MS in Educational Technology

Final Project Training Proposal

SGET 750/751
Practicum in Learning Theory

Submitted by: A. Lisnow

January 10, 2007
Updated February 10,2007

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1. Introduction

Company X Employee Training Program

I just started a new job with Company X as Director of Department X. Upon joining, I spent
very little time in formal training to introduce me to the company, the policies, products,
business practices, department, and/or processes within it. I had brief encounters with some
in the organization that provided with me with some information, but not in context of what I
needed to learn at that particular time in my orientation.

I am in the process of hiring additional staff and want to use my experience in Educational
Technology to develop a web based training program that will create the beginnings of a
learning culture at Company X. It will provide the much needed orientation required for new
employees, and start establishing a formal training processes within the organization.

There is a great need to create a process and procedure to institute and enforce a systematic
training program for the associates of Company X. This training module will be a training
program for new hires.

Training is a critical component in the success & happiness of employees within the
company, and the company’s success in delivering products and services to their customers.
<ref 1> Training is required in order to learn about what is important for that company, its
direction, vision, position, and how to best perform job functions required. Training will
allow employees at Company X to be better equipped to perform job functions with fewer
errors, and will allow employees to ramp-up within a much quicker time frame. It will
impact the turnover rate, and will make for happier employees overall.

The module will consider several learning styles. It will include activities for the:

• Visual learner by the design, colors, visual display, diagrams, and organization of the
information.
• Auditory learner will be stimulated by the Web Hunt which will require discussions
with others, questions and interaction with other learners and associates of Company
X.

• Tactile/Kinesthetic learner will participate in activity and exploration during web

hunt.

The training will also involve and be geared to learners of multiple intelligences:

• Linguistic intelligence (words):

• Logical-mathematical intelligence (number/reasoning)
• Spatial intelligence (pictures)
• Interpersonal intelligence (people)

The program will be geared towards Adult learning principles. Andragogy, a term originally
used by Alexander Kapp was developed into a theory of adult education by the American

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 educator, Malcolm Knowles. Knowles held that andragogy should be distinguished from the
more commonly used pedagogy
Knowles' theory can be stated as four simple postulates
1. Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction
(Self-concept and Motivation to learn).
2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities
(Experience).
3. Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to
their job or personal life (Readiness to learn).
4. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation to
learning). <ref 2>

2. Goal and Objectives

Companies of all types recognize the importance of establishing training programs for their
employees. Businesses that have at least 50 workers provide an average of 44.5 hours of
training per employee each year, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey. Just over
31 hours are in informal training, while approximately 13.5 hours are devoted to formal
education programs. Computer training is the most common type of job skills instruction. A
little over 38 percent of the surveyed employees received formal computer training and 54.3
percent were given informal computer training. <Ref 3>

The goal of the proposed project is to improve job satisfaction, quality and performance at
Company X. This goal will be achieved by designing an interactive web based training
program (Web Hunt with a series of questions/links) that will be completed by new hires
with the following learning objectives:
Understand The Company History and Structure

a. Employees will be able to speak about the Company X organization, business

model/verticals, policies, and business practices.
b. Employees will be able to describe the organization of the various departments within
the business, the department heads, people within them and the functions each
department performs in the business model.

The Client Services Department

c. Employees will understand the functions performed in their department, and their role
in the department.
d. Employees will understand the specifics of how to perform their job function within
their position.
i. Product Types
1. GCA
2. EGCA
3. Drop Shipment/Fulfillment
4. IAC Express Edition
5. IAC Enterprise Edition
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 6. OOT
7. Performance Points
ii. Order Processes
iii. See Flowchart Insert (Page 6)

3. Procedure and Methods

The project will be developed over the spring 2007 semester. It is intended for New Hires to
the Company X organization. The new hires will need to know how the Business operates
and what their function will be in the organization.

It will be utilized by the employees of Company X, when needing to know about

The Organization overall

The various Departments and or changes of the Organization
Their particular Department
Their particular position
How all is related in running the Company X business

It will be modules that will include:

a. A description of the Training program, goals, and recommendation on how to

complete
b. Information about the Organization (founded, executives, type of business, culture,
mission, vision, pubic, private, etc.)
c. More detailed information about the various departments and their function within
Company X.
d. More detailed Information about each department
e. Detailed information about specific instructions on job function

i. Client Service Goals

ii. Client penetration
iii. Order types
iv. Order processing for the different types
v. Order Cancellations
vi. Order Resends
vii. Implementation Process/Project Management
viii. Implementation Weekly Meetings
ix. Implementation Documents
x. Implementation Techniques
xi. Post Implementation Meetings
xii. Managing client relationship before and after implementation
xiii. How to manage client expectations
xiv. What and How other departments contribute to the overall project

4. Potential Impact and Significance

Typical Topics of Employee Training

1. Communications: The increasing diversity of today's workforce brings a wide
variety of languages and customs.
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 2. Computer skills: Computer skills are becoming a necessity for conducting
administrative and office tasks.
3. Customer service: Increased competition in today's global marketplace makes it
critical that employees understand and meet the needs of customers.
4. Diversity: Diversity training usually includes explanation about how people have
different perspectives and views, and includes techniques to value diversity
5. Ethics: Today's society has increasing expectations about corporate social
responsibility. Also, today's diverse workforce brings a wide variety of values and
morals to the workplace.
6. Human relations: The increased stresses of today's workplace can include
misunderstandings and conflict. Training can people to get along in the workplace.
7. Quality initiatives: Initiatives such as Total Quality Management, Quality
Circles, benchmarking, etc., require basic training about quality concepts, guidelines
and standards for quality, etc.
8. Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment training usually includes careful
description of the organization's policies about sexual harassment, especially about
what are inappropriate behaviors.
General Benefits from Employee Training and Development
There are numerous sources of online information about training and development. Several
of these sites (they're listed later on in this library) suggest reasons for supervisors to conduct
training among employees. These reasons include:
• Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees
• Increased employee motivation
• Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain
• Increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods
• Increased innovation in strategies and products
• Reduced employee turnover
• Enhanced company image, e.g., conducting ethics training (not a good reason for
ethics training!)
• Risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training <Ref
5>

