Group-based learning - Essay Example

Group-based learning An excellent training session needs to be well planned. Planning, in this case, means contextualization and preparation of materials. A documented learning program needs to be accessed, understood and read, so as to determine the requirements of delivery. It is always crucial to understand the objectives of training and skill that the training participants require. This is vital because it facilitates the matching of the training packages with the training needs that are identified. This paper explores a set of discussion questions that would be used in a training discussion group. It explains the processes and principles that would be followed when planning, organizing, and delivering group based training. Project one. Leadership is a skill that is taught in attempts of developing leaders who are not only morally acceptable but also technically sound. In any work place, leadership skills are vital in facilitating the expansion and thriving of a company’s operations. This means that, organizational leaders who have leadership skills would be able to encourage work teams to work towards the set objectives thus improving the work place experience (TAEDEL401A, 2012). Additionally, leadership skills would stimulate a leader to transform the performance of an organization. It is a skill that boosts confidence among individuals in leadership positions. Learning leadership skills would not only increase enthusiasm among participants in leadership positions, but also harmonizes employees’ interests with the organizational goals. In this respect, the table (Table 1) outlines a set of discussion question in leadership. These questions are meant to establish the leader skills within all participants. Table 1: A table showing out questions on leadership for a training group. What communication strategies do leaders use in managing their organizations? What is the role of a leader in community involvement? How can a leader integrate and balance home life and work? What activities made your company to increase their profit? What strengths and talents do one value most in his day How does a leader arrange the employee’s expectations with his team strategy? What is the biggest personal satisfaction that could be realized in leadership? What are the qualities of a good leader? Participants. The participants of this training program would be divided into two groups. Each group shall have about five subjects. Each participant in the group would be required to give out his or her views concerning the discussion question. A printed work sheet having all questions shall be given to each participant. The members of each group shall appoint their group representative, who will be responsible for recording of all the discussed answers. The recorded results shall be presented at the end of the discussion. Rules. The following are the rules that all the participants of the group will follow. Each group member should not take part in actions that would affect the safety of the group. No information from the group would be displayed or shared to other groups. All group members should be kind to others. Profane, abusive, offensive or threatening language shall never be use in the group discussions. All group members shall be given an equal chance of participation in group discussions. The group discussion would take approximately 40 minutes. Procedure. Each participant shall be given a worksheet having questions that require answers. The trainer will display some PowerPoint slides with the discussion questions. Questions shall be read to the participants’ one after the other. Each participant will freely give out his own views concerning the discussion questions. Each opinion given out by participants shall be discussed fully by the group members and the agreed answers recorded in the given worksheet. A filled worksheet from each group shall be handed in for evaluation when the session comes to an end. Resources. The resources that would be needed for this session include training manuals, facilitator guide, user guides, training models, leadership case studies, assessment instruments, session plan, reference lists, handouts, operating procedures, learners’ check list, whiteboard illustrations, chats, text books, and proforma for results recording. Table I: Session Plans for the leadership training program. Estimated Time Content Resources 10 minutes Introduction to the Training Program Welcome, introduce yourself What will the training involve? Why the training? Activities of brainstorming- Issues and information needed by learners to familiarize leadership skills. Learning outcomes should be stated. Describe program sessions and the assessment method. Slide 1. Slide 2. White board. Slide 3. Slide 4. Slide 5. Session plan one Session Title Characteristics of a good leader. Estimated duration 40 minutes Delivery date and time Objectives of the session. By the end of the session learners should be able to describe and explain all the characteristics of exemplary leadership in an organisation. Methods for determining student understanding Brainstorming activity and participation in discussion group. Completion of the worksheets. Estimated Time Content Resources 5mins Introduction: Learning outcome for session one should be stated. Definition and overview of leadership traits. Discussion Activity- The questions on the slide and worksheet represents the different characteristics of exemplary leadership. This is meant to develop the leadership skills within learners. Divide the students into two groups having five individuals. Slide 6. Slide 7. 10mins Communication strategies Question. What communication strategies do leaders use in managing their organizations? Ensure each learner gives out his own opinion in the group. All the points and contributions from the participants should be noted down. Slide 8. 