Making Training Transformational

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

Guest blogger: Kimberly Smith

I recently left my corporate T & D job and started over in a new career. Once I had made
careerup my mind to put my happiness first, I sought out job opportunities that were more aligned with my hobbies and lifestyle and looked for ways that I could bring my T & D experience in to those types of roles. I am six months in to this terrifying but thrilling journey, and I am here to tell you that it’s possible! Being brave enough to take the leap is the hardest part. Finding opportunities to incorporate your training experience will present themselves in new and exciting ways you never imagined before!

For example, I now work for a company that encourages in the moment feedback (both positive and constructive) and I was recently given feedback that my methods of teaching other team members needed to be less “transactional” and more “transformational”. This really got me thinking critically about all the opportunities we have to teach others in our careers and in our personal lives. Not only to educate, but also to elevate. Explaining the basics of the situation is always helpful, but taking the conversation one step further will be even more memorable and far more significant of a learning experience for all parties involved.
office workers-2Next time you find yourself in a teachable moment, consider this approach. How can you educate AND elevate the person you are coaching? What do they have to teach you in return?

For further learning, check out this article from Executive Travel Magazine on how feedback contributes to successful company cultures overall.

 

Sloane, Jackie. “Creating Successful Company Cultures.” Executive Travel Magazine. N.p., Dec. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. <http://www.executivetravelmagazine.com/articles/creating-successful-company-cultures&gt;.

Posted in Guest Student Post, Human Performance Improvement, Instructional Design, Learning Theory, Training | 3 Comments

Careers in Human Performance

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

By:  Kathleen Iverson, Ph.D.

Human Performance Technology (a.k.a. Human Performance Improvement) is a field of study and practice that utilizes a systematic process to analyze performance problems and identify and implement solutions.  The name incorporates:

working together 3

Human: the individuals and groups that make up our organizations
Performance: activities and measurable outcomes
Technology: a systematic and systemic approach to solve practical problems

Judith Hale from Chicago is the current President of ISPI (International Society for Performance Improvement).  Watch her video to learn about HPI and its applications.  If you are viewing this blog via Blackboard, you’ll need to right click the link above and select “open link in new tab” so that the video will work.

When considering careers in HPI/HPT keep in mind that the field is relatively new and although performance improvement may be a required or preferred skill set of many positions in training, organization development, and human resource management, it may not be immediately visible in the job title.  In a recent search of job openings in workplace learning, we found many instances of HPI in the job requirements.  Below are three recent job openings where performance is emphasized in training, OD, and performance consulting.

Training Specialist:  Develop and deliver job-related performance-based training to a geographically dispersed audience of 2,500 adult learners.career

Organization Performance Consultant: Manages the performance consulting and performance based training analysis activities for all DTE Energy organizations. Leads efforts to ensure all technical training programs meet performance based industry standards. Mentors senior management in implementing performance based training. Partners with senior management to set organizational training goals and ensures training is used strategically to optimize organizational performance. Directs activities to ensure training programs are implemented in compliance with regulatory and industry standards. Serves as the DTE Energy conscience for utilizing the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) process. Mentors management on human performance initiatives, continuous improvement projects and activities related to training.

Organization Development Manager: Knowledgeable about organizational development and training practices, including needs assessment, instructional design, 360 Feedback, employee engagement, leadership training, performance management, and change management. Skill in the design and application of performance metrics development measurement and evaluation tools.

talk 4

Please join the discussion and let us know how you might use HPI in your career and also post a link to a recent position that requests expertise in performance management.

Posted in Careers, Human Performance Improvement, Learning at Roosevelt | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Spring Break

Posted on March 18, 2013 by

We’re on Spring Break this week so relax and enjoy.

Whether your planning on sitting in the sun somewhere with palm trees, flying a kite, catching up on your school or just getting more sleep, there are no classes this week and no work to submit, so have a blast, recharge your batteries, and we’ll see you next week.

beach

 

Posted in Learning at Roosevelt | 1 Comment

Getting Your Foot in The Door

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

by Meade Peers McCoy

Why are you here?

