An Introduction to Some “Familiar Terms”

Chapter highlights:

Vocabulary lesson on “familiar terms” Underlying philosophy of the book Application to various media Overview of the book’s contents.

Basic Vocabulary—The Terms of the Trade

Training … instruction … education … learning. These are words we often use interchangeably. When we analyze the words, however, we discover that each conveys a unique meaning. Individually and combined, these four activities give us power to build different types of skills and knowledge. Let’s examine each of these words and begin to build a valuable vocabulary.

Training

You are trying to get your dog to sit at your command. Check off the expression below that best describes what you are doing:

• training your dog
• instructing your dog
• educating your dog.

You probably chose “training your dog” because it seems to fit best. The other two sound somewhat strange when applied to animals. If we dig deeper, we realize that when training a dog what we want is for it to perform something specific and precise.

We also want the dog to do it on command and without variation. You say, “sit,” and the dog sits. The more effective the training, the more accurately and rapidly the dog responds. In “training,” our purpose is to create a change in learners (including dogs) that they consistently reproduce without variation. Through intense training, the learner becomes increasingly able to reproduce the learned behavior with fewer errors, greater speed, and under more demanding conditions. Examine the list below and check all the items for which you believe training is appropriate:

• typing
• assembling a rifle
• stating a rule
• executing a complex skating maneuver
• reciting multiplication tables
• selecting the right icon on a screen
• applying all the steps of the emergency shutdown procedure.

If you checked all the items, you were right. Sounds mechanical? That’s all right. Learning things that you apply automatically and invariably is often a necessary part of learning. How much variation do you want in naming objects, slicing a tomato, or logging on to a computer? Being able to execute mental or physical procedures without thinking is important in our lives (for example, shifting gears in a car, brushing our teeth, and recognizing letters and words). It cuts down on our cognitive (thinking) load. Training helps make our lives easier.

Instruction

“Instruction” helps learners generalize beyond the specifics of what is taught. The ability to reproduce unconsciously what we have learned is absolutely insufficient to make us complete as human beings. Therefore, we add instruction.

Here’s an example: In French, the infinitive forms of regular verbs always end in “er.” For instance, the verb donner (to give) is a regular verb. So is demander (to ask). Which of these verbs are French regular verbs?

choisir (to choose)	chanter (to sing)	nommer (to name)
vendre (to sell)	apporter (to bring)	vouloir (to want)

 

Even though you may not know much about French, you probably were able to take the rule and the two examples above and generalize to new instances. If you checked chanter, apporter, and nommer, félicitations (congratulations)!

In work settings, we require a lot of instruction. Let’s take, for example, safety issues. We provide examples of workplace hazards and means for dealing with different types of dangerous situations. But no matter how many examples and rules we provide, we all know that we may run into many novel instances not covered during instruction. The expectation is that learners will be able to generalize beyond what was taught.

Just as for training, the purpose of instruction is to build new skills and knowledge. The key differences are presented in table 2-1.

Table 2-1. Differences Between Training and Instruction

 

Training allows you to	Instruction allows you to
• reproduce exactly what has been taught • act automatically • apply learning without variation, regard less of conditions.	• generalize beyond what has been taught • act thoughtfully • adapt learning to each new set of conditions.

 

Just to be sure you’ve got it, place a “T” beside each action below that you believe to require training and an “I” beside those that seem to fit with instruction.

 

1. _____ Light a lighter.
2. _____ Pronounce the French word manger.
3. _____ Select an appropriate product for a customer.
4. _____ Respond to a complaint.
5. _____ Place a specific component in the motherboard.
6. _____ Tie a reef knot.

Items 1, 2, 5, and 6 are all tasks for training (reproduce without variation). Items 3 and 4 require instruction because each new customer will be different, as will each complaint. Those actions demand generalization of learning and adaptation of behaviors.

Education

The third key vocabulary term is “education.” As you probably already sense, education conveys a more long-term and broader connotation than do training and instruction, which are generally short-term and narrowly focused. Education is the result of a variety of life experiences and highly generalized learning principles and events. Much education derives from implicit messages transmitted through the behaviors of role models rather than from explicitly stated ones. The purpose of education is to build general mental models and value systems.

Let’s place this in a work context and continue with the safety example: Training enables us to build specific safety behaviors, such as set off an alarm, activate a fire extinguisher, or select the right number to call. Instruction allows us to acquire the skills to identify new safety hazards or to act when an emergency occurs that we have not encountered before. Finally, education enables us to adopt a safety outlook on life. We automatically take precautions and proactively apply measures to avoid accidents. We foresee possible dangers, and we advocate safe working conditions and behaviors.