20 mins Role of a leader Question. What is the role of a leader in community involvement? How can a leader integrate and balance home life and work? What activities made your company to increase their profit? Provide photographs and names of different leaders in the organization. Allow members of each group to discuss and record the answers of the questions in a worksheet. Cover the points written on the slide. Slide 9. White board. Slide 10. Slide 11. Whiteboard. Worksheet. Photographs of leaders from different companies. 5 mins Conclusion: Review of the lesson. Summarize the content ( learners should do this) Review the learning outcomes. Confirm the satisfaction of the participants. Link to the session coming next (Strengths and talents of a good leader). Slide 12. Textbook. White board. Session plan two Session Title Strengths and talents of a good leader. Estimated duration 40 minutes Delivery date and time Objectives of the session. By the end of the session learners should be able to identify the strength and talents of a good leader. Methods for determining student understanding Brainstorming activity and participation in discussion group. Completion of the worksheets. Estimated Time Content Resources 5mins Introduction Learning outcome for session two should be stated. Definition and overview of leadership strength and talents. Discussion Activity- The questions on the slide and worksheet represents the different strengths and talents of outstanding leaders. This is geared towards development of the leadership skills within learners. P/P Slide 13. Slide 14. Slide 15. 10 mins Strengths and talents of a leader. Question. What strengths and talents do one value most in his day-to-day activities? What is the biggest personal satisfaction that could be realized in leadership? Ensure each learner gives out his own opinion in the group. All the points and contributions from the participants should be noted down. Slide 16. White board. Worksheet. Handouts. 20 mins Leadership qualities and expectations. Question. How does a leader arrange the employee’s expectations with the team strategy What are the qualities of a good leader? Allow members of each group to discuss and record the answers of the questions in a worksheet. Cover the points written on the slide Slide 17. Handouts. 5 mins Conclusion: Review of the lesson. Summarize the content (learners should do this). Review the learning objectives. Confirm the satisfaction of the participants. Slide 18. White board. Textbook. Project two. In a training program, the documentation of the learning program would be accessed by students. The students would read and get to understand it so as to establish the requirements of delivery (TAEDEL401A, 2012). It is extremely vital to understand and accept on the objectives, goals, and skill demand of the training participants. The identified needs would be easily matched with the qualification, training packages and the levels of qualification. Additionally it would be necessary to reach an agreement with parties like learners, funding bodies, work organisations, training personnel, and relevant stakeholders. After this, a relevant documentation to the packages and qualification would not only be accessed but also read and interpreted accurately. If this is done competency, and units that meet the needs of the students would easily be identified. Before the implementation of the training, it is vital to have the appropriate learners identified. Determination of the learning needs would be done depending on the learning objectives, and training goals. The characteristics of the individual learner would also be identified by the trainers. Trainers need basic information concerning the potential learners’ work experience, age, current competencies, and previous qualifications that relate to the pathway of training. Special needs, learning styles, cultural characteristics, learning outcomes, and training goals would be taken into consideration in terms of the profiles of learners. The analysis of profiles of the learner and needs of training would help to target the training accurately and make sure that students do not waste time in learning whatever they already know. Documentation access that is held by the organisation of work would facilitate the identification of individual learning characteristics and need. Information access from the organisation of work relating to knowledge and skill believed to be in demand in the future would take part in identification of individual and group learning needs. Constraints affecting the program of training, its delivery, and design include training attitude, organisation support, financial constrains, trainers availability, venue suitability, resources availability, learners and trainers compatibility, specific needs accommodation, diversity accommodation, practice opportunity availability, and cost constraints. Even, though, some constraints might be removed, the constraints would be managed by trainers ensuring working around constraints. Responsibilities and roles of the personnel need consultation with the organisation, client, supervisor and managers, RTO (Registered Training Organisation), learners, ITAB (industrial Advisory training body), ISC (industry skill council, safety and health experts, and assessors. In determining the responsibilities and roles of training and planning personnel, the following questions shall be answered. The reason for conducting training, participants of training, expectations and goals of the learning outcomes, the trainer, the availability of the training packages, adjustment of the training program, contextualization of the program, the designer and developer of the program, constraints applying in training and availability of resources. Session plan is a daily plan of the training