 Conversational almost speaking tone throughout the book.  Included dialogue, asides, exercises, teasers, challenges, etc.  Wanted to make the best principles of training available to both newly appointed trainers and more experienced people as to why things worked or didn’t work in training.

 Main goal was to take accumulated research and well-documented professional practice and make it less dull and rigid.  Every chapter includes activities to engage you in the process.  Each chapter ends with a brief summary and another activity to help you recall what you learned in the chapter.

 Training – to create a change in learners that they consistently reproduce without variation.  Instruction – helps learners generalize beyond the specifics of what is taught.  Education – conveys a more long-term and broader connotation than do training and instruction. Much of education comes from implicit messages from behaviors rather than from stated ones. › The idea is to build general mental models and value systems.  Learning – is change. The whole reason behind training, instruction, education is to enable people to learn.

 Three major factors influence how much and how well we learn: › Ability › Prior Knowledge › Motivation

 Ability is the capacity with which we were born that enables us to acquire new skills and knowledge varies among individuals. Similar to height and weight.  Each person is born with a different level of learning ability, but like muscles everyone can increase theirs by working them out and using them more.  Tips to help: › Adjust the amount of time to learn, provide more practice, simplifying and breaking down, etc.

 General and specific abilities greatly influence learning, but how much a person already knows about what he or she is being taught also strongly affects learning.  Example: A great physicists may not be as fast a learning something about carpentry as a carpenter would be.  Tips to help: › Prelearning session to close gaps, supplementary learning events prior to learning sessions, direct learners to online sources for more info.

 If you have a high desire to achieve something then you will do well, if you do not have a high desire then it is more likely that you will be slower to learn the subject.  Tips to help: › Enhance the value of what is being learned, adjusting confidence levels, create a positive learning atmosphere and work climate.

 Rationale – Explain why learners should learn what you are presenting to them. Make sure to present this early in the training session.  Performance Objective – Tell learners clearly what they will be able to do by the end of the session. If learners know what they are supposed to learn, then it will make it easy for them to learn what the should.

 Activities – Create activities that lead to attaining the performance objectives. › If leaners do things that lead directly to meeting the objectives, there’s a better chance that they will attain those objectives.  Evaluation – Evaluate learner performance. Check to make sure that they are learning what you intended they learn.  Feedback – provide feedback in terms of the performance objectives. Let learners know if they have got it right, then correct them when they go in the wrong direction.

 Receptive Training – This falls in to the category of “telling” someone.  Directive Training – This method directs the learner. Has a “follow me” feel to the learning, fast and good at teaching learners who have little experience with the content.  Guided Discovery – control is shared between the learner and the trainer or training program. Usually case-based, learners dive in head first and figure out what they are supposed to with guidance from trainer.  Exploratory Learning – Build and organize a rich learning and informational environmental for the learners and then truly get out of the way. The learners are in complete control. They know what is set out before them and must use what they know to figure out the task at hand.

 The main criteria for successful training is to keep your eye on the bottom line stuff. › Is it learner-centered? › Is it performance-based? › Can we demonstrate results?  Your mission is NOT enthusiastic telling. It is effective transformation that leads to both learner and organizational success.

 Four key terms: › Training, for reproducing behaviors › Instruction, for generalizing behaviors › Education, for building general mental models › Learning, the change in mental structures and behavior patterns to allow us to face the world and survive.

 Key Ingredients for Learning › Ability – How well you can learn something. › Prior Knowledge – What you know about the subject already can help you greatly. › Motivation – Having a lot of motivation to learn something also helps with the training process.

 Universal Model for Structuring Any Learning Session › Rationale – Explain why learners should learn what you are presenting to them. › Performance Objective – Tell learners clearly what they will be able to do by the end of the session. › Activities – Create activities that lead to attaining the performance objectives. › Evaluation – Evaluate learner performance. Check to make sure that they are learning what you intended they learn. › Feedback – provide feedback in terms of the performance objectives.

 Four Major Types of Training › Receptive Training – This falls in to the category of “telling” someone. › Directive Training – This method directs the learner. › Guided Discovery – control is shared between the learner and the trainer or training program. › Exploratory Learning – Build and organize a rich learning and informational environmental for the learners and then truly get out of the way.