Overview of Quality Development of Training and Procedural Manuals

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• Overview of Quality Development of Training and
  Procedural Manuals

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• What characteristics do you wish to see in the
  product (enumerator) of this process
  (training)?
• What should a trainee be able to do to convince
  you that she or he can do the job for which they
  were trained?

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Analysis

• Task analysis
• Audience analysis
• Performance analysis
• Course objectives

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Development

• Skill checks (also called criterion or
  performance checks)
• Relevant practice
• Deciding what the content should be
• Deciding how to deliver the instruction
• Sequencing
• Try outs or dry runs

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Implementation

• Procedures for using the course
• Revisions

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Task Analysis

• A task is a series of steps leading to a
  meaningful outcome. A task has an identifiable
  beginning, middle, and end.
• A step in a task would be something like asking a
  survey question, identifying an adequate answer
  to a question, transcribing the information to
  the form, etc.

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How to do Task Analysis

• Prepare a list describing the tasks in a job
• List all tasks critical and trivial
• Decide later which tasks need to be covered in
  the training
• Describe the steps in each of the tasks listed,
  including
• When is the task performed (what triggers the
  activity)?
• What steps are followed and decisions made while
  performing the task?
• How do you know when youre done?
• Purpose of the analysis
• Visualize competent performance
• Dont include instructions, just describe the
  task
• What does someone have to be able to do before
  completing this entire task?

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Task Analysis Example

• Task Take out the trash
• When initiated Night before trash collection
  (Monday night, but check schedule)
• Monday night take a large kitchen garbage bag
  out from under the kitchen sink.
• Empty all trash containers in the house into the
  large garbage bag. If the garbage bag becomes
  full before all the containers are emptied, tie
  up the full garbage bag and use a second bag.
• Place the large garbage bag(s) into the plastic
  garbage bin in front of the house on the
  sidewalk.
• Check the house to make sure that all garbage has
  been collected, placed in a plastic bag and put
  in the plastic bin in front of the house.

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Task Analysis Exercise

• Task 1 Making a cup of tea for a guest
• Task 2 Log onto a classroom computer and check
  email (with an existing yahoo or hotmail account)
• Task 3 Make sure that the classroom stapler is
  always full.

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Audience Analysis

• Characteristics of students help us determine
  where to begin our training
• Think of training in terms of the following
  equation
• What students need to know and be able to do
• - What they already know and are able to do
• Training (instruction manual)

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How to do Audience Analysis

• This analysis is for your benefit only so you
  should be as honest and descriptive as possible.
• Attempt to answer the following questions
• What are the interests of the students?
• Why are they taking this training? Do they want
  to be in this training?
• What is their age range? What is the percentage
  of males/females?
• What is their ethnicity, religion, socio-economic
  status?
• Are they married? Do they have kids, families?
• What attitudes and biases do they bring with
  them?
• What previous training and experience have they
  had relevant to the subject being trained?
• What is their educational background?
• What things tend to motivate them (praise, money,
  recognition)?
• Whats their reading/language ability?
• Which of the skills listed on the task analysis
  do they already have?
• What are the facilities like where they are being
  trained (hot/cold, loud, etc.)?

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Performance Analysis

• Purpose To make sure that the training program
  teaches people only what they dont already know.
  You want to
• Identify discrepancies between what people are
  doing now and what they should be doing (past
  performances on a continuing survey, last census,
  etc.).
• Determine whether discrepancies are due to a lack
  of skill are to some other reason (mistakes on
  the questionnaire, not getting paid, poorly
  qualified enumerators, etc.).
• Suggest a remedy that will reduce or eliminate
  the discrepancies.
• When to do this
• When training experienced interviewers or staff
• What do you need to do this
• Knowledge about what the students are doing now
• Knowledge about what they should be doing

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How to do Performance Analysis

• Describe in detail what it is the students are
  currently doing that is a problem
• Describe in detail what the students SHOULD be
  doing
• Determine the cost of the discrepancy
• If the cost is small do nothing, as long as
  sponsor agrees
• If the cost is significant determine whether
  the students know what to do if their lives
  depended on it
• If they could do the task, then find out why they
  arent doing it
• What happens to students who do the task right?
• What happens to students who do the task wrong?
• What are the obstacles to performing the task as
  desired?
• If they couldnt do it, then consider the
  following
• Can the task be simplified?
• Did they ever know how to do it?
• Is the skill used often?
• Do they have the potential to learn the skill?

