Making the Case for Employee Development & My Personal Development Plan

Please follow the link to view the presentation on making the case for employee develpment:-

 

 Self Development Plan

Professional Goal & Motivation
Long Term Goal –  To work with organizations to identify gaps and work together to improve performance and outcomes either through training and development or otherwise.Short Term Goal –  To continue to practice my learning in my current role and to take any opportunity that will take me toward using the skills I have and learning from those experiences to improve.
Talents and Strengths

  • Works well with people and love to collaborate
  • Results oriented
  • Quick Learner
  • Write well
  • Versatile
  • Good Listener
Development Opportunities

  • Prompt Follow-through
  • Sharing responsibility and being sensitive to slow team members
  • Perfectionist
Development Objectives and Action Steps

  • Mentorship – I intend to identify possible mentors who have the same interests as I have with regards to my goals and are experienced and productive in the field  of Training and Development(Noe, p. 394, 2013). I already have found one such mentor where the relationship developed informally although the nature of the relationship is not consistent, I have already seen some benefits such as exposure to some projects and even having the opportunities to assist or simply observe.

My plan is to formalize the relationship to establish the “mechanics of the relationship” including when and how often we will meet including communication lines to ensure it is mutually beneficial (Noe, p. 396)

  • Volunteering & Projects – I intend to look for and take opportunities whether paid or unpaid which will help me hone my skills and at the same time contribute meaningfully to institutions big or small. I have already signed-up for regular training opportunities where I train for free but it is more of learning and improvement for me.

I intend to look out for areas and organisations where I can offer my services during vacations so that I can be exposed  to the job demands while having a “high level of responsibility” (Noe, p. 393)

  • Membership in Professional Associations – In my opinion, this will play a major role in ensuring that I am abreast with industry standards and I am also fully aware of any learning opportunities available.  Being a member of professional communities such as ASTD and ISPI also gives me the opportunity to certify as well.
  • Formal Education – In spite of having an MS in IDT, it is only the beginning of my learning and I am certain that formal education will take me from being just another practitioner to becoming a leader in the field.

 

High-Tech Training

technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.parl.ns.ca/services/technology.php

 

The ubiquitous nature of computing and technology has brought the world to a point where technology is  “must have and must use” even if there is no direct correlation to learning. However, according to Kumpikaitė and  Čiarnienė “there is emerging evidence that new technologies are related to improvements in productivity” however they go on to acknowledge that such productivity cannot be solely attributed to the use of technology since it is  important “to consider human resource management and development issues due to their mediating effects on the relationship between new technology and productivity” (p. 155, 2008).

In exploring training technologies, I will be looking at:-

  • Virtual Reality
  • Mobile learning
  • Blended Learning
  • Social Media

Herremans in a submission on New Training Technologies (NTTs) indicated that “the decision to use one or more NTTs, and which ones, is essential because once the decision has been taken it will have an impact on the teaching/learning process for many years” (p. 27, 1995). While this submission is over two decades old I find it still relevant especially within the context of my submission with regards to how the technologies impact how people learn and interact, and the implications of this for training.

The use of Virtual reality (VR) to simulate a work environment and allow the trainee to “modify the environment” at little to no risk to life and property is quite appealing and is being used extensively in the field of medicine and in training astronauts for example. With the developments in devices for VR, there are many possibilities, however, the cost of these devices also means that a number of areas where it may be useful for instance cannot afford to implement VR just yet as a mode of training. If the hurdle of cost and also issues with disoriented trainees can be managed, then VR will make a huge impact.

