I have 10 years of experience as an in-classroom technical training instructor: four-and-a-half years in Air Force technical schools and five-and-a-half years in civil aviation technician training schools. I was also a corporate technical trainer for three years and developed computer-based-training (CBT) courses as a full-time job for six years. The Air Force and civil aviation maintenance technician training courses I taught were concentrated into six-hour days, five days a week, with each course lasting six weeks. These courses were presented back-to-back, year-round, with no summer or semester breaks. Consequently, I amassed thousands of hours of direct face time with hundreds of learners in classroom, laboratory, and workshop settings.
The corporate training courses I developed and presented were considerably shorter but no less demanding. My students varied from 18-year-olds straight from military basic training to seasoned professionals with decades of experience.
These first-hand experiences consistently reinforced these two things:
1. Learners who develop a good grasp of the subject fundamentals invariably do well, regardless of the subject.
2. Learners who do not develop a grasp of the subject fundamentals will flounder or fail outright.
Don’t Be the Primary Problem
As a trainer and course content developer, you have a lot to do with these axioms. Yes, there are many variables among individuals, and some individuals will self-sabotage regardless of your efforts. But a principal point is this: if you don’t present subject fundamentals well, or if you don’t pay attention to your learners and fail to recognize and patiently correct their floundering, then you are the primary problem.
The most important practices to follow to ensure the first axiom and reduce the second are:
- Do due diligence.
- Focus on the learner.
- Stay on topic.
This means you must:
- Solidly understand the subject material you develop and present.
- Have a clear focus for the purpose and use of the training.
- Know the needs of your intended audience.
- Pay attention to the learners’ behaviors.
Due Diligence
Be confident and don’t be afraid to accept a challenge, but also be careful in assuming that you know more than you do. If you don’t clearly understand the subject material, consult with someone credible who does know the subject.
If you are not a legitimate subject matter expert (SME) on the subject, you need to do serious preparation. “Winging it” catches up to you fast, destroys your credibility, and is a disservice to learners. Whatever you do, don’t make things up—ever! If you don’t fully understand the subject, admit that and don’t make a bad situation worse. There is no shame in saying, “I don’t know,” up to a point. In class, you can take questions and follow up with legitimate answers later. But if you are in over your head, you need to have frank discussions with people before you get in too deep.
The law of primacy is powerful. People have a strong tendency to remember things as first learned. If you present incorrect or poorly understood information, trying to undo that later is very difficult, if not impossible. And no amount of theater or elaborate presentation tools can dig you out of that hole. Yes, mistakes happen, but poor preparation or fundamental lack of understanding is no excuse.
Focus on the Learner
Think about this on your next flight. People operate and maintain that aircraft, and that aircraft and its components must work reliably, as should the people who operate and maintain it. Which brings us to the learners. These are real people, not interchangeable parts. Keep in mind who you are training—and why. The people you instruct have dreams and aspirations and want to feel confident about their abilities to do a job and do it well. They are in your class or using the materials you develop for many reasons. Some need to fulfill a requirement for an existing job. Some want to learn new job skills and are sacrificing their time (and often their own money) to improve their chances and possibly fulfill their career dreams.
You can’t teach learners every detail or situation they will ever encounter—that only comes with practice and experience. But you must present solid, foundational knowledge and essential skills. Be a trainer, not a salesperson. It is far better to present six solid fundamentals than 200 wow facts, most of which will be forgotten next week. If the fundamentals are not firmly locked down by the learner, trying to do anything advanced will be difficult and frustrating.
Stay on Topic
While seemingly obvious, this must be said: Keep political and cultural references, social constructs, and sports affiliations out of your courses and presentations. Such distractions have no place in developing the skills and sober responsibility required for demanding, safety-critical jobs. Think about that if your learner is (or will be) an aviation maintenance technician, medical technician, or electrical power technician. Treat everyone the same and keep your standards high and inviolable, no matter who the learner is. That person might be working on your airplane, your body, or your power grid someday.