'Best Practice' Training in a 'Poor Practice' Training Rooms - Help QA* Fix Their Training Room!
1 December 2017
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Topics ADDED FREQUENTLY include: Agile | PRINCE2 | .NET / C# | SQL | Train the Trainer
Try Our 'Fix the Training Room' Quiz - Public Domain Examples from QA's Online Advertising!
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Learner-centered environments are the responsibility of the trainer and should be considered during the planning of any training event and actioned in good time, well before commencement of the course.
Uncomfortable, poorly laid out rooms detract from the ideal of delivering focused, intuitive learning therefore reducing the value of the learner's investment.
Learners attend professional courses in order to benefit their organisations and also for their own career development. The provider should endeavour to meet their side of the arrangement with a safe, learner-friendly environment.
Background to this Example
The image has been appearing over the last year as part of QA's sponsored PPC campaign. Keywords / phrases that trigger it include prince2 training and agile training.
We finally had a good look at it and found numerous issues that point to poor practice and one issue that's particularly troubling.
The course appears to be a 'Best Practice' course such as PRINCE2 from the materials on the desks and the lack of IT in the room. The number of pages in the folders means that this is probably a three to five day training event.
At their current prices, with the 10 attendees shown on a five day PRINCE2 event, QA would have a revenue of £19,160 exclusive of VAT for the event which will return a substantial profit. With their upcoming New Year price-rise, this would be £21,410. It doesn't appear to have been spent on the classroom...
* QA and Focus On Training are within the same 'group', have the same directors and sell the same product albeit at widely varying prices.
Short Quiz: Can You Make This Classroom Learner-Friendly? 5 Quick Questions!
You'll most likely have been in a training room before, good ones make learning more efficient. See if you can spot how to improve the example classroom in this short quiz. Our answers are sourced from a global academic study exploring technical instruction. You can study this with us, training skills are essential in all kinds of organisations. Let us know how you've done and you'll qualify for discounts on TrainX's courses!
Start The Quiz - (returns to this page) »
Classroom Layout Short Quiz Results Sections
Below are the three landing areas that the quiz returns you to.
Score of 0 to 1 - Oops... it's still a bit grim!
Okay, so you didn't do that great but you probably throw a very interesting stag / hen party...
A properly resourced, safe, learning environment should be expected by anyone attending a professional course. An appropriate facility vastly improves the chances of success and it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to see why.
On a More Serious Note
The classroom shown in QA's advertising is clearly substandard and it shouldn't be for the learners to have to point this out. A learner who isn't sure what to expect may well sit through the event, to their own detriment.
- Scroll down for full answers with rationales
- Were you in the class photo? - ask for refund
- Interested in becoming a trainer? - Scroll down for details. We've a 100% pass rate for an internationally recognised certification
- Have you learning goals? We provide technical training including PRINCE2, AgilePM, Microsoft Technical Contact us for an informal chat
Score of 2 to 3 - The room's looking cosier, maybe just a little something needs adding!
You've sorted a couple of key elements but there's still some essentials to address before the learning environment is fit for purpose.
Don't stop now! Some focused research in training room organisation and a couple of quick follow-up actions and all will be good!
On a More Serious Note
The classroom shown in QA's advertising looks like a clumsy attempt from the 1980s and is clearly substandard. Many technical instructors have never completed a 'train the trainer' course and instead concentrate on the technical aspects. 'Content Knowledge' is key but other skills are also required to successfully deliver a training event.
- Scroll down for full answers with rationales
- Were you in the class photo? - ask for refund
- Interested in becoming a trainer? - Scroll down for details. We've a 100% pass rate for an internationally recognised certification
- Have you learning goals? We provide technical training including PRINCE2, AgilePM, Microsoft Technical Contact us for an informal chat
Score of 4 to 5 - Fantastic! You know how a training room works!
You're pretty much an expert with the questions we've provided. Good for you, any training you deliver will be from firm foundations!
You're pretty much an expert at organising the room. Now that's in place, you can work with your happy learners to achieve their goals.
Obviously training isn't just about the facilities - they have to be appropriate, not 'over-specced' either, as this drives up the prices unnecessarily.
Well planned events with carefully considered content, timings and interactions are key to successful learning.
On a More Serious Note
The classroom shown in QA's advertising is shoddy. Worse than that is the clear lack of a fire safety assessment something a skilled technical trainer would ensure had taken place.
- Scroll down for full answers with rationales
- Were you in the class photo? - ask for refund
- Interested in becoming a trainer? - Scroll down for details. We've a 100% pass rate for an internationally recognised certification
- Have you learning goals? We provide technical training including PRINCE2, AgilePM, Microsoft Technical Contact us for an informal chat
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Quiz Answers
We've put the answers here along with the rationales.
Remove trainer's front desk, use a ceiling projector to fully utilise the screen and close the window blinds to manage the lighting.
The projector and screen usage is sub-optimal. Desk mounted projectors compromise the room layout. Whiteboards, correctly used are excellent training aids. The room lighting is compromised by the window glare and the blinds will be of benefit.
Remove cupboards,replace learner's desks with proper 2 person ones, interleave the front 2 learners desks with the instructors' desk. Form a further row of 3 desks to seat everyone on just 2 rows.
The trainer should replace and rearrange the furniture to create a learner centered classroom. The back-most learner is having to lean to position himself to view all the media with two people obstructing his view of the whiteboard.
Change the desks to allow sufficient, equal space and optimal media viewing for each attendee, avoiding bias in the room.
All learners should have sufficient space for their materials and comfort. Sharing one-person desks, with books hanging over the edge, shows a lack of planning and bias that disadvantages some of the learners.
Arrange for EU rated adjustable operator's chairs at £55 per item BEFORE the course commences.
Reasonable EU-rated operator's chairs allow for height adjustment etc. and are around £55 and last a couple of years. The learners will potentially spend five days in the room so adjustable chairs will aid comfort and learning.
Immediately lead the learners safely from the building, seek advice from a Fire Protection Officer and act upon their instruction, even if this is to cancel the event.
The trainer, as a representative of the training provider is very probably the ‘responsible person' in regard to fire safety. Even if not, they have a responsibility to the learners and should not endanger them. Placing items in front of the fire exit is illegal and is symptomatic of failing to make a suitable risk assessment. The trainer has not recognised this and so their duties and by inference the duties of other parties have not been met.