Thursday, March 30, 2006

Tip #110: Creating Playlists

I suppose I should begin by saying that I use a Mac computer and laptop, which may make it somewhat easier to create playlists using iTunes. Those of you on PCs will have to let me know if you have access to iTunes. I hope you do!

With iTunes, all you do is insert a music CD, have iTunes get the track names and create a Smart Playlist by the artist or by the album name.

All of the tracks then become part of the general library as well as the relevant genre library, such as jazz, classical, country, easy listening, folk, R&B, pop, new age, rock, world, blues, holiday, or soundtrack.

To create a playlist, you just drag all the songs you want from the library. You can search by a word, such as "dance," and iTunes will give you any song with "dance" in the title or any song from an album with "dance" in the title. To show you how eclectic my musical tastes run, my "dance" playlist includes: Phil Collins' "Dance into the Light," Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart," Carly Simon's "Attitude Dancing," "Purple People Eater," "Achy Breaky Heart," "Dirty Dancing," Bill Haley's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," Bee Gee's "Jive Talking," and "Staying Alive."

It is really a lot of fun to find music that reinforces a theme or metaphor for a training program. I created a "magic" playlist for a program titled "Inspire Magic," to help managers develop a positive and productive work environment. It has a number of different musical genres: "He's the Wizard" from "The Wiz" soundtrack, Eric Clapton's rock "Take a Chance," The Chenille Sister's jazz "I Want to Be Happy," Aretha Franklin's R&B "Respect," Jim Brickman's new age "If You Believe," and Four Bitchin' Babes' folk "Little Stars."

The fact that iTunes automatically creates the musical genre lists is very convenient. As a result, the iPod can sort by music, playlists, artists, albums, songs, genres, and composers! It makes any song that is in your library instantly available! During a program in New York, one of the participants asked me if I could play a blues song at the next break. Quite honestly, I wasn't even sure what a blues song was. But, lo and behold, when I searched my iPod under genre, I found I could instantly offer him songs by Bonnie Raitt, Groove Criminals, Natalie Cole, and Ray Charles. We were both very pleased!

If you like to preplan your music, you can create a playlist for every theme, every break, and every learning time (since they would require different types of musical genres). If you prefer to be more spontaneous, you can play whatever strikes your or your participants' fancy.

So, that's my relatively new toy and I won't EVER leave the office without it! I'm sure that I've barely scratched the surface regarding the possibilities, but you get the idea.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Tip #109: Using an iPod

For years, I have lugged around a cd player. It was very cool at the beginning, because I could put three different cds into it and change the cd and volume with the click of a handheld remote. It endured very cold weather in the trunk of my car and the indignity of being dropped several feet onto concrete on more than one occasion. It was scuffed and battered, and the remote was long gone, but I loved it. Without music, the training room feels empty, the air too heavy.

Since my training modules are generally 50 minutes long (and so are many cds!), I had a perfect set up. If the training was all day, my first cd would be very upbeat, possibly The Chenille Sisters, to greet the participants with joyful melodies as they entered the training room and waited for the training to begin.

My second cd would be the Lind Institute's Classical Melodies, to relax everyone and create a pleasant and comfortable feel to the room. I would play it very very quietly, so the music was subliminal. Few if any participants would know it was playing, but it would have the desired effect.

The third cd holder would have a different upbeat cd, perhaps Jazzy Tunes for Trainers or Everybody Dance! from The Trainer's Warehouse, to carry us through a ten minute break. During this time, I would need to remember to change the first two cds- the first to the Lind Institute's Classical Harmonies for subliminal music that was uplifting and the second to a different upbeat cd for the next break. Since I wanted to be an equal opportunity music player, I would try to select music from different upbeat genres for each break.

All of this entailed carrying lots and lots of cds with me (particularly for multi-day programs!), plus the boom box. But, I had a system and it worked for me.

