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RREETTHHIINNKKIINNGG ““GGOO GGRREEEENN”” ,, TTHHEE TTRRAAIINNIINNGG WWAAYY

It seems like everyone is interested in ―going green‖ these days. Leaving a smaller

carbon footprint is a hot (and important) topic of discussion around the world. However,

at Michaels & Associates, we like to take a slightly offbeat, unconventional look at

current trends and consider how they can help our own little world—the world of

instructional design. So let’s rethink ―go green‖, the training way!

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The Three R’s

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear ―go green‖? Of course! It’s Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The 3 R’s

icon represents the need for ―waste minimization.‖ The goal of the 3 R’s is to extract the maximum practical benefits

from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste. You probably know how to reduce your personal

carbon footprint, but by applying the concept of the 3 R’s to your training projects, you’ll see how to reduce your

training footprint as well.

Let’s think about the 3 R’s as they impact training:

Reduce

In a few easy steps, you can reduce your workload for your next training project by taking what you have, organizing the content and

paring things down to just the key elements. Reducing your material helps you extract the maximum practical benefit from the available

information.

Reuse

It’s simple to identify the training content ―keepers‖ to reuse in your next training development cycle – determine which portions are

current, repurpose existing development templates and take advantage of tried-and-true techniques. Reusing your material and

processes is another great way to extract the maximum practical benefit from the available information. It reduces costs, and that has to

improve your standing in the corporate budget process.

Recycle

Post-training, use the lessons learned process to figure out what worked. Then recycle the winning ideas and techniques to incorporate

in your next training project. Recycling your best practices helps you generate the minimum amount of waste in your training.

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How Green is Your Training, Really?

Before you begin the greening process on your training, get a feel for where you’re at right now. How much effort do

you currently invest in applying the 3 R’s to your existing content, ideas and techniques prior to starting a new project?

If you’re already on track, chances are your training development projects are similarly streamlined and ultra-

effective—ecologically effective, so to speak. If your training is unkempt and could use a little greening up, consider

these ideas and what you can do right now to go green!

1. Reduce Your Information Overload

In the world of training—and the world in general, too—information overload tends to stress people

out. When you go green by weeding out excess content, you’re simultaneously creating

environmentally friendly training! The most effective way to reduce content is to pare down the pile

of extraneous facts to the ―golden nuggets‖ of essential information.

How can you implement this strategy most effectively? First, perform an in-depth needs analysis to assess what is

relevant and current. Next, roll up your sleeves and get to work tossing out anything that seems outdated and

unnecessary based on the analysis. Some other tips for your cleaning up your training include:

Reduce content by ―chunking‖ information into digestible bits that learners can easily take in. You can do this by

concentrating on small chunks of information that contain only the pertinent data.

Reduce the amount of onscreen and printed text, and look for pictures that paint a thousand words. This easy step

aids visual learners as well as kinesthetic and intellectual learners; these learners both tend to be more engaged in

graphics, illustrations or charts.

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Reduce boredom by decreasing audio or lecture and increasing interactivity.

This makes your training more engaging and draws learners into the learning process.

Reduce restrictions on how the training is approached. Allowing more user-generated content (such as blogs, wikis

and forums) and self-exploration (such as online scavenger hunts and case studies to solve) is one way to achieve

this goal. Assist participants to develop peer or mentor

relationships on the pathway toward more informal

learning, too.

REDUCE: In a Nutshell

These content reduction

techniques seem simplistic,

but they work. Try them in

your next training session,

and you may see that you

really can have too much of a

good thing! Some courses are

packed with more content

than they really need, and

learners may be

overwhelmed with too much

knowledge. Weed out the

excess content and text to

make your training short,

sweet and interactive and

you’ll create a charged

learning environment with

genuinely engaged learners.

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2. Reuse Your Information “Gems”

Once you’ve reduced the quantity of information, think about how you can reuse the good stuff. When you go green with your training, you’ll probably

be able to reuse a sizable portion of your existing materials. Skim off the ―best of the best‖ from prior projects and consider different presentation

approaches. What you don’t want is a small project that ―grows‖ on you—increasing your training footprint.

Some workable reuse techniques involve performing a detailed task analysis to keep training goals on track and tapping into the skills of your

coworkers. By enlisting the help of a coworker to perform quick ―sizing‖ checkups along the way, you’ll ensure your material isn’t growing out of

proportion. Here are some other tips and tricks:

Reuse shared objects from a content management system. Even if your system is informal,

you can probably find some content to draw from.

