feel free to check it out.
http://www.h-net.org/~edweb/
Groupware
Groupware is a special type of software application that enables multiple users to track, share, and organize information and to work on the same document simultaneously. This type of software could probably be used for training and also for the training material development process. For the training aspect, such software could be used to help organizations organize and mandate processes for their employees. For the development of training material, it could be used in a similar fashion. With projects to development training material often having a team of individuals responsible for different jobs, using groupware makes it possible for all team members to report on their progress, see the progress of others, share documents, and also share feedback. Below is a video on the purpose of SharePoint, groupware developed by Microsoft. At your convenience, check it out to get an idea of the experience.
Interactive Video
Interactive video combines the advantages of video and computer-based instruction. A problem that is often seen in the training environment is a lack of consistency. Without guidelines and structure, there lies the chance of information being distorted and as a result, you end up with incorrectly trained employees. That in turn, can produce a decrease in performance. Training that is evolved around interactive video technology helps to reduce such situations by providing greater accessibility to consistent training as well as facilitate learning.
Click on the link below for an example of how interactive video is used in training.
http://www.aaae.org/training_professional_development/interactive_employee_training/
Virtual Lab
A virtual lab is a technology that allows trainees to interact with a computer presentation of the job or concept for which they are being trained. Trainees often learn better when they are able to get an actual look at and feel for what it they are trying to learn. This technology is a type of simulation that provides a great way for trainees to get that almost hands-on feeling for their soon to be jobs/tasks. It takes learners through the lessons that actually mimic what they will be expected to perform in reality –again, giving that realistic feeling. This link below
Cisco WebEx
Cisco Webex is a web conferencing program the makes it possible for one to connect to anyone else, anywhere in real time. It combines desktop sharing through a web browser with conferencing and video so everyone sees the same thing while they converse. In my opinion, this technology is an awesome help to the training world. The convenience it provides from one person to several different people, all at one time, in many different locations can be such a great help. Program/software that companies invest in, often have support headquarters that are nowhere close to their location. A technology such as webex makes it possible for that real-time support to happen between individuals that are hundreds to thousands of miles away. It makes it possible for trainees to get that clear explanation that does not quite come across in an email the same way that it may when one is able to speak to a trainer as he or she shares a computer screen to actually show a trainee how to do a particular task.
With my current position and projects, WebEx has been such a help for me and several of my colleagues. I can attest to the convenience and relief its capable providing to the training world. Feel free to click on the link below to check on Cisco WebEx.
http://www.webex.com/
As we all know, there are several technologies available that are being used to enhance the training experience. These were just a few that I thought to share.
References
Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
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