The Process of Designing

The six steps to designing a training program for accelerated learning Clarify the desired outcome of training What do you intend the course to accomplish and how will educators know when they have accomplished this? Before outlining the program itself it is essential that educators ask themselves certain questions. Why are they having the training to begin with? What are the results (objectives, goals, achievements) are educators hoping to see? Educators often find it beneficial to consider possible outcomes from three different points of view. Firstly there is the point of view of the delegates, or students: what is it that these people hope to learn? Then there is the perspective of the training facilitator or educator: what does the educator believe the subjects need to learn? And finally there is the perspective of the course sponsor or education administrator; the person who is paying the educator. What is it that the administrators wish to see the trainees learn? The Depending entirely on the individual situation, these three points of view can be quite similar or they can be drastically –challengingly– different.

Identify changes desirable in the learners/trainees What sort of learning do the educators with to see the learners undertake/engage in? A particularly helpful model involves dividing this up into four different types of learning achievement: Self-awareness – the trainee’s beliefs and attitudes about him or herself New perspectives – the trainee’s attitudes and beliefs concerning other people Skills – how to do various things Knowledge – learning about things It is usually the case that the “skill” and “knowledge” training will produce little to no change if they are not also accompanied by a growth in the trainee’s self-awareness and his or her acquisition of new perspectives. What various activities would guarantee this learning? Once trainers and educators know what sort of learning they want to take place in the fields of self-awareness, new perspective, skills and knowledge, they will be able to create or borrow ideas for activities that will allow this learning to happen. Creativity is paramount for this step! Organize these activities into sessions Once the educator has a collection of ideas he or she can organize them into a session that will fit the allotted training period.

Design setup and take-down for each of these activities In order to find a balance between lecture and activity, every activity will need a setup phase in which the educator explains the purpose and desired outcomes of the activity. It is often beneficial to have a demonstration of through activity to accompany this explanation. Then educators will need a take-down or “unwinding” phase in which participants explain what happened and what they learned. Go through the process and refine Tweaking and refining is a natural part of the road to accomplishment. Always look over a program to see how it might be improved on. Ask yourself questions, such as: What state should participants be in at the various stages of the session? What state should the educator be in at each of these stages? Are various learning styles taken into consideration? Is there a suitable balance between activity and reflection? Are the learners actively engaged enough? Does everybody get a good feeling from this? What one thing, if any, could be added to make it perfect? (or) What one thing could be taken away to make it perfect? How does this session look from the view of the trainees? Will they be over stimulated and/or bored, and what can I do to find a better balance?

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