Reuse user-generated content. This information may be locked in someone’s

head—but it’s very important to pick these experts’ brains and pull out the good

stuff.

After sifting through what you find, identify what’s pertinent and distribute it through

mentorships and forums.

To beef up the instructional side even further, add links in the training that point back to new

content found on internal forums, wikis, blogs, discussion boards and other company forums for

information exchange.

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Reuse the available templates. Not sure whether templates exist? Ask around. Some of your industrious employees

and coworkers may have already created something that suits your needs.

Reuse any formal reporting generated by previous

training through the ―lessons learned‖ process to

help refine the next training project. You may

find that an entire topic can be restructured as a

job aid or self-paced activity.

Reuse facilitators and SMEs as high-performance experts that can boost participant

learning experiences by delivering advanced training topics. If you’re developing

facilitator-led training for these types of topics, you may be able

to skip the basics by teaching them online or via job aids,

freeing up valuable class time to focus on the advanced

subjects.

Reuse icons and other graphics from similar training projects

for your new project. There’s no use reinventing (or redrawing,

in this case) the wheel if you have perfectly good graphics to

choose from. To make this reuse possible, consider building an

online graphic library with thumbnails of the graphics.

REUSE: In a Nutshell

Creating new training does

not imply that everything

needs to be done from

scratch. You may have

terrific, high-quality content

right under your nose!

Sometimes, you can actually

eliminate the need to

recreate or redesign your

training by repurposing

content wisely. Identify

what’s appropriate for your

needs and then reuse as much

as possible. Include shared

content, user-generated

content, templates and your

SMEs as part of your effort to

go green.

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3. Recycle Your Ideas and Techniques

When your project is complete, it’s time for the acid test: Did the training pass its intended purpose? Evaluating

training is a great way to find out what worked—and what didn’t. Recycle the ideas and techniques that worked well

in your next green training project! Here are some other techniques for recycling your training:

Recycle by repackaging. It’s fun and easy to put together a cleverly wrapped gift for a friend

using recycled paper and packaging, but did you know it’s just as easy to repackage your

training? Consider taking the original content and recreating it with new formats or new training

techniques to generate enthusiasm and spark new ideas. For example, in just a few hours, you

can take a PowerPoint presentation from a facilitator-led course and turn it into e-learning using

a product such as Captivate or Articulate. Training delivery methods are evolving, so don’t be

scared to try something new as part of your repackaging effort. There’s always a new media

around the corner that may catch and hold your learners’ interest.

Recycle the role of the learner by allowing them to become more actively involved in the training

experience. For example, survey learners for overall training goals and ask what they really want out of the

training. Engage learners in the process of generating assessment techniques, and have them participate

in peer reviews as well. Then, when training is over, allow the learners to evaluate the course and provide

feedback on how it can be improved for other learners.

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Recycle ILT as a recorded webinar or podcast. This recycling technique works particularly

well for auditory learners. It also results in portable content—you can extract some of the ―gold

nuggets‖ from the recording and post them on company forums.

Recycle your static corporate websites or Learning Management System (LMS)

to become more community-based.

As examples:

Use document sharing and community building tools to strengthen and reinforce training.

Create website portals for informal learning that can be incorporated in training exercises.

Use forums, wikis, blogs or FAQs where learners can turn for help.

Recycle employee ideas and interests. Your company’s next innovative idea for training

development and delivery may be sitting in the cubicle next door! Along the same lines, solutions

to your next training challenge could come from a hobby or interest outside of work. Relating

tasks to your learners’ fields of interest results in learners who readily ―tune in‖ to your training.

Recycle knowledge by asking learners to contribute to class blogs, discussion boards or other

communication forums. Learners in the future can benefit from this knowledge and continue

building up the ―knowledge bank‖ once it’s established.

RECYCLE: In a Nutshell

Recycling is one of the fastest

and easiest ways to green

your training, and it doesn’t

have to be time-consuming or

costly, either. Repackaging is

one method to consider, but

look at recycling learner

roles as well. Make sure that

you use company websites,

wikis, blogs and other forums

for information exchange to

augment and reinforce your

training.

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Remember the Three R's

By going green, you’ll have more effective training—and more satisfied learners. Just remember to reduce, reuse and recycle when you want to create

ecologically effective training! If you would like to know more, contact us. We’re here to help!

Michaels & Associates – We’ll make your competition green with envy.

marketing@michaelsandassoc.com michaelsandassoc.com toll-free: 877-614-8440