Eureka moment #1 - Job Aids are Very Important

In my first post-ASTD comments, I wrote about informal learning and patted myself on the back for a few right-track ideas. Here’s one of which I am particularly proud—

Weekly Workflows [edited to add link to past WWs - internal only link, login required - L.]

Who’d have thought? I like writing them, and have received positive feedback about them, but I never really thought of them as a key part of the overall training initiative. But as it turns out, job aids – the class of learning documents to which things like Weekly Workflows belongs – play an important role in informal learning, learning transfer, and post training support.

Definition: A job aid is an external resource designed to support a performer in a specific task by providing information or compensating for lapses in worker memory. (Job Aids Basics, ASTD Press. Read a sample in Google Books)

The good things about job aids:

• Targets a specific issue
• Focuses on performance
• Quick reminders
• Point of need guidance
• Low cost to prepare and distribute
• Minimize time away from the job/task

So the questions now are:

• How can these job aids be even better?
• What topics need to be covered?
• Where’s the fine line between enough and too much?
• Should hand outs from training sessions be comprised of jab aids, rather than less-than-informative PowerPoint slides?
• Is there a design or style that would be an improvement?
• What could I, and others at PLS, be doing to facilitate libraries in getting and/or creating these types of materials?
• How can we take tools that already have a solid foundation and take them up a notch?

I’m sure every single library has its own job aids – wouldn’t it be beneficial to share the wealth and increase the “knowledge pool”? (This comes from a book I scored from the Expo floor, and which may form the basis of my possible “Business Skills Self Help Book Club”… )

A few (of many) thoughts on the ASTD 2009 Conference

I spent the past week in Washington, DC attending the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) International Conference and Exposition. ASTD is a professional organization for people involved in training and personnel development (primarily curriculum designers, training presenters, managers of the “learning function” and human resources professionals). It was a fascinating, if occasionally disconcerting, time and I came away with fresh inspiration, ideas, and some reassurance that I am (theoretically) on the right track with training initiatives here at PLS (Yay! But…my post-conference action plan starts with “move from the theoretical to the practicable”. More on that later…)

The overall themes of the conference were informal learning and learning transfer. Two concepts that have been looming in my mind for a while and directed the sessions I attended (also more on those later! But here’s a general overview…)

Informal learning describes the learning that happens outside of the formal classroom (physical or virtual) environment – peer to peer sharing and instruction, the use of job aids, personal learning, etc. The president of ASTD, Tony Bingham, opened the conference with a keynote speech calling on workplace learning professionals to be more actively engaged with supporting and facilitating informal learning. I think this is a particular strength of PLS already – we share information and resources extensively via PLS-L, the Director’s email lists, OWWLUG, System Meetings, PLS Notes, PLUM, and more. Library staffs work hard to support their colleagues on the job, everyday. So what can PLS training do to facilitate and/or improve these processes?

Learning transfer is the process wherein information gained as a result of training is integrated and applied on the job. All too often, training/learning seems to “stop” at the end of a class session – but the only reason to attend training in the first place is to be able to perform better on the job. I think this is the most serious gap in PLS training – we need to figure out how to get supervisors, participants, trainers, and managers working together to figure out a few key things: A) what should we see as a result of training that makes it worth rearranging schedules, paying mileage, or paying somebody to not be at the library? B) How can we better design training to achieve those results? C) What do we need to know before attending training to maximize the impact of training? D) What do we need to be doing to ensure that learners can apply new skills at work? E) How will we know that improvements have been accomplished?

Over the next few weeks, I will share my ASTD09 adventures, take aways, and ides I think would benefit PLS. I will (resurrect and) put them on my blog (http://trainingpioneers.blogspot.com – if you happen to have this bookmarked, this is a new URL! Please update your bookmark/subscription.) where I would love to discuss my ideas, your ideas, and PLS training endeavors in general.