Condensing technical training is a task that Jennifer Blair is often asked to perform as a contract Oracle trainer.
"Although your first impulse may be to say, 'You can't squeeze 20 pounds of potatoes into a 10-pound sack,' the truth is it can be done -- but it takes work."
These are her tips for making it work:
* Enlist the help of an expert. First, it is imperative that you have a subject matter expert (SME) available to lend a hand. "This means someone who thoroughly understands the topic, inside, outside and upside-down -- ideally, someone who has taught it a few hundred times."
* Prioritize your plan of attack. What is absolutely essential for the students to know? Is there any material that students can read on their own later that can be skipped in class? What builds the foundation for the learning that needs to come later? What will they use every day vs. once in a great while? This is where the expert helps. "For instance, if I'm going to teach a five-day SQL class, I can't just jump in and start teaching the language," Blair says. "If the students don't understand relational database theory, then they will get lost and confused. So it's worth investing the time to ground them in this understanding up front -- and refer back to it all week."
* Formulate a preliminary outline. Make a preliminary outline of the essentials that you've identified. "Go through it with your SME and 'guesstimate' how long each topic will take to cover. Allow time for hands-on exercises, group discussions, lunch and breaks. Add it all up. If you've over on time, go back and cut again," she says.
* Chart a reasonable training schedule. "Do not allow training time to be scheduled for extra hours each day," Blair advises. "This never works. Adults can concentrate in a fast-paced learning environment for about six to six-and-a-half hours per day before they become brain-dead. Some bosses think they can save money by scheduling 12-hour-a-day classes. It just doesn't work."
* Keep your learners in the game. After you trim down the topics, schedule the hard stuff early in the morning when people are fresh. "Start days two through five with warm-ups and review exercises to reinforce what they learned the day before, and wrap up each day with a review exercise."
* Provide visual reinforcement. "Use your walls!" Blair says. "Learners are going to need all the reinforcement you can give them. Figure out the four or five most important points or hardest concepts, and make a poster for each one." Blair suggests using bright colors and making your posters simple and concise. "Think highway billboards," she says. "Put the posters up all around the room. Every time students start to daydream, their eyes should settle on a poster. When they break for coffee or gather to talk at the back of the room, they should see another poster."
* Create job aids. Besides your normal training manuals, Blair says, make sure you have a one-page cheat sheet/job aid that learners can take with them after training.
* Find a good trainer. "Use the very best trainer available -- someone senior who is self-confident, friendly and comfortable with the material," Blair says. "Good trainers use stories, segues and examples as much as possible throughout the training. They should also know how to prioritize the material if it needs further cutting due to time constraints."
* Keep your learners focused. "Don't make the mistake of lecturing them to death." Instead, give them something to do every 20 minutes or so, Blair says. "Hands-on exercises are best. Allow them to make mistakes. Let them discuss and design things if possible. When they start to fade in energy, team them up on the next assignment -- usually in the middle of the afternoon."
"In training, as in writing, someone has to suffer," says Blair. "In writing, it's either the author or the reader. With training, it's either the curriculum developer or the student." If you care about your learners, Blair says, and take the time to understand their real needs, you can successfully condense almost any course to suit organizational requirements.
Jennifer Blair is an independent Oracle trainer who specializes in training Oracle 11i / Oracle Apps (Oracle Manufacturing and Oracle Finance) and Oracle 10g (SQL, PL/SQL Programming, Discoverer, Forms, Reports)
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