Delivery Plans

CBT is a learner-centered and a learner based  approach  to  training. The delivery should, however, be well-prepared and well-planned for it to become effective since it is different from the traditional approach that trainees experienced from their education outside of TVET.

This information sheet provides you with trainers’ guides to make teaching and learning more effective using the Competency-Based Training delivery approach. These guides will help you plan the delivery of training.

Your role as a trainer in CBT is more of a facilitator. More than a presenter of contents, you serve as a guide that teaches  trainees  how  to  learn. You should seek and provide suitable opportunities, resources and guidance to your trainees. The success of the teaching-learning activities depends very much on how you have prepared  and  how  you  delivered.  “If the  learner have  not learned, it’s because  you have  not prepared and failed  to perform your role.”

The following activities are useful guides for a facilitator like you:

Explain the objectives and the outcomes of the training

The participants of your training activities should know where they are going, what goals they need to achieve and what outcomes they are supposed attain. By sharing understanding of the objectives, they  will better understand the relevance of the activities they will undergo.

Explain the learning and assessment process

As a part of the orientation  process, the  CBT process flow, the use of the CBLM and other learning materials should  be  explained  extensively to the trainees. Since trainees came from a traditional way of learning, they would expect the same activities like sitting down while  listening to their teacher who is expected to be always in front of them explaining every lesson that they should learn. It is your role to explain to them how they would learn in your workshop.

Trainees would also expect for a grade. The evaluation or assessment process should be fully explained to make them understand  that every competency requires for an institutional competency evaluation which consists of a written test, a performance test and an interview.

This explanation would empower your  trainees  because  they  deserve to know they will learn and how they shall be assessed.

Ensure that presentation and training methods are appropriate

The TNA forms you developed in the module Plan Training Sessions should be used to know the learning  styles,  capabilities  and  aptitudes  of your individual trainees. This will help you select the right methods and materials to be used by the individual trainee. Since CBT is individualized learning, a method for one trainee may not be appropriate for the other. Inappropriate method used may have adverse effects on your trainees.

Use training equipment and materials correctly

Training equipment when used correctly adds value and efficiency in the learning experiences. When they see and actually practice proper use of these equipment, their learnings will be enhanced. Visuals and other learning materials should be properly used and reviewed so that they can be enhanced periodically.

Provide frequent advice and feedback to facilitate the learning process

Facilitators should be in constant contact with  the  trainees.  Continuous and immediate feedback is critical to the acquisition  of  knowledge and skills. The CBLM is designed to provide  this  kind  of  feedback. Answer keys to self-checks are provided  so  that  immediate feedback on knowledge practice is offered. Performance criteria checklist always goes with task sheets, job sheets and operation sheet to provide for self-evaluation and peer-evaluation while the task is being practiced. But ultimately, the trainer should always evaluate the performance of trainees so that corresponding feedback is provided and trainees are guided through the learning process.

Provide ample practice opportunities

Competency-based training is  teaching what to do, how and why to do   it and then being given the opportunity for guided practice. The task sheets, job sheets and the operation sheets provided in  the  CBLMs  provide  guides for the practice of skill. The performance objectives should be carefully stated so that the objectives of the practice are specific for the learning situation.

Before the practice, however, the trainee should actually see how the skill is being done so that the practice reinforces the correct approach to the task. The procedures should be stated so that it can be understood and followed easily.

While trainees are practicing skills, feedback and diagnostic aspects of guidance should be properly managed so as to ensure both confidence and competence.

Monitor trainees’ readiness for assessment

Monitoring achievements of trainees is a very important aspect of the delivery of training. Your role as a trainer here is to see to it that the activities and requirements are properly sequenced and accomplished to achieve outcomes desired. Recording of accomplishments would motivate trainees to achieve learning outcomes based on standards set. If the  trainees sees that you are closely monitoring their achievements, this will give them the signal that you are serious about your set goals and standards in the training program.

You can establish the trainee’s readiness for assessment only if you monitor achievements of your individual trainee.

As a guide, the nine events of instruction should be considered when planning for delivery of training.

The Nine Events of Instruction

In 1965, Robert Gagné published The Conditions of Learning, which identified the mental conditions for learning. These were based on the information processing model of the mental events  that  occur  when adults are presented with various stimuli. Gagné’s theory stipulates that there are several different types or levels of learning and that each  specific  type requires unique types of instruction.

