Welcome to the Instructional Design: The Looking Glass of Learning blog


Welcome to the Instructional Design: The Looking Glass of Learning blog. Although we will not be discussing the theories behind Lewis Carroll's meaning of Alice's adventures beyond the rabbit hole, we will however be able to take this opportunity to share educational feedback, theories and philosophies pertaining to Instructional Design, learning practices and ideologies openly.



The purpose of this blog is to keep our creative thoughts following and partake in thought provoking discussions that allow each us to learn even more about ourselves, one another and the worlds in which we teach and learn.



Making eLearning Design Look Easier

Thursday, September 8, 2011

The “Truth” About Training: Taking It All Into Consideration

For audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?bhy73mpjfxocz2t

It can be argued that training serves as a pillar in organizational success. Consider this. A new hire employee enters a training room with the anticipation of starting the first day in a formal training setting where the appropriate knowledge transfer takes place whether through eLearning, simulation, instructor-led (ILT) or on-the-job training (OJT). Instead, the new employee is welcomed to the organization with a firm handshake and a congratulatory smile followed with “welcome to the job and good luck”. Without hesitation the new hire employee is shuffled off into the workplace environment and expected to meet the desired monthly performance metric.



Different? Definitely. Innovative? Possibly. Competitively smart? Let us consider this. It has been discovered that training can aid in organizational success by:

• Providing opportunities to enhance knowledge and skill development (Bradley, 2010)
• Initiating structured programs to drive knowledge transfer of both explicit and tacit knowledge (Noe, 2010; Laureate Education Inc., n.d.)
• Building (reproducing) preferred behaviors regardless of environmental factors and/or changes (Laureate Education Inc., n.d.)

Taking these factors into consideration there is a higher probability in increasing retention rates, gaining return on organizational investments, and decreasing costs, in turn creating a more competitive advantage. When all is considered, training appears to be the better option!


References

Bradley, A. (2010). Shifting away from an employer’s market. Training and Development, 64(7), 16–17. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Laureate Education Inc., (Producer). (n.d.). The Truth About Training. Video program retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693735&Survey=1&47=6571740&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee training and development (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

1 comment:

Hollis Easter said...

Hi Renee,

I think your presentation is effective at reminding us that training is often the only alternative to chaotic, uninformed behavior in new hires. If training is expensive, imagine the cost of people working without knowing what they're supposed to be doing. Working at cross purposes is expensive, too!

Hollis