Training Tips For Effective Learning
Training sessions can only be as effective as the trainer. If the trainer just delivers the content without sufficient interaction with those who are attending the training, then it will not be as effective. Here are a few training tips that will help make you an excellent trainer.
1. Build Rapport
Make good use of the time before the training starts to mingle around with the participants.
Meet them and have a quick chat with as many people as possible. You will then be familiar with them even before the session starts. This will make it more conducive as you already know some of them.
Stay with some neutral topics like the traffic as they traveled to the training location or food. Keep clear of sensitive topics as you do not want to get into a argumentative situation before the training starts. The whole idea is to build rapport.
2. Go That Extra Mile
There is little value in delivering just what the training content dictates.
To make the training effective, do additional research and enhance the training so that the participants will get more out of the training.
Share your own experiences or those of others. You can do better than this if you can encourage the participants to share their experiences. You will be surprised at how much you also can learn from this.
Involve the participants as much as you can in interactive learning. Make learning fun! Provide an environment where they are willing to interact even if they are afraid of making mistakes.
You can pick up more training tips by attending training for trainers.
3. Use Different Training Techniques
You probably have experienced as a training participant, that lectures are the most boring of teaching methods.
Employ a number of interactive and accelerated training techniques.This enables a higher retention rate. Basically, remember that the training should be practical and the learning should be active.
Some of the techniques that you can use are:
- group discussions
- presentations by the participants
- story telling
- case studies
- role play
- games
- quizzes
You should also use a variety of audio-visual aids like video, audio, flip charts, training props and posters.
Vary the activities according to the time of day. In the afternoon, when participants may feel drowsy, use active exercises to keep them alert.
4. Employ The Right Learning Ratio
For each topic that you want to reinforce, it is best to have a three-to-one learning ratio. For every learning topic, provide three different activities that will help the participant to get a good grip of that topic.
For example, you could use a video clip to introduce a story. Follow this up with a discussion in teams and then to present it to the other participants.
By adding multi-sensory and group activities, the learning retention is much better than if you just presented Powerpoint slides and threw in a quiz at the end.
5. Surprise Them
The whole training course should have been thoroughly planned and there should be no surprises to the trainer.
Not so with the participants. The point is that the trainer has planned to surprise the participants.
Surprise them with the different techniques that you apply. They may be aware of the content that you are teaching but not the techniques.
You may also want to motivate them with little rewards like chocolate bars or even some stationery. Awarding points to teams during the training program gets the participants excited and is as much a technique for adults as it is for kids.
6. Stick To The Course Objectives
It is, of course, crucial that the course is well mapped out. What are the main learning points from the training? What are the topics to be covered each day?
These have to be clearly stated to the participants, before the course and repeated each day, so that the training stays on course.
The last thing you want is to get carried away with some pet topic, and then to find that other topics do not get sufficient time.
Apply these training tips to achieve more effective learning the next time you need to do training. Remember this rule of three as you prepare and execute the training: repetition, recall, retention.