Training Tip: Active Learning - An Easy Cure
Training Services Manager, Education and Development
Are the participants in your training classes in danger of the dreaded death-by-lecture syndrome? If so, why not consider an easy cure called active learning?
Active learning can be defined as anything students do in a classroom other than merely listening to the information included in a lecture. Active learning can take many forms including pair and group discussions, demonstrations, role plays, games, concept mapping, brainstorming, one-minute papers or short writes, debates, group presentations, and case studies, just to name a few.
lecture learning vs. active learning
While lecture-style teaching is often necessary and appropriate to deliver training content, unless it is coupled with some form of active learning, successful learning outcomes are greatly reduced. In fact, research shows that learners tend to remember only 20% of what they hear in lectures, versus a 90% retention rate for active learning that engages students in information, activities, and tasks that enhance comprehension, understanding, knowledge, and skills.
Active learning, then, can help ensure training success for your students and you. As a result, death-by-lecture may soon be a subject found only in history books rather than training classrooms … especially yours.
The R.O.P.E.S. Program – An Exciting Challenge
Did you know that the University of Utah has a challenge course? The course is located on the grounds of the University Neuropsychiatric Institute (UNI) and has been in operation for 20 years. In that time, the program has served a wide range of university and community groups, including sports teams, youth groups and business teams. The University challenge course program is called R.O.P.E.S. and the letters in the acronym stand for:
Recreation: An opportunity to have fun!
Observation: Learn about yourself and others.
Problem solving: Demonstrate your skills.
Experiential education: Learn by doing.
Self esteem: Feel great about yourself!
What is a challenge course?
A challenge course is a collection of ground, low, and high activities. The combined activities work together as an effective tool to encourage teams to pull together and meet common challenges. Challenge courses are widely used by schools, business organizations, and institutions of all kinds to enhance group development and to challenge group behaviors in novel ways. Time for reflection and discussion of how experiences on the course relate to life experience is a part of a positive challenge course day. As a result, participants have opportunities to learn about themselves and their group.
R.O.P.E.S. Staff
The UNI Challenge course is managed by Holly Badger TRS, CTRS, a licensed Recreational Therapist. Many R.O.P.E.S. staff members are completing advanced degrees in fields that focus on experiential learning. The course is maintained according to the Association for Challenge Course Technologies standards.
R.O.P.E.S. Program
When an organization wants to participate in a R.O.P.E.S. experience, the organization completes a goal sheet that explains what the group would like to achieve as a result of the experience. The goal sheet is then used by the R.O.P.E.S. staff to plan an experience that encourages the group to work toward their identified goals. During the experience itself, group members are asked to participate at a level that challenges them, while treating themselves and others with respect.
To learn more about the program, or to schedule a R.O.P.E.S. experience for your organization, visit: http://healthcare.utah.edu/uni/ROPES
Tackling the Nursing Shortage at University Health Care
The national shortage of nurses is projected to worsen as our population ages and requires more nursing services, and recent projections from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics through 2016 show nursing as the nation’s top profession in terms of projected job growth. Our own University Health Care system is not immune from the shortage and has proactively partnered with Salt Lake Community College and the U's College of Nursing to prepare more registered nurses (RNs) to fill our growing needs. Beginning next month, a cohort of 30 University Health Care employees who have completed the appropriate prerequisites will be sponsored in the Salt Lake Community College nursing program, with additional groups to follow every other semester.
The employees who will be selected for the cohort currently work primarily as nursing and medical assistants at the U's hospitals and clinics, and many have been on a waiting list to enter SLCC's nursing program. This partnership enables our own healthcare staff to quickly enter nursing school, obtain an Associates Degree and their RN license, and then work as registered nurses in our system while they go on to finish their bachelor's degree at the College of Nursing. Two of the groups working hard to launch the program include the Nurse Recruitment office and the Clinical Staff Education Department--an active member of the U Training Consortium.
For More Information
Because the program is limited to University Health Care employees, the Nurse Recruitment office is a great place to start to learn about current job openings and how to plan for the nursing program application process (581-2320). Interested candidates can also contact Tiffany Noss, Student Programs Coordinator for the Clinical Staff Education Office (213-3491). In addition to their traditional nursing program, the College of Nursing also has an innovative accelerated program for bachelor's degree graduates to obtain their RN license (581-3414).
Spring Has Arrived in HR – New Online Training System
The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining brighter and longer each day, and large clouds of dust have been coming from the Human Resources Division (HR). Spring has arrived and HR is taking full advantage of it with the implementation of a new online training system.
effective may 1, 2008
Effective May 1, 2008 University of Utah employees and faculty now have a new way to complete online New Employee Orientation and compliance training. The previous learning management systems were overhauled and renamed to EduCAT. The EduCAT provides more comprehensive tracking and reporting abilities, newer technology, broader content, more flexibility, and will aid in higher compliance to regulatory requirements.