We are all here for different reasons, with different goals. Some of us are here to acquire the new skills necessary for a career change or promotion. Some of us are here to learn the vernacular or vocabulary of an industry we are already working in. Some of us are office workershere as a step on a pathway to further education. Some of us are here to improve our credentials and add letters to the end of our names. What we have in common is that we are all here to learn.

Something else a lot of us have in common is the desire to break into a new industry, or improve our resumes for promotion. This can prove easier said than done; career changer and people coming back to the workplace after a prolonged absence often have a hard time braking into the training and development field. Gaining experience, and adding to your resume, can help open these doors.

To gain experience or add to our resumes we need more than just academic experience and credentials-we need real world experience. Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”. To excel in our new careers, we need to get our hands dirty so to speak; and real-world experience can be invaluable, both in getting in the door and later as we put what we learned in school to work on the job. Giving us the opportunity to try out things we know in theory, and practice the skills we have learned in the classroom. Giving us confidence in our skills and something tangible to add to our resumes.

working togetherOne of the ways of gaining real-world experience, getting our hands dirty, is to volunteer our skills. There are numerous volunteer opportunities in different areas of our industry. Volunteering can be a great learning experience and a resume builder; it can also be a fantastic way to make local contacts (remember every encounter is a potential networking moment). Volunteer opportunities come in many shapes and sizes; local professional organizations often provide T&D and HPI services to nonprofit organizations. In Chicagoland CCASTD works on projects both small and large, providing change management, organizational development, instructional design, and training support. Volunteers of all experience levels work on these projects, and students are encouraged to come and try out their new knowledge and skills. Volunteering can also be helpful to people already in the industry, providing you a space to practice and improve your skills in a safe environment. Volunteering can also be a wonderful networking opportunity, working with other people in T&D and local business leaders. Additionally many volunteer opportunities require limited time investment on a week-to-week bases, so even if you have a full time job you can still help out and gain some valuable experience.working together 2

If there are no professional organizations in your immediate area then you can look for volunteer opportunities in other places. Small nonprofits, churches, and community centers are all good places to start.

Here are a few websites to check for volunteer opportunities: ISPI, idealist , Volunteermatch,

Posted in Careers | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Now Available – Fall 2013 Schedule

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

registration

The fall 2013 schedule is now available http://www.roosevelt.edu/Registrar/Schedule.aspx

All current students will receive their fall registration codes this week through RU mail. New students please contact Tara Hawkins (thawkins@roosevelt.edu) for a registration code.

We are happy to introduce 7-week online classes. You can finish two electives within the 14-week semester. Classes being offered in this format include:

TRDV 439 E-Learning Course Design 08/23 to 10/17

TRDV 453 E-Learning Course Offerings 10/18 to 12/13

AND

TRDV 501 Online Teaching Theory and Application

TRDV 502 Technologies for Online Teaching

These pairings were selected because the first 7-week course “feeds” nicely in to the second seven weeks allowing you to get a solid foundation in e-learning and online teaching.

Along with these classes we are also offering plenty of other electives and core courses both online and on campus.

Please contact Tara Hawkins, Program Coordinator, with any further question. E-mail: thawkins@roosevelt.edu.

Posted in Learning at Roosevelt | 9 Comments

Be a Graduate Assistant

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

MC900384096The Training and Development Department is looking for a new graduate assistant to start Fall 2013 – Graduate Assistantships provide a cash stipend and up to 18 semester hours of tuition annually.

We are looking for someone who:

  • Can work on campus 17 hours a week during the semester
  • Proficient with Microsoft Office products
  • Good organizational skills
  • Ability to work independently
  • Understanding of social networking and media is a plus
  • And last but not least has excellent writing skills

The duties of a graduate assistant may include research, blog writing, social media management, as well as special projects.

A graduate assistantship is a great way to help pay for your education while adding relevant and highly valuable experience to your resume.

