Preface
When industrial accidents occur as a result of human error, it is only a matter of time before the inevitable question is asked: Where was the training?
In a world where things like safety, quality, and efficiency are essential, we cannot afford ineffective, inefficient technical training. Technical training must be done, and it must be done well in today’s business environment. Yet there are few resources available that specifically discuss how to effectively develop technical training.
Technical training development is a complex, challenging, unique, misunderstood, and sometimes frustrating process. As a course developer without specific expertise in the content itself, your job is especially tricky: You must complete all the regular tasks of developing courseware, but you must do this using words and concepts you don’t fully understand.
I have worked with contract course developers from many different levels, including developers who were paid a premium for their impressive (on paper, at least) backgrounds. But what I have learned is that experience isn’t always the biggest success factor for putting together a technical course. Some of the most expensive, experienced developers have let me down—calling me one week before an assignment is due to tell me that the project is just too complicated for them, that they have never had to do anything so difficult before, and that they won’t be able to finish. Conversely, I have worked with developers fresh out of university who demonstrated promising skills and, with a little practice, were able to outperform more experienced individuals.
I’ve noticed that the technical developers who are successful exhibit some of the same characteristics and approaches. That is what this book is about.
Technical training requires different tactics to develop than nontechnical training. One of the biggest success factors is the ability to work effectively with your subject matter expert (SME). In addition, launching the project the right way, understanding different ways technical courses can be organized, finding the right information, designing technical exercises, and piloting a course with a SME or instructor are all important. This book is intended to discuss these things and more—in a specific and readable way.
What This Book Does Not Cover
If you have never designed a training class before, this book is not for you. This book covers how to apply basic instructional design concepts to a technical training project.
Primary Audience
The primary audience of this book is anyone who develops technical training with the help of a SME. This includes training developers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, technical writers, training managers, training coordinators, content designers, and training specialists, among others.
SMEs who develop their own technical training will still be able to pull concepts from this book, but the bulk of the writing is geared toward developers who are working with a SME.
How This Book Is Organized
This book provides specific ideas, tips, and strategies to effectively and efficiently develop technical training, from the beginning of the project all the way through the pilot course and postcourse review. It is loosely organized according to the course development process.
Chapter 1: The Technical Training Enigma describes technical training and discusses some of the differences between technical and nontechnical training. The technical organization is briefly explored.
Chapter 2: Effective Technical Training covers quality measures—backed by research specifically on technical training—that you can include in your technical learning programs.
Chapter 3: The Successful Development Team covers the roles needed for technical course development and the characteristics of an effective developer and a SME.
Chapter 4: Technical Training Development Strategies discusses different learning development methodologies along with when you might use each.
Chapter 5: Beginning the Technical Training Project discusses aspects related to the initial course design meeting, including why the meeting is important, who should attend, important questions to ask, and what should be accomplished.
Chapter 6: Targeting the Content describes how to use SMART objectives and a content analysis process to create targeted technical content.
Chapter 7: Arranging a Technical Curriculum examines various options available for arranging a technical curriculum. It also describes how to create a course design document.
Chapter 8: Designing Classroom Exercises for Highly Technical Content provides specific examples, templates, and takeaways designed for such exercises.
Chapter 9: Gathering Information discusses the type of information to seek and the challenges associated with gathering technical data.
Chapter 10: Working With Subject Matter Experts covers tangible ways to draw information out of SMEs. The chapter gives specific tips for going through edits with SMEs.
Chapter 11: The Pilot Class and Beyond explores development opportunities from the pilot class, how to help out a SME-turned-trainer, and following through on postcourse maintenance.
Chapter 12: Troubleshooting: Challenges and Solutions investigates different technical training challenges and provides specific and useful takeaways and solutions.
What’s New in This Edition?
Technical training has come a long way since the first edition of this book. There is more of a focus on smaller performance solutions, Agile design, and the learner experience. Here is what’s new in this edition:
• Chapter 2: Effective Technical Training covers research-based methods related to technical training that you should incorporate into your training solutions.
• Chapter 4: Technical Training Development Strategies has been added to discuss when to use ADDIE versus Agile. It includes a focus on choosing your strategy based upon your SME relationship.
• Chapter 7: Arranging a Technical Curriculum has been updated to include best practices of spaced learning and chunking.
• Additional needs analysis questions focus on performance improvement, human factors, and audience analysis.
• Additional activities for technical training have been added.
Overall, the structure of this edition has been updated to tell a more complete story about technical training.
Icons to Guide You
This book has plenty to offer in the way of content that can help you every day. Some icons will alert you to key features of the book:
What’s Inside This Chapter
Each chapter opens with a short summary that serves as a quick reference to the chapter contents. Use this section to identify the information in the chapter and, if you wish, skip ahead to the material that is most useful to you.
Basic Rules
This rule cuts to the chase. It is an important concept that is true in most instances.
Noted
This icon flags sections with greater detail or an explanation about a concept or a principle. Sometimes it is also used for a short but productive tangent.
Think About This
These are helpful tips that you can put in your back pocket to pull out when needed as you prepare to design a job aid.
Getting It Done
The final section of each chapter supports your ability to take the content of that chapter and apply it to your situation. The focus of this section is mostly on job aids and tools for understanding the content. Sometimes this section contains a list of questions for you to ponder, sometimes it is a self-assessment tool, and sometimes it is a list of action steps you can take to improve your skills and help increase the chances for participant success.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my husband, John, for all of his support, edits, and comprehensive insights for this book. His intelligence, care, and patience were wonderful during the process. I would also like to thank my daughters, Marie, Maggie, and Lauren, for their humor and smiles that make my day. Finally, thank you to the professionals quoted in this book. Your contributions added much-appreciated perspectives and made the finished product much more valuable.