2006 - April
Yours In Training
 |
April 2006 |
Freecall 1800 2 TRAIN (1800 2 87246) www.mrwed.com.au |
In This Issue
Training News: COAG Decision on Skills Training
MRWED News: Cyclone Larry Appeal
Training Tip: Dealing with Difficult Students
Website of the Month:www.thiagi.com.au
Training Game: Review Roulette
Training Case Study: Starbucks Treats Employees to a Tasting for Training
Also...
Training News: COAG Decision on Skills Training
At the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in February 2006, the Commonwealth, states and territories agreed to work together to achieve a more national, flexible and responsive training system, and specifically:
- a national approach to apprenticeships and training;
- better quality, recognition and mobility of skills outcomes;
- better understanding of skills shortages.
A key undertaking is to create full mutual recognition of occupational licensing across Australia. This will require the concerted action and strong support of all governments, and the cooperation of a range of industry stakeholders in each jurisdiction. As part of this work, licence classifications will be rationalised and harmonised across all states and territories, making it easier for licensed tradespeople to move between states without having to meet additional regulatory requirements.
Occupational action groups will be established to consult widely with relevant stakeholders in the following six priority areas:
- general electricians;
- general plumbers;
- motor mechanics;
- refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics;
- carpenters and joiners;
- bricklayers.
It is expected that similar work will be completed for all licensed trades by 31 December 2008.
MRWED News: Cyclone Larry Appeal
MRWED will be supporting the residents of North Queensland, who were affected by Cyclone Larry through donating 50% of course fees from our next Townville course in the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
North Queensland residents have supported our business since 2001 and now we have an opportunity to show that support back. Therefore, $750 from every full-course enrolment for our upcoming course starting in May, will be donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal Fund.
Training Tip: Dealing with Difficult Students
Even experienced trainers with the latest resources and most interesting training material can be thrown off course by the behaviours of difficult participants. Therefore, it is important to load the kit bag with a variety of tools and techniques to overcome the dilemmas presented by some students.
One of the simple things that can be done is to change the structure of the training to reduce the affect of some students whilst drawing out the voices of others. Below are some quick things that can be done on the run to help your classes move more smoothly:
Shy Students could be brought out using quizzes where every student is involved in the game. Alternatively, they may find their voice in a small group discussion and the trainer can provide strong positive reinforcement for their contributions as the move around the groups.
Discussion Dominators can be used as observers or scribes, therefore changing their discussion behaviours from active to passive roles. Alternatively, the group could be broken up into a more manageable size and contributions asked for on posters and explained by all members of the team.
Hecklers/Arguers can be deflected by taking the argument to the group – e.g. “so what does the group think…” or you can build on or around what has been said, focusing on the positive. For example, “interesting point, but where do we go from here…”
And finally, the Side-conversations during training can be combated by using the following tactics:
- Ask their opinion on topic being discussed.
- Ask talkers if they would like to share their ideas.
- Casually move toward those talking.
- Standing near the talkers, asking a near-by participant a question so that the new discussion is near the talkers.
Good luck back in the classroom!
Website of the Month: thiagi.com.au
This is a great site! It has 1000s of pages of free, ready to use games, practical tips and web shells for e-learning. Sivasailam Thiagarajan, known as “Thiagi”, describes himself as the resident mad scientist of the Thiagi Group and he is committed to creating games and activities that engage participants, and keep them interacting with each other and with the content. You can benefit from his experience and advice by checking out the free resources at: www.thiagi.com/freebies-and-goodies.html
Training Game: Review Roulette
Here is a game we have started to play in our TAA courses which has been working really well!
Games of pure chance discourage smarter players from mastering new skills and knowledge. Games of pure skill discourage weaker players from trying hard once they fall behind. An effective training game strikes a balance between chance and skill. That's exactly what Review Roulette does.
Purpose
To review training content from the day.
Participants
Any number. Best game is for 12-24.
Time
20 - 45 minutes
Supplies
- Handout with the training content
- Index cards
- Large envelopes
- Timer
Briefing
Distribute the handouts or allocate selected sections from course resources. Ask participants to study this handout independently, underlining key ideas and taking notes. Warn them that there will be quiz game based on the contents of the handout. Announce a suitable time limit.
Generating Questions
Organise participants into teams. (with 3-5 members per team)
Ask teams to generate question cards. Distribute blank index cards to each team and ask participants to write between 5 and 10 review questions, with one question on each card.
Give specifications for the question cards. Explain that the questions should be written on one side of the card and the correct answer on the other side. Offer these guidelines:
- Focus the questions on important learning points.
- Avoid trick questions, humorous questions, and trivial questions.
- Go beyond mere recall of facts.
- Use a combination of short-answer questions, true-false and multiple-choice formats.
- Write the correct answer on the other side of the card. If a question has more than one correct answer, list all acceptable answers.
Time the activity. Announce a 10-15 minute time limit for writing questions.
Distribution Of Question Cards
Add bonus instructions. Ask each team to select any six question cards and write “Take an extra turn!” on the answer side of the card, below the answer.
Add bad-luck cards. Ask the teams to write, “Lose your turn!” on both sides of six blank cards and add them to the set of question cards.
Prepare question-card sets. Ask each team to hand in the cards, shuffle the cards and arrange them into even numbered stacks. Ensure that all the cards are arranged with the question side up (except for the bad-luck cards). Put each set of cards into envelopes.
Distribute the question-card sets. Give each group a set of game cards.
Playing The Game
Get the game started. Announce that the game will last for 10 minutes. At the end of the time, the team with the most question cards won (by giving the correct answers) wins the game.
Answer the question. Select one player from each team to be the first player. Ask this player to take the top card from inside the envelope, without exposing any other card. This person places the card on the table (hiding the answer), reads the question, and immediately gives an answer.
Win the card. Players now turn the card over and check the “official” answer on the other side. If correct, the team wins the card and adds it to their collection. (If the player's answer is incorrect, the question card is placed on a discard pile.)
Continue the game. If the answer side of the card contains the instruction, “Take an extra turn!” the same player picks another question card. Otherwise, it is the next team’s turn. The game proceeds as before.
Lose a turn. Whenever a player picks a card with the instruction, “Lose your turn!”, the turn passes to the next team.
Conclude the game. The game ends when all the question cards have been picked up or when the allotted time of 10 minutes is used up. At this time, the team with the most cards wins the game.
Training Case Study: Starbucks Treats Employees to a Tasting for Training
To ensure that employees know from whence they speak, US coffee retailer Starbucks gives new employees the opportunity to complete its Coffee Master program in which the fundamental steps of coffee tasting and the basic terms associated with it are reviewed. Participants are each given a Coffee Passport, a small book to document their growing coffee expertise. To complete the Coffee Passport, participants must taste the company’s entire core coffee offerings as well as any seasonal coffees available. I wonder if they ever sleep!
This approach could be used in any training environment in the form of a logbook which tracks the candidates’ professional development and could be a useful means of meeting AQTF human resource requirements by evidencing their on-going learning and development on the job.
Starbucks ranked #93 in Training Magazine’s Training Top 100 of 2005 (Training magazine's annual ranking of organisations that excel at training and development.) The Training Top 100 is determined by assessing a range of qualitative and quantitative data, including financial investment in employee development and how closely training efforts are linked to business goals. More information on the Top 100 is available at www.trainingmag.com/training/reports_analysis/top100/index.jsp
Next Issue
In the next issue of Yours in Training! we will look at e-learning options and review a website which provides free training templates for PowerPoint presentations. Until then - Happy Training!
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Happy training!
Marc Ratcliffe
Principal – MRWED