In our work as parents, teachers, and workplace training professionals, we do all three: train, instruct, and educate. All three activities have their place. One is not more important than another. All three work together. Imagine, for example, that you are responsible for building skills and knowledge in a technical service center where customer support specialists help callers solve technical problems. Consider the list of relevant tasks presented below and place a “T” beside each item requiring training, an “I” beside the instruction items, and an “E” beside those appropriate for education.

1. _____ Log a call.
2. _____ Probe to clarify the problem.
3. _____ Fill in fields in a customer record.
4. _____ Display empathy for customers’ frustrations.
5. _____ State steps for a specific troubleshooting procedure.
6. _____ Draw out from the customer what she or he already has done in attempting to correct the problem.
7. _____ Select type of call code before filing the report.

Items 1, 3, 5, and 7 are most likely tasks to be trained. Item 2 probably is one best handled through instruction. Item 6 is largely instruction but has some aspects of education in it. You have to learn how to go about drawing information from a customer and applying listening skills. The rapport you create can make all the difference in the quality of customer responses you obtain. You can acquire the techniques through instruction, but the nuances of helpfully interacting with the customer draw from the education of the customer support specialist. Finally, item 4, displaying empathy, is a subtle skill not inherent in everyone. Empathy derives from the support specialist’s own life experiences plus the models and implicit messages he or she communicates through actions. A person requires education to become empathic with customers.

To conclude our vocabulary drill, training, instruction, and education all aim to build knowledge and skills in learners. Each offers a unique and distinct approach, and all are necessary to help people learn. They seldom remain “pure.” They can be mixed so that even while training for a specific behavior, we may be educating by attitude and by the example we create for our learners.

Learning

Learning is change. Don’t forget that the whole reason for training, instruction, and education is to enable people to learn. In chapter 3, we will investigate learning more deeply. Suffice it to say at this point that we are seeking to “transform” our learners. If we train—the general term commonly used in the work setting for all three sets of activities—we do not simply transmit information. We change people. We transform learners in ways that are desirable both for them and for organizations.

Today, most organizations have moved from traditional “training” departments to “learning and development” groups or even “workplace learning and performance” teams. The emphasis on training has given way to a clear focus on learning and its impact on producing better results.¹

Two Key Principles: Your Mantra as a Trainer (Instructor, Educator)

We are seated in a circle on the floor with our legs crossed. Our eyes are closed, and we are relaxed. The light is dim. We repeat over and over again, “learner centered… performance based… learner centered… performance based….” Why this mantra? Because these two terms are the keys to transforming learners. Let’s examine each of the terms individually.

Learner Centered

Imagine you are an accountant and have been asked to conduct a session next week for a group of technical and professional personnel recently promoted to managers. Your mandate is to teach cash flow management to these nonfinancial managers. What will you do to prepare? Be honest and check off which of the following two scenarios more closely describes actions you would take.

• A. Gather materials on cash flow management. Examine documents for key concepts and terms. Create an outline of the content in logical sequence so that you ensure you hit all the fundamentals. Study up and rehearse so that you appear credible and can answer any content questions the learners raise. Put together information and exercises that clarify what cash flow is and how it works. Verify that all of your content is accurate and state of the art.
• B. Gather information on the prospective learners’ jobs with respect to cash flow. Gather information on the learners’ backgrounds and experiences concerning cash flow management. Investigate to identify problems new managers encounter and create with respect to cash flow. Gather a list of organizational expectations of these newly appointed managers concerning cash flow management. Create realistic scenarios and tools to help the learners acquire expected competencies. Create a list of benefits to them and to the organization when they manage cash flow well.

From experience, we have found that the overwhelming majority of people, when placed in this position, opt for A. They go for the content. The more appropriate answer, however, is B. Focus on the learners with their needs, concerns, desires, fears, frustrations, and characteristics. Option A leads to telling and transmission. The emphasis is on the instructor’s ability to present a great deal of information. Option B leads to training and transformation. The focus is on the learner.

Performance Based

If you examine most course notes, either those of the trainer or instructor or of the participants, you likely will find them filled with lots of content. There is an impression that more is better. How often do you hear trainers complain, “I didn’t have enough time to cover the content”?

