ACTA V5 Module 1 Learning Experience

This is a walkthrough of my Module 1 so I can reference to it in the future. It has been slightly modified so it does not disclose company-related information and it has been structured into a more story flow.

Based on lessons from Module 1 thus far, I have learnt the different facilitation techniques, profiling of our learners, and the many adult learning theories: MK’ Andragogy & Self-Directed Learning, JM’s Transformational Learning, SB’s Critical Thinking, Gary Mitchell’s 10 Adult Learning Principles.

Faciliation Techniques
Previously, I learned training and facilitation techniques from my US counterparts which have a very interactive style of delivering the content. I related the techniques (meaningful learning) to what I have encountered previously by making a summary of it below:

a) Hello! - This is what we also typically use for ice-breaking. The main difference is we pair the learners up and have one learner introduce another learner.
b) Think Group Share - This is one of the most frequently used techniques when we break the students up into groups.
c) Jigsaw - See below 'Gallery Walk'
d) Gallery Walk - We used this together with Jigsaw where learners critique and evaluate the other learners project summary.
e) Critical Thinking - Have not used this technique
f) Peer Learning / Voting - We only use the voting technique when evaluating exercises in understanding their competency in them.

1. Target learners
In Module 1, we learned about 10 pertinent information of learner’s profile. From these, I find that the following are most applicable for use to profile the staff in my organisation.

a. The first is Job Categories because my company is a functionally-structured organization. The functional axis is stronger than its matrix and project teams. Understanding what job categories they belong will help ensure that relevant examples and functional alignments in the delivery of the training content. Within each functional category, there is the different position level. Depending on whether they belong to leadership, middle management or staff level, the learners profile will also be different. 

b. The second is Demographic. Due to the wide dispersion of our staff across different Asia Pacific sites, there are cultural understandings that we may need to consider. Lessons start-time and end-time varies across the countries, the delivery style also need to be varied where students in Japan are comfortable with a lecture-style approach while students in Australia require more hands-on.


c. The third is Attitude. It is important to understand why the students sign up for the courses in the first place. This is done through the pre-course survey and project team teleconference to understand why they signed up for the course. Courses that are enforced by supervisors will usually see less enthusiasm from the students compare to those who signed up base on their own initiative. There are also some students who are enthusiastically vocal which is good to tap on their enthusiasm to help raise the students’ interests. 

As can be seen from the photo below, attitude are largely influence by their value system. On top of their individual value system, there is also the company value system which all staff should also adhere to. 

2. Adult learning principles / theories
We learned from 4 theorists about adult learning principles

a. One that is most relevant to help learners in my organisation to achieve the learning outcomes is Malcom Knowles self-directed learning. Our company culture and values emphasizes on individualism and freedom. This builds on the premise that each individual will be accountable for their own growth while aligning with the overall company direction and vision. Building upon that, our Human Resource appraisal system has an individual development plan system where each one of us has to plan on how we plan to develop and grow our skills and experiences (Knowles' individuals diagnose their own learning needs, take initiative to find out what and how they want to learn, and formulate their own learning goals). This cycle will repeat itself every 4 months where the manager will review with the staff on their individual learning plans and whether it has been achieved. (Knowles' evaluate learning outcomes) The manager will provide guidance and coaching to staff that needs any help (Knowles' choose and implement appropriate learning strategies). Budget will be centrally allocated by the Human Resource department where staff can freely utilize the budget for any formal learnings which they have set themselves to do. Learnings are not restricted to just formal courses but are allocated base on actual doing (70%) and via courses (30%). The Human Resource department at the end of each year will collate on the learning aspiration which each staff set up to do. And will source for common courses which the staff has set their targets on, examples such as Office suite of productivity courses (Knowles' identify the human support and material resources for learning). 

In class, we discussed about Malcom Knowles by sorting out play cards below and did a flipchart exercise.  



b. The other is Stephen Brookfield’s Critical Thinking. This is part of our focus on Continuous Improvement where at its core are Lean and Six Sigma principles towards problem solving. All staff are expected to be proficient in problem saving which start off with identifying a problem or opportunity to solve (event trigger), thereafter they need to analyse the current state (appraisal), moving into future state and deliverables (exploration and develop alternative perspective), before finally moving into the implementation phase (integrate).

In class, we discussed about Critical Thinking by sorting out play cards below and did a flipchart exercise.

