My Approach to Instructional Systems Design (ISD)

The definition of training has always meant different things to different people. Historically, training has been viewed as a necessary evil in many organizations unwilling to invest the time and resources to create effective training programs for employees and external audiences alike, and usually results in the creation of a plethora of PDF documents which rarely addresses the true needs of the audiences these documents were intended to train. This misguided attitude towards training usually results in materials that are designed to "feed" information without engaging the participant in the learning process. This creates a detached learning experience that leads to poor retention of the material, and in many cases, unsatisfactory participant performance.

Case in point...how many times have you attended a training session only to have the facilitator read a bunch of bullet points off a PowerPoint presentation or directly from a training manual? The training may have been informational, but were you really able to retain the information in a way that allowed you to recall and apply what you "learned" at the end of the session? Maybe...maybe not.

In some cases, general knowledge may be all the participant needs. For example, user documentation or quick reference materials (if designed properly) can be appropriate and even quite effective at educating participants. In other cases, it is critical that participants consistently and accurately perform a specific task that directly supports the goals and objectives of the department and organization. Therefore, it is important to distinguish when it's acceptable to simply "communicate" information and when it's necessary to "engage" participant's in the learning process to achieve measureable results.

When approaching the development of any training program, we must ask ourselves the following question:

Do we intend on simply communicating information, or do we intend on changing the participant's behavior in an effort to increase performance?

Now when we refer to the term behavior, we are not necessarily talking about how individuals interact with others, but how they approach and complete specific tasks. Successful training programs must be designed to change the participant's behavior in such a way that makes them more productive. More importantly, these behaviors and tasks must be easily reproducible, so participants are performing critical tasks consistently. As we have already discussed, the training should ALWAYS support the goals and objectives of the department and the organization for it to be considered a truly effective training program.

So how do we achieve this training utopia? First, we must be able to articulate why training is necessary. What performance deficiencies and knowledge gaps exist within the organization? Then we need to develop effective training that directly addresses these deficiencies and knowledge gaps while engaging participants throughout the process.

Once performance deficiencies and knowledge gaps have been identified and targeted goals and objectives have been constructed, the process of creating effective training begins. But what constitutes effective training? To answer this question, we need to ask even more questions.

Is the training content relevant to the participant?

The content of the training should focus on specific knowledge that is required to perform specific tasks more efficiently and accurately. For example, if the objective of your training program is to teach participants how to make a ham and cheese sandwich, we don't develop content that teaches them how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then expect them to be able to make a ham and cheese sandwich. Sure, they are both sandwiches, but the tasks associated with making each type of sandwich are drastically different.

Does the training grab and retain the participant's attention?

Engaging participants in the learning process is critical to retention. Engagement may be accomplished through the training facilitator, the training materials themselves, and/or the delivery method. However, an engaging piece of training is not necessarily effective training. For example, the facilitator may be humorous and knowledgeable on the subject, but if the learner isn't actively engaged in the learning process, all the facilitator's humorous one-liners don't mean a thing. You can explain to someone how to make a ham and cheese sandwich, but having them actually make the sandwich will be more effective because they are engaged in the learning process.

Does the training provide authentic situations to enhance learning?

Activities, examples, case studies, and/or assessments should attempt to model or duplicate actual, real-life situations the participant will encounter. For example, if you're teaching someone to make a ham and cheese sandwich, they should be provided bread, ham, cheese, and maybe even condiments to work with instead of just showing them pictures of different kinds of ham and cheese sandwiches.

Are participants actively involved in the learning process?

Similar to engaging the participant, training should be an active learning process rather than a passive one. In addition to being engaged, participants are encouraged to "participate" in the training by requiring interaction from each participant. This can be accomplished through discussion, exercises, Q&A sessions, and other interactive means. Simply feeding information to the training audience doesn't engage them in the learning process. They are reduced to sponges simply trying to absorb as much information as possible without being able to explain why the information is important to them. Returning to our ham and cheese sandwich example, having participants share their ham and cheese sandwich making experiences adds to the learning experience for all participants.

Is the content appropriate for the audience the training was designed for?

