Individual Report on a Training program
- Overview of the assignment
- By Week 5, you should submit the individual report, which combines knowledge learned from the textbook with an interview with a training and development professional, should support you to write the report. This report should be loaded with detailed information of a real-world, mature training course that contains one or more training sessions/courses. It should also reflect your evaluation of the program - which part is done right and which can be improved. After reading your report, one should have an overall understanding of the training program process from its needs assessment through its evaluation.
- Approach
- Read the textbook. The first seven chapters in the textbook (Desimone & Werner, 2012), especially Chapters 4-7, details the process of a training program in terms of four stages: Assessment, Design, Implementation, and Evaluation. Your report should follow this process structure to describe and comment on how a real training program was assessed, designed, implemented, and evaluated.
- Select the interviewee: The interviewee should meet the following two criteria. First, he/she should be a professional who has the hands-on experience of developing and implementing a training program successfully in an organization. Second, he/she should be able and willing to provide samples of the program-related documents to you.
- Prepare the questionnaire: Your interview should aim at understanding the development of a specific training program. The questionnaire should be based on the four stages introduced in the textbook, and ask about what was done in each stage of the process of the training program (See Point 1 above).
- Conduct the interview: You should not only ask about the detailed information of the process of the training program, but also seek for the documents (e.g., tools/ policy/ instruments) used through the process for the purposes such as, but not limited to, needs assessment, course design, and program evaluation.
- Write the report: Your report should include the following sections.
- Title, your title should be "Individual Report - The Process of (name of the program interviewed about)". This should also appear in the NSU coversheet of your submitting.
- Introduction (about ½ page), explain the purpose of the report and its content and structure.
- Overview of the focal training program (about 1 page), including the name and a brief description of the program, background information of the company that hosted the program, and background information of the interviewee.
- Description and analysis of the Assessment stage of the training program
- Explain what this stage is about. This should be your understanding from the textbook.
- Describe the practices involved in this stage of the focal training program. This information should be provided by your interviewee. Each stage of the training program process is likely to be supported with many tools or instruments. You should introduce the names of these documents and briefly describe the functions of each.
- Comment on the effectiveness of the activities described in Point 5.C.b. Does each activities described contribute to the purpose of the stage? Are the results of the activities sufficient in preparing the organization for the next stage of the training program? What can the organization do to enhance the performance of these practices (e.g., adding, adjusting, or reducing tools used)?
- Description and analysis of the Design stage of the training program
Note: Refer to the details above, under Point 5.C.
- Description and analysis of the Implementation stage of the training program
Note: Refer to the details above, under Point 5.C.
- Description and analysis of the Evaluation stage of the training program
Note: Refer to the details above, under Point 5.C.
- Conclusion, summarize the main points of the report, highlighting the strength of the focal training program (i.e., what can be learned from the program).
- Appendix A: your questionnaire used for the interview (questions only).
- Appendix B: samples of the program documents. You should provide sample documents of the tools or instruments used in at least two of the stages. For example, one of the documents could be the need assessment survey used for the Assessment stage. Another could be the schedule of a three-day training section used for the design stage.
Note: The title of each sample document should match the name of the tools you explained in your report (see Point 5.C.b.).