To celebrate the opening of the Training and Learning Resource Center
(http://www.thetrainingworld.com), this issues focus is on learning
and training.

In This Issue:

1) Training and Development (and Learning) Resource Center Opens
2) Don't Miss These Sites on Leadership and Communication
3) Last Call For Budding Writers
4) Excerpts - Training and Learning Myths
5) Our Sites

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1) The Big News: The Training and Learning Resource Center Opens

Ongoing learning is one of the keys to both career and personal
success. While I've been in the training and learning business for
more than two decades, I've never actually had a website to support
learning, and to help trainers and instructors in creating learning.
That's changed. I'm pleased to announce the opening of our newest
website, The Training and Development (and Learning) Resource Center.

We're still building, and will continue to do so, and we're guessing
this is going to be one huge website. Right now there is a library of
training and learning resources organized by categories that includes
help with instructional design, and effective use of instructional
methods, info on e-learning, learning theories as applied to training,
and so much more we can't possibly list them here.

There's a training and development knowledgebase containing shorter
material about the topic organized by topic and in a question and
answer format, and there's also an area for longer articles.

We've also created a discussion list for those who want something more
interactive. Currently, we use it for regular updates, to let people
know what's new but we hope that you use it to interact with others on
training topics. Go there at: http://www.thetrainingworld.com/discussionlist.htm

The main location is http://www.thetrainingworld.com . Navigation is
simple and we think it's a really easy to use site.

2) Don't Miss These Other Recent Sites:

In case you missed it we're also continuing to build our Communication
Resource Center, located at:

http://www.work911.com/communication/index.htm

and our Leadership Development Resource Center at:

http://www.work911.com/leadership-development/index.html

3) Last Call For Budding Writers:

Here's a last call for people who like to write (or want to write).

Helium is a site that is looking for writers on a huge range of
topics. Whether you are looking for more exposure and advertising,
want to make a few bucks from writing about what you love, or just for
the fun, you can sign up. Check it out.

Interested: Participating is simple. Here's the link:
http://www.kqzyfj.com/email-386745-10469054

4) Some Training and Learning Excerpts From Our New Resource Cneter

There are a lot of myths about learning and training, and we've
covered some of them at our new training and learning resource center.
Hre's a few excerpts.

Retention Rates - Hearing, Doing, Seeing - A Training and Learning
Myth by Robert Bacal

No doubt you've come across statements that go like this:

People remember X% of what they hear, x% of what they see....

where the final "high retention" activity is learning (or sometimes
teaching others). This has given rise to the training principle that
people learn best by doing, and retention is higher.

In fact this is a partial misconception that has mislead thousands of
trainers into choosing inefficient learning methods in training. It's
a costly error.

Learning retention is not a direct function of the training or
learning activity, although it is an indirect function. We know that
people remember what they have learned according to two things that
happen inside the learner -- attention, and thinking (or cognitive
involvement with the material). That is, people will remember that
which they pay attention to, and material that causes them to think,
or reflect. Note that both of these requirements are not directly
observed, since they can occur regardless of what learner can be
observed to be doing.

It is quite possible for a person in training to retain more from a
lecture than actually doing an exercise IF they pay attention to what
is said, (and particularly if they take notes), and they think about
the material. It's also possible that activities where trainees "do"
things can interfere with paying attention to the right things, and
interfere with thinking.

That's not to say that learning by doing is a poor method. There are
actually other reasons having nothing to do with retention (i.e.
transfer of trainig) as to why learning by doing is ONE important
component of a training program. But often it depends on what kind of
learning we wish to create.

So, the upshot is that if you are a trainer or instructional designer,
you should not necessarily focus on "learning by doing", but on
generating attention, motivation, and thinking about what is to be
learned. If you do that retention will improve. If learning by doing
results in these things, it will work well. If it does not, it will be
no better (and probably worse) than other faster training methods.

Trainers Do Not Need To Know Much About The Subject They Are Teaching
- Myth or Truth? by Robert Bacal

There are a significant number of trainers, training departments, and
companies that deliver training on a large scale, that either believe,
or act like they believe that trainers do not have to be experts in
the topics they are teaching or training. Some trainers and
instructional designers say that outright. Others act as if it is
true. For example, large (and well known companies) will have people
delivering their training who know little of the subjects they cover,
but go "by the book", or the training manual that is furnished to them
by the company.

The False Logic

There is a logic to this, abeit one based on a horrible lack of
understanding of training. It's thought that if a training seminar is
properly and well designed, ANY skilled trainer should be able to pick
up a leader's manual, and with perhaps some minimum of train the
trainer, be able to deliver that training at a high level. This ties
in with the instructional design process, where a designer consults
with what are called subject matter experts (SME's), who do have
indepth knowledge. Then the designer translates that knowledge into
training objectives and training activities.

The false logic is that the trainer is seen as a mechanistic delivery
agent, someone who only has to follow the book, or the script, and
that's where the problem lies. Effective trainers need to understand
the content well enough to make decisions on the fly during training.
Should we spend more time on this topic? What are they not
understanding? How do I answer that learner question? And so on. A
major function of any trainer or teacher is to make decisions. If the
trainer lacks an indepth understanding of the content, it's not
possible to make good decisions.

There is an additional problem, and that is that learners don't follow
the scripts. They ask questions. They get confused or lost. They have
different reasons for being motivated connected with the content. Only
a trainer with indepth content knowledge can answer questions
properly, or otherwise manage the learning process.

In short effective training requires a) an understanding of training
and learning AND b) an indepth understanding of the content.

The Consequences of Following the Myth

There are real world consequences for learners, trainers, and the
training profession that occur as a result of companies and trainers
buying into this myth.

If you have been a training participant or learner, no doubt you've
attended lousy training, where the trainer can only follow the
leader's manual, can't answer questions properly, and generally relies
on what he or she has been told to do, thus rendering the training
tedious, static and boring. You may also have noticed that a lot of
training, particularly in the soft skill areas (like communication,
interpersonal relationships, customer service, etc) all cover just
about the same elementary and basic elements, in about the same way.
Cookie cutter training.

What may be even worse is that trainers used as cookie cutters may be
regurgitating information that is false, incomplete or partially
incorrect, since they lack the indepth understanding needed to
evaluate what they have been told to teach. The outcome is that false
information is conveyed to learners.

There are also implications for trainers, the training function in
organizations, and for the industry. The reputations of training and
training professionals in organizations is normally fairly low. Often
they are not seen as experts, or people to be trusted, because quite
simply, they aren't experts in the subject. It does nobody, least of
all the profession, to have a bunch of trainers running around
teaching things they don't understand with the assumption that nobody
will know any better.

If you are looking for explanations about why trainers are not
respected or listened to, why training is not valued to the extent it
should be, and why too much training is not up to quality standards,
this myth is a good place to look.

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5) Our Sites:

Just a quick summary of our sites that have information on the
following topics:

Leadership Resource Center: http://work911.com/leadership-development/index.html

Communication Resource Center: http://www.work911.com/communication/index.htm

Conflict (both workplace and family) http://conflict911.com

Business, Strategic and Personal Planning: http://www.work911.com/planningmaster/index.html

Performance Management & Appraisal: http://performance-appraisals.org

Customer Service: http://customerservicezone.com

Our Main Site: http://www.work911.com

Multi-Purpose Articles Database: http://www.articles911.com

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