When I started to do national and international training, the boom box was no longer an option. Sometimes clients were able to accommodate my need for a cd player, but it was usually set up for only one-cd at a time, which added significant complexity to my planning. This was especially true if participants wanted to chat with me over the break, when I would typically be setting up the cds.

Then I discovered the Apple iPod!! This tiny 2.5" x 4" musical wizard has made my life SO much easier! With the help of iTunes, I was able to upload all of my considerable cds into my laptop. Then, all I had to do was simply plug my iPod into my laptop- and it magically took care of transferring all of the music into my iPod. All that remained was to find something slim and easily portable to amplify the iPod's sound- and Altec Lansing's inMotion completely fit the bill! It neatly folds into a 5.4" x 8" package that fits nicely into my laptop carrying case! And wow, you should hear the quality and volume of sound it can generate! It can operate on batteries or plugged in, and when it is plugged in, it continually recharges the iPod! How cool is that??? I've even been able to let participants recharge their iPods for their trips home!

Now, I keep everything I need: laptop, iPod and inMotion, in my laptop carrying case- and I'm good to go!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Tip #108: Participant Materials

There are many options for organizing participant materials. I am going to share my own preferences and you can feel free to respond with your own.

First of all, I prefer to have all materials that the participants will need for a training session included in one participant packet. This means that the worksheets, exercises and the reference materials are in the same packet, rather than separated into different packets.

All of the pages are numbered and identified by document title in the table of contents. I like to ensure that the materials can be used later with ease of reference- and many participants have told me that they continue to refer to the materials for years.

In the table of contents, italicized print identifies the interactive exercises and regular print identifies the reference materials. This way I can easily annotate the table of contents as a quick reference lesson plan.

My computer mentor, Kathleen Cummings, has just taught me to number the participant pages so that the odd numbered pages have the number on the upper right header and the even numbered pages have the number on the upper left header. If you print your materials on both sides as I do, this makes it much easier to see the numbers. If you don't handle the numbering in this fashion, then the numbers for half of the pages are generally under the staple! :-)

I know that there are some trainers who prefer to print the participant materials only on one side, to provide sufficient room for them to take notes. I use 1 inch margins and ensure sufficient space on the worksheets to provide that room. Clearly, this choice and all of the other choices are entirely up to you.

The font style I prefer is Ariel, which is sans serif. At fourteen point for the text and eighteen point for the titles, it is very easy to read. Since my own sight is poor, that is very important! I like to include the title of the training program (and chapter titles, if applicable) in the header at 10 point, and my business name and copyright date in the footer, also at 10 point.

If the training program is more than one day, I prefer to print each day's materials in a separate color, three hole punch them, and place them behind tabs in a three-hole binder. Although my materials often are at least 50 pages per day, I find that the materials for a four day workshop will actually fit comfortably in a 1 inch binder.

Speaking of binders, it is very useful to have binders with pockets on the inside flaps (for additional handouts and participant notes) and a clear plastic cover on the outside, so you can slip a training program title page underneath it.

Color is also very useful to distinguish between different handout, reference, or answer key documents. It makes it much easier for participants to find them if they can search for them by color.

If there are specific worksheets or checklists that the participants may want to use after the workshop, I like to duplicate these in a separate resource packet with its own table of contents. If the participants are expected to complete these worksheets during the training, it is nice to provide them with clean copies to use later. I can also include resource lists (reading materials, websites, etc.) as an added value.

I have only recently started to insert some clip art onto the pages of my training materials, but I think it is a very good idea to add interest to the page. I would love to hear any suggestions about when and where to place clip art, as well as recommended sizes and sources for the clip art!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Tip #107: Evaluation

The ninth and last step in the comprehensive nine step LESSON PLANning Process is:

STEP 9. ARRANGE TO EVALUATE IF THE TRAINING NEED HAS BEEN MET.

  1. Build in participant application exercises that will show both the participants and the trainer that the necessary learning has occurred.