program. Developing a session plan includes an outline of information about the content and objectives that would be addresses in a learning program. It also involves a learning activity and a delivery method description. Timelines required for each training section and the activity of learning would also be provided during the development of a session plan. Opportunities and points to be used in the formative assessment and the required learning resources for the training program would also be included in the plan. Learning principles would give out an insight concerning how the learners would learn. In education that is competency based the principles of learning shall be managed through motivation, being ready to learn, success, practice, repetition, reinforcement, and feedback. There are different types of learning theories with respect to lifespan, conditioning, stages, and evolution. Learning is defined as a change of behaviour. In this case, it refers to the external and internal learning manifestation. In learning one would gain information that is new, have extra information or have his current knowledge changed. A student would develop new insight, have previous knowledge reinforced, and have his patterns of thought redirected in response to the provided stimuli in the training situation. This means that a student would change his behaviour by use of cognitive processes. Contextualisation is the act of tailoring competency units so that they may not only reflect the locally required outcomes for an individual or an enterprise but also to suit the profile for a particular learner, and the local needs. This means that, competency units need to be tailored to suit the needs that are explicit. It involves providing additional training information that can suit the requirements of the organisation’s equipment, learner profile, and other needs. For learners with exceptional needs, it will be crucial to comply with equity and the access requirements. In this case, adjustments need to be made so as to enable the assessment candidate and the learner with exceptional needs to take part in the training and assessment process with no disadvantage. Circumstances that may be considered to be specific needs include disability, location, LLN, and cultural requirements. The trainers and RTOs should add the statement range. Additionally, the evidence guide should not have the competency outcomes distorted, should not have the contents of the performance criteria removed, and the competency application breadth should not be diminished. The contextualisation should also not interfere with the competency endorsed units’ integrity. The selection of the learning material shall be done in a manner so us to fulfill the specific requirements of a certain learner group. Additionally, the content for a program of learning needs to be researched properly. The learning materials, on the other hand, need to be accessed, located, and evaluated for relevance, quality, and content so as to find out whether they would satisfy the needs of each group of learning. Apart from this, instruments for gathering evidence, assessment tools, newly developed materials, and the existing material should be adopted for the purpose of learning. Whenever new materials are developed, there should proper scrutiny of the materials, so as to find out how efficient they could be in meeting the learners’ needs. This will also help in determining how well the materials would be mapping against the particular criteria of learning for accreditation. A learning material is any resource that could be useful during learning. Example of learning materials include: training manuals, facilitator guide, user guides, training models, leadership case studies, assessment instruments, session plan, reference lists, handouts, operating procedures, learners’ check list, Chalk board illustrations, chats, text books, and proformas for results recording. Finalising the learning materials and facility organisation would be done by following a number of steps. To start with, during planning for the training, it would be necessary to ensure that the physical learning materials are available whenever they are needed. The organization of the learning resources will rely on the employment sector, study area, industry sector, and the level of qualification. In order to organize the facility, trainers would have the required tasks demonstrated to the learners. The learners would then practise and perform the relevant tasks. Trainers will be making sure that the learning materials are available. In this regard, the learning resources should not only be sufficient to the participants but also satisfy the specified learning needs. The equipment, technological aids, and machinery need to be tested in order to have a proper operation and to make sure that their operation is well known to the trainer. All the requirements of safety should be followed accordingly. Overall arrangements would be confirmed with learners, organisational managers, supervisors that would be responsible in monitoring the progress of learners, and other personnel affected by the process of learning. For this to be done effectively, a written acceptance and a learning confirmation of the training program would be required from the learners but also from the organisational management. For instance, confirming delivery arrangements to the learners would involve giving the learners information involving a summary and description of the program’s contents, expected outcomes of learning, program’s benefits, competencies to be developed and undertaken, delivering of the training, RPL process that learners could apply, assessment process, program’s milestones and timeframe, and qualifications to be achieved. Additionally, participants would be given information concerning the accreditation of the