3. Andragogy and Pedagogy

Further, learning principles differ between adults and children and defined as andragogy and pedagogy respectively. Amongst these, I have noted 3 main observations when I deliver training in my organisation.

a. One of these includes not knowing when to apply on the training received. Only a few learners were able to indicate on when they are able to apply what was taught in their day to day work. The rest of the learners require additional guidance on when to apply in their day to day work and require additional guidance.

b. Some of the learners in the US are driven to attend classes’ according to directive from their supervisors. It has been observed that classes consisting of staff from the same department due to the directive are generally less enthusiastic. They are not motivated to attend the classes.

c. As mentioned in point 1, a number of training requires more guidance and directives. The learners seem to be exhausted from the work or they are using lessons time to take a break away from work. A comfort zone seems to be developed from sitting in class and just listening to the lecturer.

In class, the differences between andragogy and pedagogy was explained to us below. 

4. Catering to different learning styles

We learned the different learning styles from Dun and Dun’s VATK or Visual, Auditory, Tactile and Kinaesthetic. 

a. For people who are visual, I will employ the following learning strategies of using diagrams, movie clips and key points on powerpoint presentation. The reasons are visual-oriented learning style people learn better and faster through the content they see through their eyes. Utilizing modern audio-visual technology and information technology, the most common form of deliveries is via powerpoint presentation, with strong diagrammatic representations in there. At regular intervals, more complex communications can be presented through movie clips (sometimes stream off YouTube)

b. Next for people who are auditory, I will employ the learning strategies of using verbal instructions. The reasons are auditory-oriented learning style people learn better and faster through content they received through their ears. It is through this opportunity that I can relate the content and reinforce the content with examples and stories to further strengthen their understanding.

c. Third for people who are tactile, I will employ the learning strategies of using their fingers to write, draw or touch the information that is being communicated to them. The reasons are tactile-oriented learning style people learn better when their hands move while the information is being processed. Tactile people can be seen in classes when they flip their pens while listening or notes are deliberately written in their books. 

d. Finally for people who are kinaesthetic, I will employ the learning strategies of engaging them via experiences such as practices, role play or peer teaching. The reasons are kinaesthetic-oriented learning style people learn better and faster through experiencing ‘doing it first’, having a hands-on approach towards learning.

Below is an image of our class learning styles. All the learners either fall under Auditory or Tactile learning style. We will learn best when the trainer explains verbally to us on the content, using videos or sharing on the best approach to learn easily. 

5. Barriers to learning

In my organisation, the most common barriers faced by learners are ‘Do not have the time’ and ‘Unfamiliar with how to apply what they have learnt '. 

Reasons being there’s a very strict control on hiring of staff globally, as a result, each staff need to cover a few roles concurrently. On top of that, there’s also an equal emphasis of work-life balance, the evenings and weekends are spent with family instead of on work (contrast that to Japanese-culture organizations). The delivery contents for Project Management and Six Sigma that we follow are align with corporate standard materials which are mainly theory and engineering focused. The Asia Pacific staffs are mainly sales offices, thus they find difficulty in bridging between what was taught and how they can apply in their daily work. 

Some methods to overcome them are as what our CEO has mentioned in the 2015 corporate video is “How can we be more effective in our work.” There is a need to relook at our organizational processes and responsibilities to review on how we can do work more effective, thus be able to free up time to learn and in turn improve the productivity in work. To do that, we will have to deliver our content in a more relevant way.

A number of barriers to learning was discussed in class below. 

6. Wlodkowski’s Motivational Framework

Wlodkowski's 4 foundational principles of motivation were explained to us in class. The picture below shows what the main motivation principles. 

When I'm conducting training, I am more inclined to employ Inclusion and Competence. This is because the learners are able to share their considerable experiences with the rest of the class. It allows students from other functional areas in the company to also understand the experiences of working in another department. An important element for my learners is how they can improve the work they are doing through the training sessions. Many of the learners explained that they have too much work to do and there’s not enough time. If the training is able to help them conduct their work more effectively, that will be of great interests to them.

7. Retention Strategies

In my observation, there are a good number of retention strategies to help staff in my organisation to recall and apply their learning.

a. Of these, the first is Organization. I find the first to be of particular importance to my organization due to the values it expounds – individualism and freedom. As such, information and content might get a bit disorganized sometimes. The act of sorting out information and relating how they all link together will strengthen the learners’ ability to link seemingly independent content together.

b. Rehearsal is the next important point. We as adults’ learners get bombarded with lots of information both online and with fellow colleagues. The importance of each content is diluted due to the vast amount of information. The only way to distinguish normal information from important must remember and know points are to keep repeating the message.

c. Meaningful Learning is the final retention strategies in which learning do not stop in the classroom. But it continues via a quarterly online forum where new applications from the learners are shared with other learners in this Community of Practice.

