What will I learn in the train the trainer certification course?

Adult learners are over the age of 25. Learning in the business community is called workforce or professional development or training and development.

Educating adults is very different than teaching children. Adults learn by association because they have accumulated knowledge through work experience or military service. Adult education is voluntary, so the participants are generally better motivated and have a reasonable expectation of what they are learning to further their goals.

How Adults Learn

The following conditions must be in place for adults to learn more effectively. The learner::

• must feel welcome and safe in a physically optimized classroom with good lighting, ventilation, size, and efficient table and chair configuration
• should be actively involved in learning
• must feel they need to learn the subject matter
• must be socially connected
• must experience two-way communication with the instructor
• learners must set their own learning goals to evaluate their progress to determine if the training has been successful
• should be able to link the training to their long term memory for retention of the subject matter

To become a great trainer, you need to have a mindset focused on the learners and develop techniques to maximize learning efficiency.

Understanding Training and Facilitation

Depending on your students’ needs, you may be called on to provide training or facilitate a discussion of ideas. In Module One, you will learn how to determine which approach you need in a particular situation.

Learning

As a trainer, your role is to maximize learning. In Module Two, you will learn delivering a course can be hard work. It requires preparation and careful planning. You need to invest time before, during, and after the delivery. After all the effort you have gone through, if your students don’t learn anything new or forget most of the lessons taught in the course shortly afterward, you might as well not bother with the training at all.

To deliver a useful training course, you should consider the seven most important principles of learning. You will learn those principles in the course. Without keeping these critical principles in mind, you risk delivering a poor course, alienating your students from the training subject, and wasting your own time in the process.

Developing and Managing Your Training Program

A good training program has a structure and logic that promotes understanding within the organization and should continue throughout its life. It should include initial training for new staff and professional development for veteran staff to allow the organization to grow and change for the better.

In Module Three, you will learn a training plan: is the overall goals, learning objectives, and activities to develop, conduct, control, and evaluate instructions the trainer provides for users, operators, administrators, and support staff who will use, operate, and support the company.

Training materials are any resources created to support training, including the documentation associated with the deployment of the business product to include:

• instructor and student guides,
• audio-visual aids, and
• computer-based or other media used to disseminate the training to the target audience in need of the instruction.

A training plan is a document that communicates with management and stakeholders details of the proposed training program. An approved training plan authorizes the training manager to expend resources for developing, implementing and executing the planned training program. The document outlines critical information regarding the training program’s objectives, schedule, strategies for designing and developing curriculums and supporting training materials, implementation methods, and continuous improvement campaigns. The training plan helps the company train stakeholders for their specific job functions.

The training plan outlines information about items such as:

• Training requirements
• Training strategy
• Training schedule
• Training resources
• Training environment
• Training materials

Training Needs Analysis

A major aspect of your training is recognizing what your students need, want, and expect, and then responding accordingly. Module Four will explore some ways to identify students’ needs and adjust your material accordingly.

Plan Your Training

It takes time to plan a good training session. However, you and your trainees will benefit from this preparation.

In Module Five, you will learn as you plan, you visualize each step of the course to ensure you’ve thought about everything you need to say, and you present information in a logical order. You’ll also be able to prepare for points people might find difficult to understand.

After your session, you can use your plan to work out what went well – and what didn’t – so that you can adapt it for future lessons.

Creating a Lesson Plan

A lesson plan is the trainer’s road map of what students need to learn and how they will deliver the training. In Module Six, you will learn before you plan your course to identify its learning objectives.  You can then design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning.

A successful lesson plan involves three key components:

• Objectives for uniform understanding
• Teaching/learning activities
• Strategies to check student understanding

Learning objective development is one of the most critical steps in the training process. Well-constructed learning objectives enable trainers to know what they will teach and participants to know what they will learn. Learning objectives help all stakeholders share an understanding of what the training programs will accomplish.

Activities will determine how you will check whether you have accomplished the learning objectives.

The trainer should consider the following for lesson planning. Know:

• your students by using a needs analysis, personal interview, and a discussion with the individual’s supervisor. Know the student’s ability level, background, interest level, attention span, ability to work together in groups, prior knowledge, learning experiences, and learning preferences.
• your content by researching the subject matter you will be teaching. Note the essential facts, key concepts, skills, or key vocabulary terms you intend to cover.
• the materials available to help support learning. For example, technology, software, audio/visuals, trainer mentors, community resources, equipment, library resources, guest speakers (in person or through webinar), volunteers, or any materials can assist you in teaching.

Choosing Activities

For many people, it is by doing that understanding comes. People come to training expecting to learn. In Module Seven, you will learn one of the best ways you can help them to do that is to develop activities that support the learning objectives and allow for some engaging action and development.

