I have a question- I recently have come across someone designing materials with the participant before the start the module to come up with there own learning Objectives and also including the Learning Objectives for the class. In addition, they are also the participant to reflect and journal how they intend apply the learning before they have gone through the materials. They said that this set up the participant for learning. I tend to disagree, in all my years of designing materials I have not come across this approach. Does anybody have any experience with this and does it work? Thanks!

I have done something similar for years.

I have asked the class during introductions "Why are you here?" This is really a "what do you want to learn?" question. This helps me set expectations for the whold class. I like it.

I also ask then to fill out a form with their experience and goals for taking the course. This way they can be more candid.

Of course there is a danger that they will say "we came here to learn X" when X is not an objectve. If you are flexible enough to be able to add it, great. If not, let them know they may be in the wrong place.

I have seen an instructor write the participant objectives on a flip chart and check them off when they were covered (or he did it before going on breaks). It was very successful.

Is that what you mean?
--john

I agree with this approach too. I even go a step further and try to involve every single employee who is impacted by the training (including employees in other parts of the organization) in having a direct role to play in doing the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. It's important that they be included from Day 1. The more removed participants are from the creation and overall control of their own training, the less successful the training is. I believe there is a direct correlation.

On the other hand, I have seen many facilitators start a training session by asking participants what they hope to get out of the class, even writing it down - and then NEVER mentioning it again, and NEVER making any effort to address those things. But I do agree with the approach when the facilitator actually follows through as Travelerjjim suggests.

I think what may cause confusion with this practice is that there's a difference between someone telling you what training should be and how you should go about designing/delivering it, and someone telling you that they're taking a particular class because they hope to accomplish a particular goal. Some designers, trainers and clients have great difficulty with the differentiation.

The key is - good analysis, good design and good facilitation provides the opportunity for someone to learn something relevant. However, the participant is responsible for determining what he/she actually gets out of it and then actually applying it.

It's not "what do you want me to teach you?" it's "what do you hope to accomplish by engaging in this learning opportunity?"

One of my favorite approaches is polling the audience prior to the session. Once I get the participant list, I send out an online survey asking the participants for their most pressing needs.
While the course has already been designed and it's not like I am going to redo the content, I can still prepare relevant case studies and examples that will help the participants actualize the learning. (sorry for the run on sentence!)
I find that the participants come in with better expectations and have I received great feedback about using this process. (toot toot)