Purpose of assignment: For learners to apply technical principles of program design, and to apply collaboration and teamwork skills necessary for the successful completion of a team project.

Learning Outcome:

• Analyze factors impacting adult learning.

• Examine components of program planning.

• Apply strategies to determine learning needs.

• Design a training program that incorporates fundamental components of program planning.

Scenario: Imagine you are a team of HR professionals who have been tasked by upper management to design a training program for employees within your organization. Management has identified a specific training need they would like you to address. As a team, you will work together to create a professional, quality training program by addressing the key components of program design and development.

Instructions:

Address each of the following sections in a thorough and reflective manner. Your own personal insights are required throughout, however, research (direct quotes from additional sources such as internet articles, books, websites, etc.) should also be evident throughout as this will help support and add credibility to your ideas. 

Task-Plan

• The first task each team will need to complete is their task-plan (group assignment part I and part II both require a task-plan). This portion of the assignment will have a separate earlier due date (within the first week of the assignment being released).

• Learners will download the task-plan template and divide the tasks as a team (division of labour should always be discussed as a team).

• Regarding each member’s contribution to the project. For each section of the assignment, identify the student (s) who is responsible for each task along with the date each task is to be completed by.

• As each section has multiple components. Team members should be responsible for completing specific tasks within the assigned section along with additional tasks involved in the overall successful completion of the project. It is important that sections of the assignment illustrate.

• In addition to accountability and equal distribution of tasks.

Your task-plan should illustrate a thoughtful analysis and breakdown of specific tasks which need to be addressed for successful completion of the project. Do not simply assign one team member per section. Each section contains multiple elements and some sections are more complex than others – teams must decide which specific elements within each section each team member will be responsible for and which sections require shared task.

Weekly Communication

• Weekly communication: As frequent communication is the foundation of a successful team. DO NOT use text, email, WhatsApp, etc. as a means of team communication. Learners must communicate with one another using discussions within their assigned Brightspace/ D2L group. As this provides opportunity for your instructor to observe your team’s communication throughout the duration of the assignment and to follow up if need be.

o How to access discussion in your Brightspace/ D2L group? Click ‘communication’ tab, then click ‘groups’. You will then see a chart with a list of headings (Groups, Members, Dropbox/ Assignment, Discussions, Locker). Under the ‘Discussions’ column, click the link. This will open your team’s discussion board where you will be able to converse back-andforth with your team members.

• Weekly communication summaries:

Based on your weekly discussions. Illustrating their team’s communication. Use of bullets indicating key points of your communication will be fine.

o How to access your group ‘locker’? Click the ‘communication’ tab, then click ‘groups’. You will then see a chart with a list of headings (Groups, Members, Dropbox/ Assignment, Discussions, Locker). Under the ‘Locker’ column, click ‘Group files’. This is where you will upload your weekly summaries along with other documents you may want to share with your team members while working on your project. Please load a separate summary to your locker each week

• Your weekly communication summaries should consist of key topics and discussion points your team discussed during the week, who is working on what, how far along team members are in regards to their assigned tasks, ideas and suggestions that may have come up, what is going well, where your team might be experiencing challenges, etc.

Introduction/ Topic

• Identify and explain your program topic. What is the significance of your topic? Why is it so important for HR professionals and organizations to make this topic a key area of focus in today’s work environment?

Case Scenario

• Create a workplace case study scenario (two – three paragraphs in length) that would require a training program addressing your topic. This is similar to you creating a role- play, however, instead of acting it out you will be writing it. Be specific in your description. Have fun with this…be creative. 

Needs Analysis

• What type of information would you need to gather when developing your training program for this topic? What questions would you need to ask? Address key questions identified in chapter 2 of your textbook which are relevant to your program. E.g. What change is needed? What are the possible causes for the gap between the current situation and the desired outcome? Who would your learners/ participants be? What is the current situation/ behaviour? Etc. 

• In addition to identifying the information you would need, For example, one question you would need to ask is, “who will the participants be?” You and your group would then need to provide a thorough description (profile) of the type of learner/ employee who would need to take your training program. Another question you might need to ask is, “which stakeholders need to be involved in the design process?” In this case, you would need to identify which stakeholders you feel should be involved and justify why these particular stakeholders are so important to your specific training program. Another example might be, “what are the possible causes for the gap between the current situation and the desired outcome?” In this case, you would need to research what some of the causes are which have created a need for your training topic in today’s organizations. Etc.

• Data collection methods: how will you collect your data? In other words, what methods will you use in order to obtain the information you require in order to design an effective training program (e.g. one-on-one interviews, focus group, survey, review previous training within the organization, etc.)? For each method you choose, explain why you feel it would be effective.

• Task-analysis: create a task-analysis. Imagine your group has interviewed a Subject Matter Expert (SME) who has expertise in the topic that are you are creating a training program for. During this interview, you conducted a taskanalysis whereby you gathered important information regarding the behaviours, skills, and activities that are required from employees in order to perform the tasks correctly that your training program is addressing. For example, if your program topic is cultural competence/ diversity and inclusion, your task-analysis would provide a thorough, detailed description of the specific behaviours, skills, and activities that are required of employees in order to “effectively and correctly” illustrate cultural competence and support diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

Learning Objectives

• Develop four learning objectives based on your needs analysis, and apply Bloom’s Taxonomy. For each objective, explain why you chose a particular verb and level of learning (e.g. Bloom’s Taxonomy identifies verbs as well as levels of learning such as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating). Be sure to scaffold your objectives and explain the reasons for putting them in the order you have chosen (e.g. your objectives should begin with a lower learning level and gradually move learners toward higher learning levels in your program)

Delivery Methods – Synchronous, Asynchronous, and Blended

• Explain how you would choose the proper delivery method (s) for your training program by addressing key questions on p.115-117 of the course textbook. Which questions would you need to address? Provide a thorough response for each. E.g. One of the questions your group might ask is, “what is the training expected to accomplish?” You would then provide a thorough response to this question while justifying your response.

• Choose a delivery method for your training program. Specifically, I would like you to focus on synchronous, asynchronous, or blended delivery. You will also need to identify specific delivery options WITHIN the delivery method you choose (note: you may choose more than one method within synchronous, asynchronous, or blended delivery. E.g. live facilitator led program, lecture, on the job training, study groups, self-paced workbook style, self-paced electronic, audio and video podcast, etc.). Explain the advantages AND limitations of the methods you chose. Explain why you chose to combine the methods you have identified? How do these methods complement one another? How will these methods benefit the learners and support a learner-centered approach?