The EduCAT portal allows anyone affiliated with the the U of U to login and complete required training using their uNID and campus information system (CIS) password. In addition, employees are able to view their own training progress, and managers are able to view the training progress of employees within their department at any time with the improved reporting functionality.
contact information
The EduCAT portal can be reached at www.educat.utah.edu.
For more information, visit the Human Resources website at http://www.hr.utah.edu/.
If you have any questions, please contact your HR Service Team, or send an email to kimberly.endersen@utah.edu.
Training with 21st Century Skills
the 21st century skills categories
In 2003, the Metiri Group released a report focused on 21st Century Skills. The research and analysis behind the report indicated that the skills important to the 21st Century could be grouped into four basic categories:
- Digital-Age literacy
- Inventive thinking
- Effective communication
- High productivity
The categories identified in the report all play a role in quality training and, as a result, training groups across the University campus focus on the skills in the training they provide.
Consider, for instance, the unique opportunity training groups have to work with multiple generations in the workforce to develop Digital-Age literacy. With this goal in mind, many training groups have recognized and responded to the need for training older employees on software and new technology tools that are current staples in the work environment.
the safe learning environment
As more “millennial” learners join the training audience, training groups strive even harder to provide the safe learning environment that is so important to younger audience members. A “safe” learning environment includes gentle humor, ample smiles, active listening, and thoughtful responses to questions, which promotes the inventive thinking and effective communication included in core skills of the 21st Century.
For some training audience members, the high productivity expected in the 21st Century appears to be in direct conflict with the time needed for training. Learners of all ages feel pressed for time in today’s workplace. Training sessions that are highly productive are, therefore, a must for training organizations – especially if the audience is compelled to be there!
K, W, L Activity
One method that can help learners realize the productivity inherent in training is a “K,W,L” activity suggested by UEN’s professional development group. For the activity, learners divide a sheet of paper into three columns. The first column, “K,” is where learners record that they already KNOW about the training topic. The second column, “W,” is for WHAT they want to learn. These two columns are completed at the beginning of a training session. At the end of the session, 5 to10 minutes are provided for learners to reflect on the “K” and “W”, and then to complete the third column, “L,” for what they LEARNED. This activity helps participants take ownership of their learning and recognize that their training time has been spent productively.
21st Century Skills include new ways of viewing and practicing literacy, communication, thinking and productivity. University training groups regularly consider and incorporate the important skills in the training they develop and deliver to their 21st Century campus training audiences.
New Class Offered as Part of the Research Administration Training Series
A new class called Publishing SMART: How to Make Your Article Visible is now being offered through the Research Administration Training Series. Created by librarians at the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, it offers participants a chance to consider the best venues for making their articles and other scholarly content as visible as possible to colleagues, students and the general public.
The class focuses on the current publishing picture, emphasizes new technologies and methods for delivering content, and shows class attendees in a hands-on environment how to analyze their own impact in a given discipline. The class covers tools for evaluating journal impact factors, online usage, local online availability, retaining copyrights, and submission to online archives. These tools include ISI's Journal Citation Report, University of Utah online usage reports, Science Commons' Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine, the NIH Manuscript Submission System / PubMed Central, and submission to USpace (the University of Utah Institutional Repository).
If you want to publish SMART, enroll in this class and learn how to achieve that goal and maximize your scholarly impact. To register for the class, go to http://education.research.utah.edu/detail.cfm?class=54. For more information, contact Allyson Mower; allyson.mower@utah.edu, 581-5263.
The U Training Consortium Travels to Chicago in May
The U Training Consortium (UTC) is traveling to Chicago in mid-May via a poster entitled, Bridging the Training Gap by Connecting with Colleagues. The poster, which describes UTC efforts from the initial stages until now, will be the focus of a presentation at the Medical Library Association annual meeting.
Using the theme of a journey and a bridge, the poster depicts how the UTC journey began without a road map or known destination, and describes how connecting training colleagues from across campus defined the course that has led to positive results. The dedicated work of UTC members is highlighted as the major factor in the group’s success. The poster also describes major events in UTC history that have strengthened the impact of the organization, including the creation of a website with a searchable class database.
The poster presentation at a national meeting is a welcome chance to share the UTC experience and successes with an audience outside of the University campus. It also offers an opportunity to connect with colleagues outside the state as the UTC message about “bridging the training gap” is presented.