Here’s a simple choice: You have a group of technicians who have to learn about a totally new approach to diagnosing a problem. Check off your response below. Do you want them to

• know about the new approach?
• do the job correctly?

The obvious choice is “do the job correctly.” You probably wouldn’t mind them “knowing about the approach,” but the priority is clear. We want them to be able to perform, not merely to know and talk about. The first choice leads to a content-based approach. The second is performance based—being able to act and to achieve worthwhile, verifiable results.²

“Learner centered… performance based….” That’s the mantra of this book and the heart of our message. Instructor-centered and content-based efforts lead to telling and transmission. Learner-centered and performance-based efforts result in training and transformation.

Live or Technology Based: It’s All the Same

Perhaps your impression is that everything we have included thus far applies exclusively to live, face-to-face instruction. One area of research on learning has not varied in its findings for more than 50 years—media and instructional delivery options. To summarize hundreds of studies, the effectiveness of messages aimed at learning is not bound up in the delivery vehicle but rather in how the message itself is designed.³ The message developed to transform you will either succeed or fail based on how well we have designed it, not on whether we bring it to you live, through the pages of this book, in a video, or via computer.⁴

The message and principles of Telling Ain’t Training: Updated, Expanded, and Enhanced are equally valid for e-learning, live instruction, or any form of mediated instruction (for example, video based, computer based, or simulation lab). Telling in any form engenders passivity. It is one-way communication. It is content focused. It is transmission. True learner-centered and performance-based training, instruction, or education requires dialogue and experience—engaging conversation ⁵ and meaningful interaction ⁶—to transform. Self-paced print or sophisticated, electronically delivered instruction is only as effective as the instructional design principles that are applied.

Later, in chapters 10 and 11, we will focus specifically on training with technology. We will bring you up to date on the latest trends in technology use for learning and help you wisely select the form of technology that makes sense to use in your setting.

What’s in This Book and Why?

We have given a great deal of thought to the content of this book and to the way we’ve presented it. The following points have been our guiding principles in choosing material to discuss and in selecting the means to portray that material:

• Start with the learner and never lose that focus. We assume that you are interacting with this book because you want to learn something. We’re excited about this. You are the reason for our efforts, and we never forget that. Thanks for continuing the conversation.
• Present principles that apply to all types of learning: mental (cognitive), physical (psychomotor), emotional (affective), and, of course, combinations and mixtures of these. Although the emphasis may vary from chapter to chapter, we recognize that all types of learning are important. You will find numerous examples for each type of learning, alone or in combination.
• Provide a training session structure that you can apply universally and that is based on learning research. As an added bonus, this user-friendly model even lets you retrofit existing training programs and instructional materials. Chapter 6 is devoted to this model and returns to it from time to time.
• Include learning strategies and activities, complete with examples, that you can apply and adapt right away. You will notice that we prefer the simple. If “cheap” can do the job, why complicate things? However, some circumstances require more sophisticated tools and technologies. Complex decision making, handling of delicate or dangerous equipment, or life-or-death procedures are instances that may demand training tools and methods that employ resources far beyond the usual.
• Lay out practical tools for designing your next training session with a high probability of success. Almost all of these are easy to apply or adapt to meet your needs.
• Present helpful ways to evaluate your training effectiveness. There’s a complete chapter (chapter 9) on testing, along with job aids for selecting and creating tests that verify learning.
• Provide access to the world of technology for learning in a manner that is easy to understand and allows for integration of training-learning fundamentals. A complete chapter on this (chapter 11) gets you started on considering technology for your setting.
• Present both myths and science-based findings about training and learning so that you can separate ineffective (and often counterproductive) lore from what research has shown leads to a high probability of learning success. This differentiation of truth and falsehood should help strengthen your own competence and confidence and should provide you with ammunition to combat practices that waste organizational time, energy, and resources.
• Conclude with some practical wisdom and thoughts about applying and maintaining what you gain from this book in your practice—that telling really ain’t training and that your goal is transformation of the learner rather than transmission of the information.

Remember This

 

• Training, instruction, education… use all of these to trigger learning.
• The whole purpose of training, instruction, and education is to enable people to learn. Your mission is not to transmit information but to transform your learners.
• Your mantra as a trainer, instructor, or educator is “learner centered… performance-based.” Any approach short of this leads to one-way transmission and uncertain results.
• Live or technology based, it’s all the same. The medium is not the message. The principles in this book are valid regardless of the delivery vehicle you select. Focus on meaningful interaction to transform your learners.