Due Dates. Written report due May 20; Panel discussion due May 21.Context Selection. We are a learning society. To give you a sense of the variety of places where formal attention to training is provided and to begin to consider some of the issues involved in offering training, individuals in the class are asked to do a mini-case study of the training program of one organization. Begin by selecting an organization where training or education is provided. It can be internal (e.g., employee training, or external (e.g., customer education). Or you can choose to select a group of two or three like organizations and study how their education and training offerings are designed.
A partial list of places where training and/or education occurs includes:
I'm sure you can all add to this list.
- large companies providing employee training
- small companies whose business is training
- community colleges
- local parks and recreation departments
- museums, zoos, botanical gardens, planetariums, and the like
- professional associations
- non-profit agencies
- companies offering language learning
- continuing education programs of universities
For your organization, you are asked to do a mini-case study of the training/education they provide. You may want to begin by studying a list of your organization's current offerings. Some of the questions you will want to investigate include the following:
- Who is the audience?
- How do you think the need for these offerings is determined?
- Describe the array of offerings in general terms (content, site, time required, cost, credentials of instructor(s), possible follow-up)
- Are the offerings one-off or part of a sequence or a program of some kind?
- How are the offerings marketed to potential consumers? Are they required?
- What aspects of the program particularly interest you?
- What issues and concerns surround the training activity?
Written Report. Write a descriptive summary of your mini-case investigation and follow it with some reflective comments and any generalizations, conclusions, or speculations you may have on the topic of user education. If you have collected any printed materials about the training offerings, it would be useful to include them with your report. Your report will probably be between 4-6 pages long, independent of any attachments.
Panel Discussion. For the presentation part of this assignment, you will be grouped with 2-3 other students in a panel with an opportunity to practice discussion leadership skills. Meet with your group (class time will be provided for your meeting) to integrate your dicussion topics and to develop some generalized discussion questions. Each of you should plan to pose one of the questions introducing it with a 1-2 minute summary of your individual investigation and then leading the class in a 3-4 minute discussion of your question (and possible follow-up prompts).
The panel discussions will also provide the opportunity to respond and engage with the discussion when you are part of the audience.
Revised May 13, 2005.