Blended Learning Curriculum

Blended Learning Curriculum: Text

TRHRD 560: Training Systems in Business and Industry

I am able to design a training curriculum that justifies the need for new ICT systems to facilitate training delivery.

I created this artifact as the final project for Training Systems in Business and Industry, a course that I took in the Fall of2020. The document is a full training proposal that describes a problem, the training methods and techniques to be used, and the proposed budget. It showcases my knowledge and experience in designing blended learning programs.

Blended Learning Curriculum: Publications

Training Proposal

Blended Learning Curriculum: Text

What did you learn?

This particular proposal is a technical training for salespeople. The goal is to increase revenue by improving the sales representatives' knowledge in the digital IT ecosystem products they sell. The plan takes into to account the all-remote status of many organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, by proposing a hybrid asynchronous online and virtual ILT course to certify employees of a fictional company in the four pillars of the digital IT ecosystem - End User Computing, Infrastructure, Security, and Applications. It proposes using a mobile-friendly "microlearning" approach for the asynchronous online component, which will allow learners to easily access content outside of the office in preparation for a VILT workshop where they will practice the skills learned.

How did you learn this?

Prior to taking the course, I had anticipated doing research into ICT systems for training, with a focus on learning management systems, as per my emphasis competency. However, the course had a different instructor than in past years, and as result the final semester assignment was changed from a research-based to a real-world application project. While a practical application was not an unwelcome idea to me, this change forced me to pivot in order to align the project with my program goals. Based on that, I decided to create a proposal for a training that would require the use of IT systems for remote training, by applying the AGILE design model to create a program that would be run on a rolling basis and continuously revised. Iteration and revision would use Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation as a framework for assessing reaction and learning on a quarterly basis, and return on investment (ROI) annually in order to justify the cost of the ICT systems used to host this training.

What are some challenges you overcame?

The most difficult part of this project was determining the ROI criteria, as it would have required visibility into sales metrics which I did not have available to me for this project. Rather than trying set a hard ROI number as the success measure for this program, in the final proposal I ended up recommending a formula to use if sales metrics were available. In an actual project, L&D would work with Sales to determine the target metrics and evaluate ROI using the formula: [(Y/Y target metric − Cost of Training)/Cost of Training] × 100 = ROI.

How will you apply this information in the future?

I came away from this project wanting to expand my knowledge the area evaluating of training effectiveness. ROI for training is extremely difficult to assess, especially for soft skills that are often difficult to measure, or for which measurables may not exist at all. I believe that big data may one allow us as L&D professionals to one day finally crack this nut, by allowing for the collection of detailed behavioral analytics. The challenge will be finding ways to mine these analytics in a manner that is both ethical and cost-effective. This is an area I would like to do more research into, potentially as part of my qualitative research capstone for Technology Adoption and Implications in the spring of 2021.