Instructor Excellence

Since its original issue in 1992, this one has been considered a classic, but I have to admit I just don't get it. With "standards" such as "Performance Standard 11: Instructor generally encourages participation" and "Performance Standard 47: Instructor occasionally guides participants to reach answers themselves," I can't imagine for whom this would be useful. A blank-slate novice trainer would be encouraged toward mediocrity, not excellence, while anyone who's done more than a couple of workshops would've figured all this out—and I would hope improve on these "standards"—themselves. Despite the title, the book seems geared more toward yardstick-wielding training managers seeking items for their employees' performance appraisal plans, and most of the 60 "standards" provided either state the obvious or set the bar too low.

For a second edition, the book is, oddly, not very well updated. The authors approach training from an old-school, behaviorist stance, ignoring thinking on theories of situated learning and constructivism that were not new even back when the first edition was issued. Too, some comments seem strangely anachronistic: There is discussion, for instance, of the importance of an instructor knowing how to clean...a slide projector? Finally, the authors pronounce the classroom superior and barely acknowledge the existence of alternative delivery methods (it appears they are unaware of the virtual classroom, to which much of their material could have been linked).

Buy Instructor Excellence: Mastering the Delivery of Training (Essential Knowledge Resource).