Developing Effective Materials T rain the Trainer Series Day Three An Infopeople Workshop Cheryl Gould November 19, 2004

Review ADDIE SMART objectives What do you need to know BEFORE you start designing training? What kinds of things do you determine in the design phase?

Design Versus Develop Design training –Organize –Determine materials Develop materials –Word, PowerPoint, images –readability/usability for audience –graphic design –grammar, spelling –instructional writing

Agenda Review Design Phase Process of Developing Materials Types of Materials to Develop PowerPoint Practice Formatting training materials in Word

Process for Materials Development What is the Purpose of the Materials? Who is the Audience? What Type of Materials are Needed? Outline, Chunk and Sequence Create Exercises Create Job Aids Add Meaningful Graphics Spice Up Materials Review Requirements Final Review Use Materials Evaluate Materials

Why Create Training Materials? Support instructor –keep on track –consistency Support student –during and after training –reduce note taking As a job aid

Plan! For every hour of class, expect from eight to twelve hours of training design, development, and materials preparation.

Developing Materials Considerations Time Cost Number being trained Developing for own use Approval required Might be more cost effective to purchase training or training material.

Skills Versus Behavior Change Behavior change: – requires practice, some say up to 16 times –“Telling ain’t training” Skills: – need to demonstrate, then allow practice time If complicated software: –learn to learn the software, be comfortable with it, how to get help –show off any big pitfalls you know people might run into Don’t teach “click here, click there!”

Design Guidelines (for just about anything ;) Easy to see Easy to navigate Quick to scan Accurate Relevant Clear Complete (in relation to task)

Four Basic Design Principles Contrast –it’s what gets attention Repetition –design elements throughout –strengthens unity Alignment –align with something! Proximity –group items to show relationship

Creating Contrast When you want something to be remembered you should make it STAND OUT in some way. differences We notice and remember differences We can use color, highlight, intonation, volume, emotion - anything to “CREATE a CONTRAST”

Teach Visually “It’s a kind of glass with a long thin stem that gets slightly wider at the top, something like a wine glass but instead of the wine glass shape at the top of the stem it’s sort of like an inverted cone and it’s made of slightly thicker glass than…”

Plan a Visual Aid for Your Training Diagram Chart Graphic Model Prop

Cheat Sheets Concise Give users permission to forget Contain large amounts of infrequently used detail for a task AKA Job Aids - Performance Aids Quick Guides - Tip Sheets

Formatting Cheat Sheets Ideally one-sided Plenty of white space Number things that are in sequence Stick to one font –Times New Roman for readability in print –No smaller than 12 pt –NO ALL CAPS Use pictures, diagrams or screen shots Use color and bolding to mean something

Skills training –practice skills - hands-on Knowledge training –Test understanding and recall Attitude training –Role playing and discussion Exercises Should Reflect Learners Tasks

1.Click on File > Open 2.Select abc.doc from the list of files 3.Go to the end of the document by pressing OR 1.Open the Word document abc 2.Move to the end of the document by using a shortcut key Thinking vs Following Steps

White space is g o o d Use Outline numbering Bullet things NOT in sequence Consistently use, or don’t use, punctuation. Say what will be accomplished, then give steps Chunk on page to show relationship

“The better the training goes, the less chance there is that anyone will appreciate the effort that went into it.” Chuck Hodell