Planned activities enhance your training by:

• keeping things moving at an engaging pace.
• introducing fun and laughter to bring people together and break down barriers
• improving the retention of material by providing hands-on application and practice

Preparing for the Course

Being ready is the sign of a competent trainer. Not being prepared can derail your training before it’s even started. In Module Eight, you will learn to follow the tips and techniques in this module to help you deliver effective and memorable training.

Visual Aids

The trainer can use visual aids such as graphs, photographs, and video clips in addition to spoken information. Visual aids enhance training by increasing the audience’s understanding of the topic, explaining points, making an impact, and creating enthusiasm. It is critical to make information visual. You can choose visual aids to enhance training:

• Summarize information
• Reduce the number of spoken words
• Clarify and show examples
• Create more of an impact
• Emphasize what you’re saying
• Make a memorable point
• Enhance your credibility
• Engage the audience to maintain interest
• Make the subject matter more manageable for the audience to understand

Creating Fantastic Flip Charts

Information written on flip charts enhances the learning process. In Module Nine, you will learn that during a presentation, flip charts serve to inform students, record information, and focus attention on a topic. They represent a simple, low-cost learning aid with no power or technology requirements and no worries about burned-out bulbs or darkened rooms. Flip charts add versatility to a presentation and allow the presenter to use creativity to enhance the learning process.

Flip charts are a great tool but often misunderstood. The idea of a flip chart is you have a visual tool you can create on the go during training or ahead of time for shortlists. The flip chart is suitable for groups of fewer than 20. People at the back of the room will have difficulty reading off a flip chart. 

Creating Compelling PowerPoint Presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint is a commanding tool for creating visual screens for a presentation. Visuals created in PowerPoint and projected on a screen are often easier to see in a large room than information displayed on a flip chart. In Module Ten, you will learn that using PowerPoint offers the following benefits:

• Allows you to add emphasis to important concepts, helping to increase retention of information
• Adds variety to your presentation
• Makes it easier to display images, charts, or graphs possibly too complex for a flip chart.
• PowerPoint files can easily be shared with students or others after the session.

Whiteboards

A whiteboard is a name for any glossy-surfaced writing board where non-permanent markings can be made. Unlike the predecessor chalkboard, there is no chalk dust, and markings remain longer than they would on a chalkboard.

Whiteboards have been around since the 1970s and are now vastly improved and more affordable than early models. In Module Eleven, you will learn that using a whiteboard helps to promote interactivity during a presentation.

Vibrant Videos and Amazing Audio

Audio and video are very much a part of our everyday lives, so they are accepted –and even expected media in a presentation. In Module Twelve, you will learn they are attractive options for a presentation because they provide learners with more dimensions to receive information. While video and audio represent a one-way communication to students, the opportunity to use them as part of learning exercises or in the ensuing discussions adds value to the presentation.

Getting Off on the Right Foot

In Module Thirteen, you will learn to get the session started right by being ready to welcome people as they arrive. They are just as curious about you as you are about them. They also will warm up to you if you are ready and welcome each one as they arrive.

Manage Energy, Pace, and Attention

If we are not motivated sufficiently, we will not participate in an activity wholeheartedly, particularly for training courses where lack of motivation can be a show stopper. When people are not motivated, they don’t learn.

In Module Fourteen, you will learn, as the trainer, it is your responsibility to keep the course engaging, ensuring students have enough energy to participate and pace the course correctly.

Increase the Impact of Training Exercises

Participating in exercises can be entertaining. Most people prefer exercises over boring theory. When it is time to get the students to go through an exercise, make the best of this opportunity by getting them excited about it.

In Module Fifteen, you will learn any exercise can be turned into an exciting event. Many adult learners attending a course are already excited to be out of their offices and do something new. Capitalize on this excitement.

How to Increase the Impact of Training Using Storytelling

A trainer’s most important duty is to keep the students engaged. Students immersed in a training course are more likely to learn. In Module Sixteen, you will learn you can do this by telling compelling stories. Stories capture people’s imagination and help them to visualize a concept.

When it comes to training, you have two critical goals: to teach a new skill and increase the likelihood this new skill is retained long after the course.

Stories can serve both needs. The trainer can use the story to explain a particular concept or illustrate the benefits of following a specific attitude vividly. It is also easier to remember the story, which can reinforce the learning after the course. People can tell the story to others and thereby spread your training without your direct involvement.

Keeping Students Motivated

Motivated people learn better. The motivation keeps them excited about the course and further learning. In Module Seventeen, you will learn you need to be aware of this single parameter as a trainer. Learning speed is reduced when students start to get bored or confused, leading to more misunderstandings and a feeling there is no need to put any effort into learning.