1.    Gain attention

The first step is to arouse the student’s interest with novelty or surprise. You may also want to appeal to the learner by asking questions, so that they will be further motivated to engage with the content.

In CBT, it is then essential to gather trainees every morning to achieve this purpose. Orientation every start of the competency is also an essential  part of the training in order to motivate trainees to learn  and  achieve  learning outcomes.

2.   Inform learner of objectives

It is important to inform the learner of the expectations that you have of them. This will help reduce anxiety in students who would otherwise not know what they should be studying.

During the morning activities trainees are reminded of the overall goal of their training as well as the  objectives  of  the  days activities. Since  they  are working on different competencies and different activities,  the Competency Based Learning Material should have objectives, learning objectives for Information Sheets and Performance Objectives for the  activities that need practice of skill.

3.   Stimulate recall of prior learning

Trainees, especially adult learners, retain concepts and  new  information better if the concepts are related to something  they  already know. In this way, they can make the connection to their  personal  experiences and the learning will be more meaningful.

This step is essentially the recall and rejoinder. The  facilitator should  be able to point out the interconnection between the concepts previously learned to the skill that needs to be practiced and the importance of single tasks with the bigger Job that needs to be honed. Relationship of the competency to the overall qualification should also be emphasized  to  motivate trainees to learn all concepts and skills of the qualification.

4.   Present stimulus material

At this point in the learning process, the content is presented to the students. For the student to retain information it is preferable  that  the content be organized into meaningful chunks, and that a variety of methods appealing to all learning styles be used. Using examples and  real-life situations is also a great way to enhance the retention of information, as learners can apply the material to their own life experiences and  internalize  the content.

Contents that are directly related to the attainment of the learning outcomes are carefully selected.

5.   Provide learner guidance

Communication between the instructor  and  the  learner  is  an essential means of providing guidance. Not only  does  communication  help the learner stay on track,  but it also ensures  that the  instructor  has an  idea  of how the trainees are doing.

This step is the development of the lesson. Different methodologies should be prepared by the trainer to capture the trainees with different learning styles. Trainers should provide every opportunity for trainees to

actually see how skills  are  done. Actual  demonstration  of  skills  either  by the trainer, by advanced students or through video  presentations  are  essential methods in the acquisition of skills.

Step number 4 and 5 are carefully planned in the session plan. These steps are dependent on what content is presented and what method of  training is employed. It is recommended that methods  should  vary  depending on the learning styles of the trainee.   These would allow learning  to fit to the trainee and would provide for self-paced learning.

6.   Elicit performance

The contents in your session plan is  classified  as  knowledge  based  and skills based. Contents that are classified as knowledge are practiced through the self-checks or through face  to  face  questioning  depending  on  the the method used. For modular self-paced method,  self-shecks  are provided every after Information Sheet to provide frequent and immediate practice.

Skills that need to be practiced are presented in the CBLM as  Task Sheets for single Tasks, Operation Sheet for the operation of equipment and Job Sheets for combination of tasks and operations required in performing a Job which usually requires an output or a service.

7.   Provide feedback

Immediate, frequent and continuous feedback is essentially additional guidance. If the learner has not yet grasped a  concept  or  idea,  this  is  the time to provide more information and different examples.

In CBT, you provide feedback for the practice of knowledge using the self-check answer keys.  Asking  trainees to  check  their own answers against   a key would allow self-paced learning of knowledge.

While practicing skills, the trainees should be able to check against standards whether he is doing the skill  as  required.  The  performance  criteria checklist is a list of required standards for judging both performance and outputs. Instruct your trainees to always  check  the  criteria  while  they are practicing. When they are confident that they  can  perform  the  task  based on set criteria, the trainee should be instructed to let you check his performance. During this time, additional feedback can be provided by you.

8.  Assess performance

Assessment should be a very important step in the teaching learning process. In CBT it is recommended that written test, performance test and interview are the methods of assessment for every competency learned. Assessment should cover the four dimensions of competency  –  task  skills, task management skills, job role and environment and contingency management skills.

9.   Enhance retention and transfer

Learning should not stop with  the  institutional  competency  evaluation. Integration of knowledge learned from other competencies to  skills in the other competencies of the qualification should be provided to enhance retention and transfer.

Providing for supervised industry training or On-the-Job  training would be a very important practice.