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Training Objectives

• Objectives are what you want someone to learn or
  be able to do as a result of your training. An
  objective describes
• The conditions under which the task will occur
• What a trainee should be able to do upon
  completion of training
• How to tell when the trainees performance is
  good enough
• Objectives come from the task or performance
  analysis.

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How to do Training Objectives

• Write an objective for each of the tasks youve
  identified
• Look at the list of skills necessary to complete
  the task and write an objective for each skill.
• Show your list to some people and ask them to
  tell you what it means in their own words. If
  the objective is misunderstood, rewrite it.
• Write each objective so that the conditions,
  performance, and criteria are specified.
• If you have fuzzy objectives using words like
  understand, comprehend, appreciate, and
  demonstrate, rewrite the objective to describe a
  measurable behavior.

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Development Phase

• Skill Checks used to determine if a student can
  perform the tasks that we have identified in the
  analysis phase.
• When Its suggested that you draft skill checks
  soon after youve drafted your objectives. This
  should help refine your objectives.
• Characteristics of good skill checks
• They match the objectives in the performance
  expected and the conditions under which the
  performance occurs
• If the student meets the stated criteria, the
  performance is found to be acceptable
• It may not always be possible to provide the
  exact conditions, but you should always require
  that the demonstrated performance occurs.

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How to do Skill Checks

1. Read the objective and determine what someone
   needs to be able to do in order to accomplish the
   objective identify the required performance.
2. Draft an exercise that requires students to
   exhibit that performance.
3. Read the objective again and note the conditions
   under which the performance should occur (forms
   and reference materials used, setting in which
   the task will occur).
4. Write those conditions into the skill check. If
   you cannot create the exact conditions, do your
   best to simulate them.
5. Use more than one item in your exercise if you
   feel the student could perform correctly by
   chance or if there are numerous conditions that
   you would like the task to be performed under.
6. Provide standardized skill checks to all students
   in order to do comparative performance
   evaluations.

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Skill Check Example

• Objective Given a variety of respondents
  (cooperative, hostile, confused, poor language
  skills), the interviewer will be able to
  introduce themselves, introduce the organization
  conducting the survey, explain how the data will
  be used, and mention if the survey is voluntary
  or mandatory.
• Skill check
• Put interviewers into groups of 3. A
  respondent will be given 4 scripts for each of
  the respondent types mentioned in the objectives.
  An observer will be given 4 checklists of
  points that the interviewer should cover as
  outlined in the objective, along with a rating
  scale to note other desired behaviors, such as
  smiling, showing identification, politeness,
  answering questions promptly, etc. The
  interviewer will use the materials they will
  have during enumeration. All groups will receive
  the same scripts and checklists.
• The groups will simulate 4 interviews with the
  interviewer knocking on the door, the
  respondent following the script, and the observer
  completing the checklist. The trainer will
  circulate among the groups and observe behaviors
  and ensure that the groups are completing the
  exercise as instructed.
• After the role plays are complete, the trainer
  will lead a group discussion on the good and bad
  skills exhibited, problems encountered, and ways
  to improve performance.

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Relevant Practice

• You want to make sure that time spent practicing
  results in the accomplishment of your training
  objectives.
• Practice makes perfect but only if students are
  provide with feedback on their performance
• Feedback from internal sources the student
• Feedback from external sources the trainer or
  other students
• If it comes from the students, then they must
  have been taught what proper performance is and
  therefore, can objectively evaluate their own, or
  others performance
• An outside evaluator must learn to give feedback
  so that it does not destroy the students
  motivation to learn and improve constructive
  feedback.

