I need to do some research into pre course communication with delegates (from receiving nominations through to issuing joining instructions etc, generally communicating if people are on the course they applied).
Do any of you have any innovate and efficient procedures that you could share?
Thanks in advance
Marianne
marianne douglas
3 Responses
Pre course prep
I don’t know how innovative this is.
In the last year I’ve taken to asking participants to complete pre course work online.
If I’m using a questionnaire in the session I’ll set it up on a website and ask them to do it advance. At the same time I’ll also ask about learning objectives and areas for development.
Most participants find this novel and, significantly, everybody completes these forms well before the session. Which makes a change.
pre-course prep
I’ve used a web page to gather responses to pre-course questions which then guide what I include in the course. Depending on your subject, you could also try asking people to bring some images that characterise what they are hoping to get out of the training – a bit like interior designers ask clients to create ‘mood boards’ showing their tastes.
Nomination as evaluation
We have developed within our team a 3 part evaluation, which includes nomination, course reaction and post course application. One of the aims is to engage line managers in the pre and post course delivery, and work on eroding the “tick-box” mentality to training courses possessed by some colleagues.
The templates require the delegates and managers to discuss reasons and personal objectives for attending, and then reviewing 3-4 months post course, whether these have been achieved, as well as any additional benefits which may have arisen from the training.
As a general insurance company, it is not intended to use the tool for all courses; it would be overkill for some of the technical/product short courses, so the plan is to use for the longer and more conceptual skills programmes. We will be piloting in key areas of the business, to get some feedback and empirical evidence before rolling out across the company, so cannot comment on results, but offer as a suggestion.