The Training Design Manual

The Complete Practical Guide to Creating Effective and Successful Training Programmes

Tony Bray

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780749456252
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9780749458249
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

This workbook and the accompanying online resources provide a one-stop reference manual to designing and delivering a successful training course.

Written in a practical and user-friendly style, The Training Design Manual provides both theory and practical exercises; guiding the reader through the total design process from start to finish. Theory and concepts are followed by practical application and a blend of text and graphics appeals to a wide range of learning styles. Accompanying online material includes design templates which the reader can use to record ideas as they progress through the book so that by the end, they will have a complete course design. Online supporting resources include dozens of activities, examples and templates.

	1

Introduction

1. Welcome

2. The benefits of good design

3. Structure of the book

4. List of tasks

5. Using the templates

6. Topic selection

1. Welcome

Welcome to the second edition of The Training Design Manual: The complete practical guide to creating and delivering effective and successful training programmes.

You may be wondering if you should add this manual to your already extensive library of learning resources. If you can answer ‘Yes’ to any of these questions then you should be taking this book away with you:

• I have been delivering training courses which other people have designed, and I’d like to be able to do it myself. Yes/No.
• I have been told that I’ll soon be asked to design a course and I haven’t a clue where to start. Yes/No.
• I am an experienced training course designer and perhaps feel the need to refresh my existing skills. Yes/No.
• I’ve designed many courses but, if I’m honest, several are a bit ‘jaded’ or need re-energizing.
• I am taking on a new role as a training ‘consultant’ and want to be able to project a more professional image with my client departments. Yes/No.

Helping people to acquire new knowledge, skills or behaviours, or to build their confidence and tackle previously daunting tasks, is a real privilege which everyone in the training profession shares. No matter how the training is delivered, at some stage someone will have had to sit down and plan what content or course materialwill be covered, the orderin which it’s to be done and exactly howit’s to be delivered. All the basics of good training design. That’s what this book will give you. It will take you through a step-by-step design process, presented in a user-friendly and practical way.

2. The benefits of good design

Please take a few minutes to think back on the training courses you’ve attended… then think of the best one. Please write down five things that made it so special. At least one of the items you’ve written will describe the trainer. You may have used words like:

• knowledgeable;
• organized;
• inspirational;
• inclusive;
• focused;
• approachable.

The list could go on and on. We all recognize the importance of a good trainer or teacher to make any subject come alive. But the focus of this book is not on the trainer but on the designof the training, so let’s look at some of the other items you’ve written.

Your list may include:

• well structured;
• varied training methods;
• logical flow;
• used appropriate models or concepts;
• ideas I can take back and use straight away;
• appropriate balance of theory and practice;
• good handouts, visual aids or workbooks.

This list, which could also go on and on, clearly shows the benefits of good design. It’s rather like the old saying: you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Given a well-designed course, even an average trainer can deliver an acceptable learning experience. But if you start with a poorly designed course, you need an exceptional trainer to turn it into anything worthwhile.

3. Structure of the book

The book takes you through the complete journey, starting with defining the learning needs, and ending with the existing programme being reviewed some time after its launch. Like every good training course, each chapter contains elements of theory interleaved with practical exercises, where you get the opportunity to try it out on your own course design project.

To make the process even more effective we have provided six online design tem...

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Designing top-down and bottom-up
• 3. The training design project
• 4. Formal learning needs analysis
• 5. Team-based needs analysis
• 6. Explore the learning options
• 7. How people learn
• 8. Develop your proposal
• 9. Be a STAR designer
• 10. Designing more complex activities
• 11. Design each session in detail
• 12. Blended learning
• 13. Sights and sounds
• 14. Design course materials
• 15. Select and manage the venue
• 16. Train the trainers
• 17. Pilot the course
• 18. Go live
• 19. Review and re-launch
• 20. The power of one per cent
• Index