Sunday, April 25, 2010

Instructor Led Trainings(ILT) - Pros and Cons

Recently, i started working as a freelance trainer for technical writing. I returned to proper classroom or ILT after many years. So, after a few classes i was musing about the pros and cons of ILT vis-a-vis other forms of training.

Pros:

Personalization: I was calling out the names of the participants atleast four or five times in the class. I wonder if we can get this amount of personalization in asynchronous trainings!

Discipline: When i worked as a faculty in Bitech, i was a very strict teacher. There was a disabled boy who would always walk in 45 mins after the class started. I never let him inside the class. I wonder if it helped in disciplining his punctuality in the long run :)

Change of Topic (Flow Control): If one of the students was absent, i had the control to take a less heavy subject and postpone an important topic for a full-attendance class.

Energy Breaks: If i saw more than one person yawning during theory class, i quickly switched to a lab session or started a breathing exercise. Rain clap also helps :)

Pace and Focus: As a trainer i perform a direct Learner Analysis on the first ice-breaking introductory session. So, i can quickly judge the different student knowledge/skill levels and hence fine tune my pace, focus, and delivery styles.

Learning from Students: A teacher is a facilitator and coordinator and need not always be a "know all" . I learn from students when i train them or put them on a hands-on session! And students sometimes adjust their questions according to faculty skills too :)

Cons:

Hmmm... all of us know the cons - money spent on travel, senior faculty, administration are a few.

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