Staff training and development has come under increasing pressure to improve results. The LinkLearn approach to training has emerged as a viable alternative. This approach is establishing an impressive track record in responding to many of the shortcomings of traditional training programs.

1. FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES

Perhaps the most fundamental difference between LinkLearn and traditional training is that the LinkLearn approach is a very systematic approach to training while the more traditional approach is not. Each component of a LinkLearn program is designed, monitored and adjusted with one thing in mind – results.

A LinkLearn program is a lot like the thermostat on an air conditioner. When you put the thermostat on a certain setting, you decide then, exactly what temperature you want the room to be. The thermostat constantly monitors the temperature and either turns the air conditioner on or off to maintain the desired setting. If the room needs more or less cooling, the thermostat senses this and turns the unit on or off accordingly. The room gets enough, but only enough, cooling to maintain the desired level of comfort.

An air conditioner without a thermostat is somewhat like more conventional training programs that have not been designed systematically. Without a thermostat, the air conditioner would continue to cool as long as the switch was on, regardless of how cool the room became. When the switch is turned off, the unit no longer cools, no matter how hot the room becomes.

In conventional training programs, instruction is often turned on and turned off based solely on the clock or the calendar with little regard for how much instruction each Student really needs. Instruction may be delivered in fifty-minute periods, three-hour blocks, or sixteen-week semesters regardless of how much or how little instruction each Student may need to fully master each learning task.

A LinkLearn program, on the other hand, provides each Student’s own learning ‘thermostat’ to adjust the level and pace of instruction as needed. Each learning outcome or ‘setting’ is established up front. Each Student can then turn on and off instruction as required to reach the desired outcome.

Two basic philosophies underlie the concepts presented here. First is the notion that ‘human competence’ is the ability to actually perform. Knowledge, attitudes, and effort are of little value without results.

The second philosophy – ‘mastery learning’ – holds that most anyone can learn most anything well if given quality instruction and sufficient time. In essence, that is what the LinkLearn approach to training is all about.

2. BASIC DIFFERENCES

The attached table illustrates that LinkLearn and traditional training differ in at least four primary ways:

› What it is Students learn.

› How they learn each task.

› When they proceed from task to task.

› How we determine and report if Students learned each task.

These four differences may be absolutely applicable to the current training system being applied within the industry. At first glance, they may appear minor. But once you think about them, you will realise that these two approaches to training are as different as day and night.

The question foremost in the minds of many executives and others involved in vocational-technical or industrial training is if the LinkLearn approach is really any better than the traditional approach. Is it worth all the effort and expense required to develop packaged, structured and mediated learning materials?

The answer is unconditionally ‘Yes’. When carefully development and implemented, the LinkLearn approach to training is generally superior to the traditional approach in terms of Student outcomes and in several other important ways.

There has been enough evidence gathered in business, industry, the military, agencies, unions, public vocational education, and other settings to support this statement. Study after study has been conducted comparing the two approaches.

The LinkLearn approach results in more Students mastering more competencies at a higher level of proficiency than in the traditional approach.

Below are some of the typical improvements reported by training executives who have successfully incorporated the LinkLearn approach into their organisations:

› Students seem to learn more: a higher level of competence is reported.

› Students appear to remembering what they learn longer: retesting over time often show higher test scores.

› There is much less ‘prediction’ of how well a particular Student will do, based on their previous performance on the job.

› Most Students excel and reach high levels of proficiency.

› Students experience success very early in the training program, providing important motivation, a better feeling about the training, and an improved self-concept.

› More can be learned in the same length of time. Two hours of LinkLearn often equates a full day of traditional training.

› The average level of competence improves dramatically. Students are no longer doomed to failure, since they get the time and help they need.

› Students get hands-on experience the first few days. Students need no longer sit through days of theory and can experience a high level of success without the pressure of competing with other Students.

› Students learn to take more responsibility for their own learning. After some initial adjustment, most Students respond well to the added responsibilities the LinkLearn approach places on them.

› Overall the training program takes on a more professional, businesslike atmosphere which seems to contribute toward higher morale for instructors, Students and administrators.

3. WHAT LINKLEARN WILL PROVIDE YOU

Although the traditional training programs have served business and industry’s need for trained workers in the past, they have come under increasing criticism recently. Executives are more reluctant to spend large amounts of money for sometimes questionable results.

Listed below are some of the outcomes of LinkLearn in contrast to more often heard criticisms of classical training programs:

› Up to 95% of LinkLearn Students achieve a high level of proficiency. Only a small percentage of classical Students (typically 10% or so) achieve anything more than minimal competence.

› Little, if any, reliance on lectures as a LinkLearn teaching method leads to Student satisfaction, motivation and performance.

› All LinkLearn programs are based on well-developed, appropriate curriculum materials and instructional media. There is no room for ‘teaching off the top’ as is often the case with traditional training programs.

› Students receive ongoing feedback throughout the learning process so they can correct there learning mistakes as they go. In traditional training a final grade in a course is often the Student’s only indication of how he/she is doing.

› Only Students that are fully competent receive a certificate or diploma. As long as a ‘C’ average is maintained, classical Students remain in good standing and graduate.

› Employers have a clear indication of exactly what it is successful Students can actually do.

› LinkLearn does not emphasise theory, memorising facts and terms, nice-to-know knowledge and background information. The emphasis is on learning how to actually perform tasks needed for the job.

› Strict quality control is applied throughout LinkLearn program development and implementation. In traditional training there seem to be tremendous variations in quality.

› LinkLearn programs respond favourably to the unique learning requirements of Students with special needs such as the educationally disadvantaged, the handicapped and others.

› LinkLearn programs are not rigid in their operation. They meet the real needs of Students and the world of work.

› LinkLearn Students are allowed to repeat portions of the program if needed. They are also allowed early exit, if they so require.

› All LinkLearn programs allow Students to test out and receive credit for those competencies already mastered. They need not sit through instruction in those competencies just like everyone else.

4. CONCLUSION

It will indeed be a privilege to provide you with LinkLearn programs that:

› Are SCORM compatible.

› Are based on clearly stated Student outcomes.

› Focus on learning – not teaching or instruction.

› Ensure that Students master each task well before going on to the next.

› Are individualised and personalised.

› Are self-paced, open-entry and open-exit.

› Evaluate each Student on their performance.

The LinkLearn approach will not cure all the problems the organisation may be facing in relation to staff training and development. But it will help and it is by far superior to any classical training program in existence. It is internationally proven as a viable method of training that attacks –head on – many of the shortcomings of present training programs.