How do you design training material and leave out the "I" (meaning the trainier or designer)factor. For example, when we receive new training material, there are some gaps because the people who put the material together have been there for some time and leave out information because they already know it. How can this be avoided?

Lisa Lynch

The only simple answer is to ensure that the designers include all that is required in the training notes by making this a requirement.

However, most trainers will want to place their own mark on any training material and I have seen the same training materials run by many trainers and the output is usually quite different.

As long as the trainers notes are clear enough to be able to interpret the requirement, there should not be too much of an issue. I would ask the training designers to always consider that they are writing the notes for others and this will iron out most issues.

quote:

Originally posted by LRochelle:
How do you design training material and leave out the "I" (meaning the trainier or designer)factor. For example, when we receive new training material, there are some gaps because the people who put the material together have been there for some time and leave out information because they already know it. How can this be avoided?
Lisa Lynch

This is an important issue; and this situation is why subject matter experts, acting alone, should not bear the sole responsibility for training content - or simply give that material to a designer. I'm not sure how a designer would know what should go into the material. Neither subject matter experts nor designers will provide all the necessary information - and adding trainers to the mix will probably not help either. The only way to guarantee that the correct and right amount of information is present in the training material is to enlist the help of less experienced employees (i.e., those who know the subject some, but are not subject matter experts) and one or two trainees if possible. They should work together with subject matter experts on writing the content - preferably in a team effort with a facilitator. The critical role of the less experienced employees and trainee(s) is to question everything the subject matter experts come up with that is unclear, confusing. etc. The facilitator makes sure to get them involved. I have used this technique with all sorts of subject matter experts and have never experienced a situation where the subject matter experts provided all the correct information on their own. It has always been the less experienced employees on the team who were responsible for ensuring the correct material and the right amount of detail at the right level for trainees. It's always an eye-opener for the SMEs.

I disagree with the statement that designers can simply "include all that is required in the training notes," and that would solve the problem. I don't think designers would know this any better than the SMEs.

If different trainers are not training the same material in the same manner so that trainees are guaranteed of having the same training experience, something is wrong - namely trainer evaluation. Trainers need to be held accountable and be able to achieve inter-rater reliability. If the training is all that different from one trainer to another, it would be impossible to show that the training resulted in performance improvement and impossible to prove ROI - except maybe on a course by course basis.

First, let me say that some "I" factor is good. The facilitator needs to present personal stories and other color unique to him/her in order to make the material seem real.

In order to make the materials as standardized as process, I have been involved in a process where the material is developed by two SMEs each with training design experience: one is the actual author, the other checks and verifies the information, activities, etc. for accuracy and completeness. The course is then subjected to two walkthroughs, with time after each for refinement. After that it is presented to a real group of participaints who offer feedback and then the materials are tweeked before final release.

This process has been very effective at helping to ensure that there are few gaps, etc. If the course is short, one might capture the video of the author presenting and use that to help train other instructors.

Thiagi has a section in the free materials portion of www.thiagi.com that discusses a RID (rapid instructional design) process that would also work to eliminate the gaps.

Experience has taught me that when companies assign people to write something or present something because they "know the job" they do everyone else who might need that information or skill a huge disservice. I would use a subject matter expert in the capacity he/she should be used -- as a person who knows the subject matter. Not necessarily as someone who is capable of writing, designing, analyzing, etc. what would be best for a learner of that information/skill.