  2. Decide appropriate formal participant evaluation method(s).

  3. Identify necessary follow-up support to reinforce learning.

  4. Identify necessary ROI measures and procedures.

Evaluation does not have to mean paper and pencil tests or "smile" sheets at the end of the training session. Donald Kirkpatrick's Evaluation Level II assesses whether or not the learning objectives were achieved and learning has occurred. Application exercises, in which the participants apply what they have learned within the classroom setting, are a particularly effective way to accomplish this assessment.

To evaluate Level I, participant reaction, we may want to use a written evaluation or have each participant report one a key learning from the workshop.

At Level III, we evaluate if the new learning has transferred to the work site and the participants are exhibiting new behaviors as a result of the training.

We may engage supervisors to reinforce the learning on the job and provide feedback regarding the desired change in behavior. We may send periodic job aids or email reminders regarding key aspects of the new learning. We may even have the participants write an action plan during the training session and then discuss it with their supervisors, to incorporate the new learning into performance criteria.

At Level IV, we are concerned about evaluating the business impact resulting from the application of new skills on the job. Beyond individual performance, can we now measure increased productivity or customer service satisfaction, for example.

If we can convert these metrics into time or money saved, we can move into measuring the actual Return on Investment (ROI) from the training. This is where we provide proof that workplace learning translates into improved employee performance that results in true cost savings for the organization.

Training does not occur in a vacuum. Our needs assessment reveals skill, attitude, or performance gaps that can be addressed through training. Our entire training design is intended to remediate these identified gaps. To most effectively evaluate whether or not the training is effective, we need to partner with managers to obtain meaningful pre-training and post-training performance and productivity measurements.

Once our lesson plan is designed, we have one more task ahead of us- to create the actual training materials and audiovisual resources. We simply follow the recipe in our lesson plan. Either we draw the necessary information from subject matter experts or we have sufficient knowledge of the content areas ourselves. We reformat that information into the various training methods we have identified in the lesson plan or incorporate it into reference materials.

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Tip #106: Training Resources

The eighth step in the comprehensive nine step LESSON PLANning Process is:

STEP 8. LIST THE NECESSARY TRAINING RESOURCES.

  1. Identify the necessary participant exercises and reference materials.

  2. Identify the necessary audiovisual aids and props.

  3. Determine the most appropriate room arrangement to accommodate the instructional methods.

This is really the step where we plan out everything we will need to make the training a success. In the seventh step, we identified the training methods. At this eighth step, we flesh out our ideas. For example, we will use a questionnaire. Okay, then we will need a questionnaire worksheet as well as reference materials to support the answers to the questions. We will also need an answer key.

With regard to our audiovisual aids, here we decide whether we want to use a prepared flip chart, so that the answers can be posted and placed around the room as a constant peripheral reinforcement for the content. Perhaps we want to use Power Point slides to provide a brief visual of each question, and another slide to provide the answer after the participants have reported what they consider to be the answer. Perhaps we'll use a simple cartoon to introduce the exercise with bullet points of the answers as a closing slide for the exercise.

If we have chosen a metaphor for our training, then there will be props to support it. Suppose our topic is coaching. Our metaphor may be that coaching is like gardening. The seed has all the capabilities, but the gardener must prepare the soil, tend to the emerging plant's needs with water, fertilizer, etc. Our prop might be a packet of seeds. I've even used tomato seedlings when they were available!

Additional props might include peripherals of growing plants or posters with quotes about nurturing or coaching. You might want to use watering cans for the participants' water at their tables or colorful children's plastic rakes and trowels as decorations on the tables. I'm sure that you're getting the picture. If we chose a metaphor, we want to mine all of its richness as we decorate the room.

As for the most appropriate room arrangement, what we desire may be very different than what we can accomplish. However, assuming ideal circumstances with sufficient room and resources- perhaps we need at least five per table, with extra chairs available for times when we will need six or seven at a table for an exercise. Do we need a flat surface so that the participants can write or work on a hands on project? Do we need tables and chairs at all, or is the exercise something they can do with masking tape on the floor?

Clearly, this is where the true fun begins!