Application deadline is March 1

For an application please contact Tara at thawkins@roosevelt.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My experience as a graduate assistant in the Training and Development Department

By Meade McCoy

MC900088568Working as a graduate assistant has provided me with numerous opportunities to learn above and beyond the normal course of grad school. I’ve worked on everything from event planning, blog writing, and blackboard course maintenance to strategic planning and social media management. Working on such a wide verity of projects might have required some quick thinking and good time management but the diversity of work has given me a wonderful new set of skills and experiences to add to my resume (as well as better time management techniques). Through working university events I’ve had the opportunity to network with GA’s from other departments, getting to know graduate students in a diverse range of departments from Math to Sociology, wonderful connections I will call on years to come. Learning the behind the scenes workings of an academic department has been both fascinating and fun, as my current goal is to get my Phd and teach at the college level it has also been highly applicable. Applying for an assistanceship has proven to be one for the best decisions I’ve made in my academic career, working as a GA has given me more opportunities to learn, it has reduced the financial burden of going to graduate school, and it has helped to flash out my resume.

Posted in Careers, Learning at Roosevelt | 1 Comment

Inspiration, brainstorm, revelation, eureka, light bulb moment…

Posted on February 11, 2013 by

by Meade Peers McCoy

I am fascinated by the different ways and places that people find inspiration: inspiration to solve problems, create something new, or to just get through that paper for class. One of the reasons I am so enthralled with the idea of where ideas come from is that I am continuously trying to find new ways to create those eureka moments.

insperation-6

One of my favorite places to find inspiration is TED videos. Seeing other people talk about their ideas with passion and conviction helps me form my own new ideas. Author Steven Johnson (whose TED talk is one of my favorites) says that good ideas are not born in a vacuum that they are fed by other people’s ideas; little pieces of information that we learn in passing, stick around in our subconscious until they can be part of a bigger idea, until they help create a light bulb moment. For me, watching TED videos, reading newspapers (I’m a news addict), talking to people who don’t work in Training and Development, helps to provide me with little bits and pieces that eventually come together to help me solve problems I’m encountering at work, or come up with a new and interesting way of delivering an idea (instructional design).

Being able to identify where you find inspiration gives you the key to finding your own eureka moment. If you know that walking through an art museum, listening to music, or people watching on the street helps you to come up with ideas, solve problems, or see something in a totally new way, then next time you’re stuck you can do what helps you make that connection.

trainer-1

There is power in being able to create your own light bulb moment; it will help you to be a problem solver and an innovator. Finding your inspiration is an intoxicating feeling; you feel engaged in the moment and possibilities seem endless. Being truly inspired helps you to connect with your work on a whole different level; it can create a sense of flow. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of Flow as described by Daniel Pink in his book Drive “Flow describes those exhilarating moments when we feel in control, full of purpose, and in the zone.” (Pink, Kindle Locations 2411-2412). This is what it can feel like when you are working on something and inspiration hits.

We talk a lot about actors and artists looking for inspiration, but how often do we talk about trainers, managers, and employees in cubicles needing to find inspiration? I took TRDV 437 Creativity in the Workplace this year and it brought the need to see all jobs as creative jobs starkly to light. For most anyone to excel in their career they will need to apply creative thinking on the job, the need for creativity is in everything; how does a nurse deal with a difficult patient, how does an office manager resolve a scheduling conflict, and how does a trainer explain a concept that is confusing participants, without creative thinking?

insperation-4

Take some time to try and identify where you find inspiration; can you recreate those situations in the future? Is there a way to condense the experience to make it less time consuming? Or portable? Find a way to duplicate an experience that has inspired you in the past.

References

Johnson, Steven. “Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from | Video on TED.com.” TED: Ideas worth spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html&gt;.

Pink, Daniel H. (2009-12-24). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Kindle Locations 2411-2412). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Posted in Instructional Design, Learning at Roosevelt, Training, Uncategorized | 1 Comment