Training Experience

Learning objectives

In college, I was assigned a foreign student as my roommate. My roommate Sam was from Africa and was really eager to learn more about our culture and lifestyle. However, there was a drawback; his lack of mastery of the language coupled with lack of knowledge of the areas surrounding campus made it extremely difficult to learn about his surroundings. Initially, he approached me and my friends in a bid to understand the language, which I did a good job in helping his understanding. However, he still had difficulties going outside campus. This would make it difficult for him in his efforts of understanding our lifestyle. I proposed to teach him a simple and foolproof way in which he could get around outside campus. I suggested to him to buy an iPhone and download a navigation app that I could effectively teach him how to use and get by.

My goal was to teach him within a week as college was set to break for thanksgiving, and Sam wanted to use his new acquired knowledge to traverse the country during the festivities.

Trainee’s readiness

To begin with, Sam was a very motivated individual who hoped to be in tune with our lifestyle as soon as possible so as to enjoy his stay in campus more. His motivation was reflected in that he had managed to score descent marks on assignments, despite his lack of complete mastery of the language. I chose to use a mobile phone application because Sam had demonstrated that he was quite knowledgeable when it came to using electronics. In addition to his knowledge, Sam was quite skillful in the way he sought to understand new concepts. Sam would always put in extra hours so as to understand things that he was passionate about, and the ability to move around unaided was something he was very committed to achieving. The fact that we had little time before the holiday break meant that I had to identify a means in which Sam could spend the break exploring and covering more ground (Barbazette 68). This meant that I had to teach Sam to use something that he already felt comfortable around, which in this case was his mobile phone.

Method of training

Arriving at an effective method of training was at first difficult. I had initially installed the app in his phone and told him that he was good to go. This was difficult since despite his reading of the instruction set, Sam still had difficulties with configuring the app to reflect his coordinates. I then decided to configure the app myself and told him to simply turn on the app when he was in need of directions. However, on quick consideration, I realized that by setting up the app for him, Sam would not get the opportunity to learn. I, therefore, decided to use aspects of the on-the job training (OJT) method. I chose the method because I saw it as being the most ideal method trough which Sam could learn to get around in as little time as possible (Barbazette 78).

I started to teach Sam by first uninstalling the app from both our phones, then downloading it afresh from the app store. This was done so as to show Sam that he needed not see the app as a complicated thing, but rather as any other app in his phone. I then proceeded to show him how to set up coordinates on the navigation app with our room being the focal point. After doing this over and over again in different locations, I decided to uninstall the app and let Sam install it and use it from scratch. Here, the advantage of OJT over other methods such as lecturing was that Sam could take advantage of what I had showed him and try it out immediately (Barbazette 80). This interaction was important in that it allowed for immediate feedback and one-on-one interaction in case of any difficulties.

Evaluation methods

For any training activity, there has to be a way of gauging progress of the outcome (Barbazette 114). In order to evaluate whether or not my training was having the desired effect on Sam, I had to gauge his reaction. The reaction of a trainee is very important since one can tell whether or not the chosen method can likely produce results. Another evaluation method that can be used is that one of reflecting on the progress of the trainee relative to the set out objectives (Barbazette 117). This illustrates whether the trainee has learned anything at all. The objectives also help in gauging the behavioral aspect of the trainee in relation to the goals of the training. If the trainee does not show confidence in what they have been taught, then the training was not successful. However, the greatest evaluation method is that of relating the results to the objectives. The training should have the effect of making the trainee completely abandon previous techniques in favor of the new ones (Barbazette 119).

Barbazette, Jean. Training Needs Assessment: Methods, Tools, and Techniques. Vol.1. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2006. Print.