Homework for Training?
A company I work with is in the process of updating its training process and procedures. A new thing they want to implement is giving homework during the training period. I have never heard of this happening during a training process, but I think that idea has its merits. What do you think?
Homework could of course consist of many different things. Some of the ideas I had were:
- Worksheets with customer service situations on them and then questions asking what went well, what went wrong, what could have been better, etc.
- Recordings of calls and critique sheets that have to be filled out saying what went well, what went wrong, etc.
- Short answer questions that ask about the company, customer service procedures, etc. that trainees respond to.
- Exercises that can be completed from home (e.g. find this knowledge base article, locate this piece of information on the web site, etc.).
And similar homework activities. What would be assigned for homework would obviously depend on what the training class went over, but the general idea is interesting. It keeps people thinking about their training and makes it easier to process the information in the scope of the training period.
Do you assign homework during training? If so, is it effective? If not, why not?
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KeriMoore said:
May 04, 09 at 7:50 pmI recently attended a training for my company. It was required that we also come prepared with a “pre-work” assignment fully completed. The training lasted 7 days and required homework 5 out of the 7 days I attended.
Although it was a little brutal having to take 2 days out of my work week to complete the pre-work assignment, it did help me to focus on the training far before I sat foot in the classroom. The training itself was very intense and required a final exam in order to receive the completion certificate.
The nightly homework only lasted 30-45 minutes to complete, depending on the assignment. Most of the time it consisted of reading material, (leading into the next day’s topic) and a quiz at the end of the chapter.
My company invested a lot of money to send me to and through the training, I do feel that I should be more than willing to focus, give it 100% and take it very seriously. I think the homework does say something about the training itself and the time and effort employees should invest.