In many cases, developing training that can be customized for a specific audience will allow training developers to address specific training goals and objectives even if the audience of the training changes. For example, what if the audience of the ham and cheese sandwich training needs specific training on how to make a turkey and cheese sandwich. The training should be easily customizable for the new audience by utilizing existing materials as much as possible.

It is also important to identify how the training will be perceived by its intended audience. For example, learning how to make a ham and cheese sandwich won't be very appropriate if all the targeted participants are all vegans or have an intolerance to dairy products.

Is the training available when participants need it?

Training should be available when an individual needs the training. One of the benefits of online training is that the learning experience is "just-in-time", providing access to training when the individual requires it. For example, teaching participants how to make a ham and cheese sandwich after the company decides to stop the production of ham and cheese sandiwches or if there is no longer any ham available for making ham and cheese sandwiches. Does the training consider the unique needs of adult learners? As adults, we are very different learners now than when we were children. Our needs, interests, attention, and attitudes toward learning all change as we get older and ultimately affect how we learn. Adult learning theory is a complex science and we cannot begin to address all but the most fundamental concepts here, but a successful training program must take adult learning styles into account.

As I mentioned on my bio page, I'm a staunch believer in a blended approach to training development in order to deliver effective training programs. An overview of the most common training delivery mechanisms, and some of the criteria I use to determine which delivery mechanisms are most appropriate, are briefly described below.

e-Learning Modules

e-Learning modules are designed to provide "just-in-time" learning opportunities that focus on self-paced study while engaging participants through the use of mixed media (text, graphics, sound, video), simulations, knowledge assessments, and feedback. e-Learning modules also provide more consistency of message since the content does not change very often.

e-Learning modules are most effective when:

• There is a high number of geographically diverse participants
• There is a shortage of qualified training facilitators
• Participant turnover is high
• Training must be delivered "just-in-time"
• Training content must be consistent
• Training will be repeated often
• You need to decrease travel costs
• Self-paced instruction is required
• The content requires a lot of practice that can be simulated
• Updates to the content/program will be minimal
• Tracking of the training is critical due to the large number of participants
• Development time and money are plentiful

Online Resources

Online resources are designed to disseminate information or provide participants with guided instruction on very complex or detailed material. Examples of online resources include online help, quick reference materials, job aids, and technical documentation. Because online references are typically referenced "on the job" as needed, they can be very effective training tools if the information is organized logically, allowing for detailed instruction often times not possible with e-learning or instructor-led courses due to the logistics associated with these types of deliverables.

Online resources are most effective when:

• Tasks are performed infrequently
• It is critical that task(s) be performed accurately
• Task(s) are highly complex
• Tasks change frequently
• Participant turnover is high
• Training cannot be delivered in a timely manner
• Practice, assessment, and feedback are not critical

Instructor-led Courses

Instructor-led courses are typically delivered in a classroom environment that provides the benefits of direct instructor-participant interaction while allowing a variety of different teaching methods to be implemented. However, as stated above, instructor-led courses introduce many logistical challenges not associated with other delivery types. For example, class scheduling, reserving classrooms and computers, and printing facilitator and participant materials are just some of the challenges inherent with the delivery of instructor-led courses.

Instructor-led courses are most effective when:

• Interaction with a trainer and/or other participants is important
• Guided discussion will encourage more learning
• Questions come up that require immediate answers
• You have enough qualified trainers to handle the training load
• Individualization of the training is not required
• You want more control over the outcome of the training
• Practice, assessment, and feedback are critical to improving the program

Web Conferences

The use of remote web conferencing tools is a great way to provide many of the benefits of both instructor-led training and e-learning modules. For these reasons, web conferences can be considered a blended learning approach to training, providing participants with many of the benefits of online and instructor-led training. However, there are also many roadblocks that can get in the way of effectively delivering training via web conferences.

Web conferences are most effective when:

• There is a high number of geographically diverse participants
• Interaction with a trainer and/or other participants is important
• Guided discussion will encourage more learning
• Questions come up that require immediate answers
• You need to decrease travel costs