Harnessing Ongoing Learning

By R. Karthik Venkatesh  

Businesses and organizations are discovering that the key to success and survival today, lies in harnessing their intellectual capital through “ongoing learning”. This has led to the need for on-demand training, available globally, either as a stand-alone event or adjunct to classroom training.

For technical writers, this trend represents both an opportunity and a challenge. 

So, what is the book all about?

The book is divided into four major sections. 

1. (Chapters 1-5) Overview of instructional design and development

2. (Chapters 6-14) An eight-step process for systematic training development

3. (Chapters 16-20) Managing and customizing a training project

4. Resources for everyday work

Overview of instructional design and development

Rives begins by demolishing a common perception that instructional design is merely old wine in a new bottle. The author points out how documentation is different from training – this is reiterated throughout the book. Some of the other important topics covered in the overview are the skills required to become a trainer, ways to bridge the gap between current and desired skill sets, and the peculiarities and needs of adult learners.

An eight-step process for systematic training development
Here, Rives explains a series of eight progressive steps that every technical writer could follow to build an effective training course. Training development models and their acronyms are a dime a dozen in the world of training. It is heartening that instead of succumbing to this temptation, the author focuses on the core processes applicable in every context, beginning from project planning to evaluation and revision. 

Managing and customizing a training project

In this section, Rives explains how to manage a typical training project, customize off-the-shelf courses to cut down development time, write for international markets, repurpose existing documentation for training and use readymade scripts for automating repetitive instructional tasks. 

Resources for everyday work

The appendices in this section serve as useful resource tools. These include a list of all the job aids presented in each chapter of the book in the form of checklists, guidelines, templates, worksheets and assessments. A bibliography of resources, grouped under various topics, also points the interested reader towards more resources, both printed and online. 

Takeaway

If you are a technical writer moving into training development, you can pick up this book and expect:

• An overview of instructional design and training development, including how these are markedly different from documentation or technical writing

• A detailed exposition of a systematic training development process

• A listing of some of the “training tempests” that can (and often do) bedevil a cross-functional process like training development and cannot be ignored

• Learn about training project management and customisation of content 

The author’s 25+ years of experience as a performance consultant, instructional designer, developer and trainer filters through the book. Chapter nine, on “Objectives” is a good example of this. In a few pages, Rives provides a thorough introduction to an aspect of instructional design that is key to effective training, but not easily mastered.
You will also find yourself frequently using the author’s well-constructed checklists, worksheets and assessments when you go about developing technical training for your organisation. These job aids are available as a download from the author’s web site, www.lepublishing.com.

Where can I get this book?

You can order it online at Amazon.com, using an international credit card. Unfortunately, you will also shelling out a small fortune ($30 + about $5 for shipping). But, consider it a good investment. Despite its small size (250-odd pages), this is an invaluable guide that will save you hours of frustration, wading through other voluminous tomes. You will turn to it repeatedly as you take your first steps in technical training development. 

I wish I had found this book two years ago when I began training development for my organisation!

(Karthik Venkatesh is a professional social worker with a passion for assisting Indian NGOs in applying technology to their development work. His areas of interest and expertise include training, documentation, local language content, and information architecture for the Web and web strategies for NGOs. You can contact him at karthik_venkatesh@vsnl.net.)

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