training, expected support, accommodation of individual needs, equity an access compliance, enrolment, selection criteria, and the perquisites. A session plan would be followed whenever possible. In other cases, the session plan would be modified so as to satisfy the changing needs of learners, to suit the conditions of the environment, to enhance new training materials accommodation, and to ensure resource and equipment availability. The session plan would be useful to the participants and the trainer. They help in ensuring the proper utility of the training time and ensure that no step of training is omitted. The plan helps participants to be able to know whatever they will learn, training method, activities of learning, and assessment. When the session plan is modified, the role of a trainer would be to guide and initiate conceptual change through the provision of information that is accurate. A trainer would provide the required prompts of learning and demonstration, give out clarity, examples analogies, accurate feedback, and responsive assistance. They would also allow time for practice. The group’s diversity would be used as a resource that would support learning. In this case, the training value is obtained from interactions between the training participants and the facilitator. Discussion, exchange of ideas and perceptions, problem-solving, and experience sharing is likely to enhance competencies and new skills development. This is a more powerful resource than the lectures from a trainer. Group participants would bring different types of experiences, knowledge and expertise to the session of training. Diversity would be valued and used with the participants of the group to enhance their active participation. Ideas abilities, knowledge, experience, and opinions would be shared in the group. This would, therefore, be a useful resource in learning. The delivery methods would be adapted so as to meet traits of different groups of learning. Facilitation methods, which suit the, characteristics of each learner shall be used for the specific group of learning. Trainers, on the other hand, would be observant, flexible, fully prepared, and insightful to change the training tone. For example, the delivery methods include demonstration, role playing, discussion, brainstorming, presentation, case study, field trips, and lectures. Effective facilitation skills would be demonstrated by the trainers ensuring that learners know whatever would be happening in the group discussion. The learners would also understand the process of learning and given a chance to ask questions concerning the delivery methods or have the clarification of issues. The trainer would ask the learners whatever interests them, utilize presentations, break learning into small components, enhance periodic checks, change the training pace, and ask or give out feedback to the participants. The facilitator would ensure utility of all the senses during the training. The learner progress would be consistently and regularly monitored in order to make sure that outcomes of training would be achieved, and that the learner needs would have been taken into consideration. Monitoring of learning would be done through observation, summative and formative assessment. Monitoring of the learning process could be done by the individual learners. Whenever the monitoring displays problems that are associated with the learning then the problems would timely be addressed thus ensuring that the training remains on the truck and that the outcomes of learning are achieved. Documentation of the learning progress would be done through making off a learner’s progress in terms of assessed skills and demonstration on the training plan. All documents useful to summative and formative assessment would be properly filed. An adjustment is a change in the process of training in order to fulfil the demand of a learner. Adjustments towards delivery would be vital so as to satisfy the specific circumstances. Identification of specific needs would show out an adaptation need for training material, reasonable adjustments, and training processes of assessment. Reasonable adjustments would be made so as to enhance equity in ability and access to participation of individuals with exceptional needs. For example, the adjustments that would be done to satisfy the individual needs of learners include flexibility in assessment and training timetables to give room for medication administration and fatigue; adjusting the physical environment, and contextualisation of assessment and training methods that are proposed in order to meet the specialized learning needs. Special needs students, for example, would need accommodation and attention. In appropriate behaviour include bullying, violation of language, disruptive behaviours, and racial, gender or cultural insensitivities among others. It would be necessary to establish ground rules that would be used in training. This will inform the participants about the expected behaviour while in the training session. Apart from this, groups of learning could also establish their own guiding rules. In this case, the rules would guide the interaction of people, and use of language while in the training environment. The rules set would comply with the expected safety consideration. The records of learners would be maintained according to the work products, learner’s submission, trainer checklists, trainer observed documentation and notes, third party report, learner self assessment, and results of assessment. Apart from this, performance results would be changed into reports that would inform organisational boards, management, regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders. References TAEDEL401A. (2012). Plan, organise and deliver group-based learning. Retrieved on 8th July 2012 from http://firstchoice.elearninglogin.com/ Read More