College Education

I have mixed feelings about classroom training. On the one hand, it frustrates me that the classroom is still the default format for a formal learning intervention, often chosen without regard for its suitability to the job in hand. On top of this, so much classroom training is poorly delivered, comprising little more than a technical presentation / knowledge dump, supported by tedious PowerPoint bullet-point slides.

On the other hand, even though my specialism is e-learning, I do myself regularly facilitate classroom workshops and am as sure as I can be that these make a difference – we achieve something that simply would not be possible online or asynchronously. True, I am much happier when the classroom element forms only a small part of the blend, but an important element none the less.

For this reason, I am pleased to see the results of the survey just released by the Training Foundation, in conjunction with the British Institute for Learning and Development (BILD). Now I must declare an interest here, in that I have in the past worked with the Training Foundation (an organisation that specialises in providing train-the-trainer services) in the development of their e-learning curriculum, although that is not the main subject of this study. The results show that classroom training (in this case teaching trainers how to deliver better classroom training) can make a lasting difference.

The survey was conducted online amongst learning and development professionals who had completed a TAP qualification (TAP is the branding that the Training Foundation uses for its train-the-trainer offering) between September 07 and January 09. Some 726 responded. Here’s what they found:

• The skills and techniques learned on the courses were put into practice on a routine basis by 97.6% of respondents. This is amazingly high when you consider that the average length of time between respondents finishing the course and participating in the survey was eight months, which is plenty of time for the learning to have evaporated or not to have proved useful.
• Some 97.4% said that learners provided better feedback when the TAP methodologies were applied by the respondents on their own courses. Now the TAP methodology is highly participative and reduces the role of the trainer as a presenter of information to an absolute minimum, so you can understand why this might have worked well.
• As many as 78% of respondents reported an increase in their own self-confidence.
• Practically all respondents advocated the TAP system strongly.

What this all tells me is that (1) it is possible to do a good job of classroom training and that (2) it is possible to teach others to do the same. If you’re going to use classroom training as part of the mix, then you may as well make a good job of it.

Source: Clive Shepherd