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How to do Relevant Practice

1. Write down what the student should be doing
   practicing the performance outlined in an
   objective.
2. Write down the conditions and things that should
   be provided in order for the practice to begin.
3. Write down how you will provide feedback about
   the adequacy of the practice performance
4. Feedback must be diagnostic (identify whats
   wrong) and corrective (identify what must be done
   to correct it). If the feedback is internal the
   trainer can still guide the students to produce
   constructive (diagnostic/corrective) criticism
   and not concentrate on the failure of the student
   to perform successfully.
5. Draft a description of relevant practice for each
   of your objectives.

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Preparing Content

• You want to bridge the gap between what students
  can already do and what they will need to do or
  know before they will be ready to practice.
• You want to take students to the point where they
  can productively practice tasks in the job.

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How to Prepare Content

• REVIEW
• The objective
• Your description of relevant practice for that
  objective
• Your audience analysis and their abilities upon
  entering training
• Existing materials
• ASK
• Are the students ready to practice this objective
  prior to training?
• If no, what do they need to know to practice the
  objective?
• If they arent ready because of common errors
  they are likely to make, what are those errors?
• If they practice, will they be able to tell if
  their performance is ok or not?

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Training Modules

• Information can be arranged in modules. All the
  training content for one objective can be put
  into individual modules, containing
• Big Picture where students are in the training
• Objective what the student should be able to do
  at the end
• Description of relevance why the skill is
  important to the student
• Demonstration of correct performance how to do
  it
• Instruction teaches what students need to know
  to practice
• Practice in recognizing correct performance
  self-correcting
• Practice, with feedback let the students try
• Skill check heres what I want you to do, show
  me you can accomplish the objective
• Students should be active during 2/3 of the
  instructional period
• In survey and census training, there is a
  tendency to teach the exception, rather than the
  general rule try to avoid doing this.

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Deciding How to Deliver the Instruction

• Select the approaches that provide the features
  called for by your objectives.
• Remember, the objective of the training is to
  give each student as much practice time as
  possible (within the constraints of time and
  budget).

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How to Decide on Instruction Delivery

1. List the things that will be needed for the
   students to practice (job materials)
2. If you have items listed that are not things,
   such as problem respondents, how will you provide
   them? Written format in a workbook, in lecture,
   videotape, etc.
3. If your objective (module) will require
   additional content prior to practice, how will
   this content be provided? Lecture, self-study,
   structured discussion, etc. (go for less
   expensive alternative)
4. Consider your audiences abilities/situation when
   determining content presentation. Literacy
   levels, time constraints, classroom setup, etc.
5. Are the items listed available? If not, you must
   provide examples.
6. Verbatim training ensures standardized
   presentation of content, ensures quality of
   training is independent of trainers individual
   skills, ensures all topics will be covered in
   sufficient detail and within allotted time.
   DANGER can over-emphasize lecture and
   de-emphasize practice. SOLUTION skill checks
   and relevant practice.

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Sequencing

• Topics have to be presented in some order. How
  do you decide on the proper sequence of training
  modules?
• Throughout your training, you should attempt to
  keep student interest high and make sure that
  they can accomplish your objectives.

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How to do Sequencing

1. Start the training with a topic of high interest
2. Move from the big picture into the details
3. Start with simple concepts and proceed to the
   more difficult concepts
4. Write your objectives/modules on small pieces of
   paper. Place them in your desired sequence and
   explain to someone knowledgeable about the
   content why you are presenting the topics in the
   order indicated. Listen to that person and make
   changes as necessary.

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Implementation and Procedural Guides

• Implementation of these principles will be
  covered in the module on staff training.
• The same techniques can be applied in the
  development of procedural guides. However,
  procedural guides lack human interaction.
  Therefore they must be more detailed in
  descriptions and include examples of all
  materials that will be seen and used by the
  individual in the performance of their duties.
  Including precise descriptions of when and how to
  use each item. Where, when and from whom they
  will get each item. Also, to whom, where and
  when they should give each item upon completion
  of use.

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Summary and General Points

• Analysis
• Task analysis
• Audience analysis
• Performance analysis
• Development
• Relevant practice
• Skill checks
• Determine content
• Determine delivery method(s)
• Sequencing of modules
• Try outs or Dry runs

• General Points
• Verbatim training guides
• Manuals for trainees/trainers
• Job Aids
• Procedural manuals for ALL procedures