If students are not motivated, they will be less engaged in an activity. When students are not motivated, they don’t learn.

It is a trainer’s responsibility to make a course engaging by maintaining energy and pace.

How to Be a Master Presenter

Providing a training course is much like providing a public performance. In Module Eighteen, you will learn people in your course will be looking at you more than anything or anyone else during the course. Your students will scrutinize your every move. Everything you do has meaning for them. Students will be particularly observant if they are new to the subject as well. After all, they are there to imitate and learn from you. You will be their role model and expert for a particular topic.

Countless observations show trainees are particularly sensitive to training performance. If a trainer’s performance is not good enough, they are more likely to receive poor scores at the end of the session. Students tend to be more forgiving about the content but fairly sensitive about performance. Sometimes, the trainer is not responsible for the content, so people know that blaming the trainer would be unfair. However, if the trainer is boring, doesn’t know how to teach, is difficult to understand, or is not up to date in their field, learners will not be pleased and will voice their displeasure.

As a result, to be a successful trainer, you continuously improve your presentation skills and public performance. In this Module, you will learn about a series of guidelines that can improve your presentation and public performance skills. 

Keeping it Interactive

A trainer leads participant-centered training, but sometimes you may almost wonder why you are there because things are going so well, which is a sign of excellent program design. Students are taking responsibility for their learning. Give yourself credit for setting up an excellent course since the learning going on wouldn’t be taking place without you.

Module Nineteen will give you some ways to create one of those energetic, interactive courses.

Why Asking Questions Can Significantly Improve Your Training Courses

Your role as a training facilitator is different from just lecturing. In Module Twenty, you will learn the goal is not to provide knowledge by giving a speech linearly; instead, you want to teach skills that students learn. To raise their awareness of a topic or give them clues on where to find more information about it, you want your students to learn a new skill, and requires participation and thinking. An important part of any effective training course is to encourage this thinking process, which can be achieved by asking questions. In this Module, you will learn about the benefits of asking questions, what to consider when asking questions, and how to ask them. 

Asking questions in a training course gives you the following fundamental benefits. Questions:

• raise interest in a focused area
• Increase participation and engagement to improve memory and recall
• improve thinking skills and the ability to think on the spot for answers. It also helps students to stay focused
• can help you assess students’ knowledge about a particular topic, which allows you to tailor the training course based on their current knowledge and specific needs
• help spread group knowledge, particularly important when teaching soft skills since a significant part of learning takes place by learning how others deal with specific situations
• encourage the expression of thoughts and feelings rather than the student remaining quiet and passive to create a trustable environment where students can freely talk about their problems and address them during the course

The Incredible Power of Praise

Suppose you are running a course on customer service skills. You provide examples and case studies and expect students to place themselves in a Customer Service Representative position. You expect them to suggest what they would do or say to address specific issues.

Now imagine if all you do throughout the course is to highlight students’ mistakes. As soon as they explain what they will say in a particular scenario, you tell them, “But, did you know you could say something better, like this…”

In Module Twenty-One, you will learn if this training style is repeated repeatedly, your students will start to feel they will always be punished for answering. The punishment is not directly negative; it is just that students start to feel they never get any credit for what they get right. In other words, they are not praised enough.

Research shows praising is one of the most important techniques for influencing people, particularly when it comes to learning. Nevertheless, many trainers don’t seem to realize the significance of praising, and the vast majority of them don’t make the best of this powerful psychological technique.

How to Maximize Learning by Treating Learners as Apprentices

Learning has been significantly instrumental in allowing humans to progress forward in history. Generation after generation, people learned from one another. With the absence of reading materials, books, and videos, people had to learn from observation and imitation. Over time a whole set of principles has been developed to accelerate this process. Along with this, our understanding of learning and training has also increased significantly in recent years.

In Module Twenty-Two, you will be introduced to various learning stages and will see how to relate these stages to your training courses so you can exploit them fully and maximize learning for your students.

Dealing with Difficult Students

As we have already discovered, training involves people who come to the course with different reasons and motivations. In Module Twenty-Three, you will learn to prepare for behaviors that can derail your training plan so you can continue to deliver effective training. Understand, too; these difficult behaviors can come from a variety of learner types and people. Practically anyone can have an off day and be considered difficult, even us trainers! Frustration, boredom, or personality characteristics can stretch you beyond the scope of training that you deliver.

Tackling Tough Topics

Some elements of training are difficult, but you’ll get through them because you are a professional. In Module Twenty-Four, you will learn how to facilitate a very sensitive subject or find yourself partway through a presentation and learn you have struck a nerve and will need to adjust your material.