 

Mobile Learning – According to a Pew Internet Research, for mobile device users in America, “a substantial majority of smartphone owners feel that these devices are helpful rather than annoying, connecting rather than distracting and that they represent freedom rather than a leash” (Smith, 2015). Meanwhile, according to Ericsson “By 2020 80 percent of all mobile data traffic will come from smartphones” with “70 percent of the world’s population using smartphones” (2015). This just means that the underlying infrastructure already exists for mobile learning and trainers can take advantage of this by providing some relevant amount of the training through mobile devices. As indicated by Noe, “for mobile learning to be effective, it needs to be short, easy to use, and meaningful” (p. 346, 2013). Mobile learning can be used to deliver, podcast, videos and other relevant learning materials which can be appropriately accessed and supported on the mobile devices. In the absence of these considerations, mobile learning can be stressful. I have not enjoyed using the Blackboard mobile app simply because each time I have to log on as opposed to other platforms which will store my password with a one-time login. In that effect, it is more convenient to access learning resources via the web interface.

Blended Learning is one approach I use quite well as a teacher. I have regular classroom instruction but I extend the learning space to the online environment and in the use of simulations. In particular, due to limited contact time, I extend a lot of the discussions online. The response is great and I find that students interact and give constructive feedback thereby taking ownership of their learning. However, if this is not planned deliberately with clear learning outcomes, it can be a burden and the convergence and synthesis will be lost completely. Blended learning can be problematic in this sense because t may lead to little to no support leaving trainees overwhelmed.

Social Media can be leveraged, within blended learning. There are a number of social media platforms such as Edmodo which is like Facebook for education. Another approach is just as I am doing now as in blogging. For younger trainees, this can be advantageous since this is already an environment they thrive well in and are natives of. Social media can be used to provide a lot of informal learning and also share knowledge.

In conclusion, technology if used purposefully can lead have a meaningful impact on learning transfer in training.

Sources

Ericsson. (2015). Ericsson Mobility Report: 70 percent of world’s population using smartphones by 2020. In Ericsson. Retrieved from https://www.ericsson.com/news/1925907

Herremans, A. (1995). New Training Technologies. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/23_90.pdf#page=29

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill

Smith, A. (2015, April ). U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015. In Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/

Vilmante Kumpikaite & Ramune Čiarniene. (2008). New training technologies and their use in training and development activities: Survey evidence from Lithuania. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 9:2, 155-159

 

Planning for a Needs Assessment

puzzleSource: http://rae-llc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/puzzle.jpg

The organization I will be examining is a school which has been in existence for the past 10 years and is struggling sustain itself. The school runs from Kindergaten and runs through to Junior High. The organization, True Love School, seeks to provide quality education which equips its students with critical thinking and problem-solving skills to impact their local communities and larger society.

To be able to conduct a useful and meaningful assessment I will follow the Needs Assessment process

slide_10Source: http://images.slideplayer.com/20/6006593/slides/slide_10.jpg

I will need to seek buy-in from Upper level managers who are positioned to understand how training will support their business strategy. The owners of the school as well as middle level managers will need to support this drive and once this is achieved the employees of the company will also be roped in as they will also provide useful insight into developing an effective training program. In most organizations the employees to be trained are simply told to attend training however, it is becoming much clearer that “peer and manger support for training is critical, along with employee enthusiasm and motivation to attend training” (Noe, p. 122, 2013).

It will be useful to have specific insight from the following categories of stakeholders as follows:-

  1. Upper Level Management
  • What is the business strategy?
  • What is the perceived gap and what are possible causes?
  • How employees are supported to complete their jobs.
  • Which tools and resources are available at various levels of running the school?

       2. Department Heads and Coordinators

  • Which tools and resources are available at various levels of running the school?
  • What is the perceived gap and what are possible causes?
  • Are the tools and resources meeting their intended purpose or not.
  • What is the perceived level of performance of employees.
  • What learning opportunities available?

      3. Teachers and Support Staff

  • What is the perceived gap and what are possible causes?
  • Are the tools and resources meeting their intended purpose or not.
  • What is the perceived level of performance of employees.
  • What learning opportunities available?

It will also be useful to see whatever policy documents are in place as well as past reports and implementation plans. Specifically, in the teaching area, it will be worth reviewing school standards against national standards.  I would also use a mix of techniques but I will mostly interview groups of people and and take advantage of focus group approaches to allow me further explore responses obtained from the selective interviews.

This plan should provide adequate qualitative data to determine what the needs are and what training can solve.

Reference:

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill