Gilles Chamberland, an expert on training issues and teaching methods and head of consulting firm Chamberland Services-Conseils, dispenses training for Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA) on the theme of designing captivating and effective training activities.
What is the purpose of this training?
It involves providing people who design and dispense training with a few tips to allow them to fulfil two criteria: to be effective and interest their students. There are currently many people who thoroughly master the contents of their field of expertise. The problem is that they don’t have the teaching skills to convey it, so there is a need in the market for advice on how to develop training that will meet the target goal, i.e. the retaining of important information.
Are there tips to make a training session interesting ?
It comes down to the trainer. I think there are three kinds of trainers. First, the storyteller, who contents him or herself with simply delivering the content. The spiel may be interesting because the topic is, but the method is itself mechanical. Sadly, this is the case with much of the training given today. Then you have the singer, who jazzes up the content, adapts it and brings it to life. And finally, the dancer—the ideal to which all trainers should aspire. This type of trainer adjusts the delivery, adapts the teaching method to the audience and responds to the energy of students.
Specifically, how is the dancer style manifested?
First of all, the trainer asks students what they expect from the training. The principle is simple: “You want to learn such and such? That’s great, because I will be covering that in part 2.” Such a method is guaranteed to generate interest.
Variety is also a key ingredient. Teaching methods should be varied. After 20 minutes of lecturing, students’ attention starts to wane. That’s when the time is right to interact with them, for instance by asking what types of situations they have been faced with in their careers, how they handled them, and explaining what they could have done differently. Role playing can also be useful. To maintain a learning focus, be concise.
The final key element is pace. Training is like a movie—the director must grab the public’s attention at the start and mark them at the end. There should also be high points throughout, however, that the audience will remember. It is therefore essential to properly analyze the message that you want to convey, in order to organize these high points as a function of what must be retained. The objective is for students to be able to render the key points covered by the trainer in a minute, at the end of the training.
Facilitating the retention of information
There are many ways of doing this. An acronym can be used to help remember key points. For example, SMART sums up the method used to set Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Time objectives.
Another time-tested method to help learners remember things over the long term is repetition. The problem is that this can be boring. The first time I tell someone something, it’s interesting. The second time, it can be annoying, and the third time, the person wonders if I think he or she is an idiot. To avoid this, you have to alternate between methods used to deliver the message. For example, you can start with a classic talk, then have students apply the principles in a role-playing exercise, and finally conduct a debriefing to analyze what errors were made and what was well understood. This way, the message is repeated three times, but without boring or annoying anyone.
Gilles Chamberland is also the author of two books published by the Presses de l’Université du Québec: “Jeu, simulation et jeu de rôle” and “20 formules pédagogiques.”