We walked through 6 factors that contribution to retention below and using the I MPROVE method, it will easily allow us to map the words out. 

Continuing with the second segment of Module 1, we touched on the professional roles and moral obligations of trainers as well as the difference between them. 6 common ethical issues were highlighted and we were guided through a 5-step process in managing them.  

1. Being a professional trainer

In my organisation, a professional trainer is deemed as someone who has experience in
a) The subject of delivery (offer knowledge and expertise), so they are able to deliver the content base on their actual experience and they do not have to spend as much time reading up the content before hand.

b) Able to communicate the content with clarity and is this is an important prerequisite due to the multinational cross-cultural nature of the company. The message need to be communicated across consistently. 

c) They need to show enthusiasm in the content they are delivering (be open and approachable). It is because there is a cultural perception in the company that trainers from the US are enthusiastic and able to bring up the interests of the learners. The trainers need to be able to relate interesting anecdotes and stories to captivate the learners, and thereby creating a conducive learning environment for learners. 

In addition, the moral obligations expected are

a) Ensuring safety and well-being of the learners. As trainers, we should also check the training facility to ensure that the learning environment is safe for the learners. An example of which at the start of a class, trainers will need to explain on the emergency evacuation route from the training room to the learners.

b) The second moral obligation is to be culturally sensitive to the learners in each country. The speed and interaction with the students in each country varies. In China and Japan, the students are less out-spoken and thus are more willing to engage in lecture-style delivering. While India, Australia and Singapore can be more interactive and driven from students.

c) The last moral obligation is to give due credit to the quotes, delivery style or unique perspectives that are shared by different trainers and learners. This is in appreciation to the efforts and creativity that the respective trainers and learners contributed to the training.

In class, we learnt about 35 for the first time. And almost everyone come to the same conclusion on what is meant by Professional Role and what is Moral Obligations in less than 10 words as seen below. 

The qualities of professional role is again emphasized to us via play cards.  

2. Common ethical dilemmas

Of all the ethical dilemmas as seen in the image below that we have learnt in class, the 2 most common issues that could potentially happen in my organisation are

a) Learner-trainer relationship - It is because the learners are also fellow colleagues with the trainer. The learners maybe in a more senior position than the trainer or in other work context, the role of the learner-trainer may havw swap. Thus it is sometimes difficult to maintain professional learner-trainer relationships.

b) The second issue is course attendance. As courses are typically held in the office, learners may arrive back late to class after breaks due to the demand of their work. They will miss out on the content that was delivered and may not be proficient in some contents which they have missed out.

Of these, I will choose one of the ethical dilemma to resolve using the 5-Step Ethical Decision Making Framework as follows:

Step 1:Ethical issue identified is a) learner-trainer relationship

Step 2:It arises because learners are also fellow colleagues. The learners themselves maybe in a more senior position or there are cross dependency with the work they are doing.

Step 3: It is a training environment where I am the main facilitator and I have expertise in certain areas which I could share with them. Even though the learners may come from different departments or different positions, in class all learners should be regarded to be equal. The alternative actions chosen should be Rights approach and Fairness / Justice Approach. These two approaches are chosen because all the learners attend the course, sacrificing their time, is to learn and bring back what was taught. And as learners in classroom context, a meritocratic approach should be taken in evaluating the learners.

Step 4: On the first day of the training delivery, the context and mindset should be set right. This can be piloted in one of the shorter duration courses (2-days or 3-days long). The trainer will explain on the context and mindset so the learners can understand.

Step 5: After the training, conduct an After Action Review to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach. Conduct a survey with the learners to gauge their perception.

3. My own CET Professional Values and Ethics

After reflecting on my ACTA learning, I find that the 2 most applicable values and ethics to me as a Continuing Education and Training (CET) Professional (as seen in the picture below) are:

a) Aware - As an in-house trainer communicating with learners from India, China, Japan, Australia and Singapore, there is a need to be aware of the diverse cultural backgrounds. At the sametime, I have to explain and align them to the company mission and strategies. Thus the 'Aware' value is most applicable in my context.

b) Innovative - As someone who drives Continuous Improvement and Excellence mindset in the company, I find 'Innovative' value to resound closely with my area of work. The way learners learn and the way trainers deliver the training need to be constantly improved each time it is done. 

Reflection-On-Action

After completing Module 1, my most significant take-away is the exposure to the different facilitation techniques. I'm amazed on how the modules are delivered almost in an entirely facilitation-driven manner. Prior to each lesson, the trainer will need to spend a lot of time in preparing for a facilitation-centered class. At the same time, there is a need to understand the learners profile and how the trainer can best structured the lessons to their profile.