Joanna Sharp
Training & Development Specialist, Fremont Bank
I had the pleasure of attending the Chapter’s semi-annual Instructional Design Workshop, run by Kris Schaeffer, this month. In prior years, it’s been held in a face-to-face environment, but as with all other events since March, this was not possible. Instead, the group met on Zoom for three 3.5 hour mornings on alternate days early in October. The benefit of this was we got to experience what we’re now having to do in our work, create new VILT classes or transform classroom sessions into virtual sessions.
The Training Plan provided the structure for the three days, with plenty of time for practice, questions, and knowledge-sharing. Some of the most fun parts of the training were the ice breakers and recap sessions; playing Jeopardy at the start of the day to recap knowledge learned and getting us back into the session following a break by discussing questions such as ‘what’s a great meal you’ve had recently’ and ‘what show have you binged lately?’. These were great ideas that I will certainly be utilizing in my next VILT (Virtual Instructor Led Training) session. What made this training really powerful was the opportunity to work on our own content in between the sessions, and then have feedback from Kris and the other participants. It was a great blend of learning and practical application.
One of the stand-out areas for me was the section on Learning Objectives. We broke down objectives into the terminal learning objective (what you want participants to do at the end) and enabling learning objectives (what participants need to know or do that helps them achieve the final / terminal learning objective). When writing each objective we followed the ABCD model (Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree). Having specific objectives made it very easy to design the training plan, and keep me on track with what the training will cover.
I encourage all learning professionals, whether you’re just starting out or very experienced, to attend the chapter’s next ID workshop. The content in the sessions, plus the robust supporting materials, made it a fantastic learning opportunity.
Comment from Kris Schaeffer, workshop designer and leader:
A Learning Culture at the beginning of the Instructional Design workshop is a large container for the participants and me to be fully engaged in an exchange of ideas and feelings. I check in often to make sure that I’m hitting the mark. In the most recent ID workshop, this Learning Culture prompted two innovations:
- The “ID Fishbowl” where one participant and I applied the ID Roadmap steps to their project while others could see and hear how the principles applied.
- A Conversion Checklist for ILT (Instructor Led Training) to VILT so that participants had a way to ensure that the courses that had already been converted to “virtual” were still instructionally sound.
When participants are my “co-creators,” each workshop becomes even richer and more applicable to their needs. In this VUCA world where everything is beta, it’s the best approach to training.