a. Expected outcomes

i. The project will have significant impact on all employees, but especially new
hires at Company X. This will be the first web based employee training
program.
ii. It will allow our organization to ramp up employees at a much faster rate.
iii. It will make for happier employees who can find the answer to questions they
have or job functions they need to learn.
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 iv. It will allow employees to perform their job functions with less error
v. It will help create a learning culture at Company X.
vi. It will be available to employees at any time it is required.

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 Standard Page Links:
Page Name: IO Welcome Page
Home| Company | Products/Services | Order
Process | FAQ | Resources
Standard Navigation Links
Background: White
Page Content: Welcome Site Intro
Colors: Blue/Gray
Text: Blue, Black
Image: Group Employee .jpg (move)
Incentive Wheel (see Rob)
Last Update: Automatic Date Entry
E-mail: alisnow@Company X.com
Site maintained by: Alicja Lisnow
Index.htm

Page Name: Company History /

Page Name: Order Process
Overview / Background Page Name: Products & Services at IO
Order Types/differences/uniqueness
When started? Product Types
Processing Steps
By Whom? How each is used
Link: Product Acquisition Process
What vertical markets serviced? Product Differences
(new window)
How many different departments? Product Cautions
Describe step by step process to
Who is the head of each department? GCA.jpg
Order Awards via IAC Express
Reward portfolio.jpg
Order process flowchart.jpg
Company X.jpg
3_ord.htm
1_co.htm 2_prd.htm

From this point forward, for any pages that link outside of the project pages they will link in a new window
Page Name: EGCA
Page Name: IO Page Name: Order Page Name: Order
Page Name: Page Name: GCA
Departments GCA EGCA
Vertical Mkts
Describe how Describe what a Describe what a
Post Org Chart EGCA is, how Describe step by Describe step by
specific clnts use GCA is, how
for each Dept. delivered to clnt & step process to step process to
the IO Products delivered to clnt &
Describe what how redeemed Order GCA Order EGCA (Link,
Links to Client IAC, how redeemed
each does PDF, HTML)
or Cust Rwrd Site.
Learner to visit EGCA.jpg GCA2.jpg
GCA.jpg
with each Mgr PDF.jpg CustomGCA2.jpg EGCA2.jpg
Cust Rwds.Jpg CustomGCA.jpg
Org.jpg 2_prd_egca.htm 3_ord_gca.htm PDF.jpg
1_co_mkts.htm 2_prd_gca.htm
1_co_dpt.htm 3_ord_egca.htm
Page Name: Drop Page Name: IAC Page Name: Oder
shipment / Express Drop shipment / Page Name: Order
Page Name: Page Name: IO Fulfillment Fulfillment IAC Express
Company X Webhunt
Directory Describe what it is, Describe step by
Describe what it is, limitations, how step process to Describe step by
Link to Company Provide a template how delivered to
X Directory. used by clnt how Order Drop step process to
of Web Hunt clnt & how GCA’s awarded, Shipment / Order Awards via
Directions for Questions that can redeemed delivered to clnt & Fulfillment IAC Express
import from Q be printed to Fulfillment. jpg how redeemed Fulfillment. jpg
drive to Outook complete the hunt GC Holder.jpg IAC express.jpg GC Holder.jpg IAC express.jpg
2_prd_drp.htm 2_prd_iacx.htm 3_ord_drp.htm 3_ord_iacx.htm
1_co_dir.htm 1_co_whnt.htm

Page Name: IO Page Name: IAC Page Name: OOT Page Name: IAC
Alphabet Soup Enterprise Enterprise Page Name: OOT
Describe what it is,
Links for Company Describe what it is, limitations, how Describe step by Describe step by
X Language how used by clnt used by clnt how step process to step order process
MDU (link for a how GCA’s GCA’s awarded, Order Awards via using OOT
connect to MDU) awarded, delivered delivered to clnt & IAC Enterprise
Link for Smoke etc. to clnt & how how redeemed OOTpages.jpg
Attach a summary redeemed OOT.jpg IAC Ent2.jpg
of all the acronyms; IAC Ent.jpg 3_ord_iace.htm 3_ord_oot.htm
add the new 2_prd_iace.htm 2_prd_oot.htm
terminology
(HGCA, HP, HC)
1_co_lang.htm Page Name: Order
Page Name:
Performance Points
Performance Points
Describe how points
Describe what it is,
are earned/awarded,
limitations, how
& redemption
used by clnt.
options.
ppweb.jpg
ppweb.jpg
3_ord_pp.htm
2_prd_pp.htm

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5. References Cited

a. <ref 1> DTI, DTI. "Impact of Training on business performance." Business Link.
None. Business Link. 15 Jan 2007
<http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?
type=RESOURCES&itemId=1074453113>.
b. <Ref 2> Author:None, None. "Andragogy, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."
Andragogy, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 22 December 2006. Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc.,. 13 Jan 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andragogy>.
c. <Ref 3> Walker C. Wooding Jr. "Employers Recognize Value of Training for
Employees." San Antonio Business Journal. December 4, 1998. American City
Business Journals, Inc. 15 Jan 2007
<http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/1998/12/07/focus2.html>.
d. <Ref 4> None, None. "Adult Learning and Employer Sponsored Traiming." BizGrok.
July 10, 2004. BizGrok. 15 Jan 2007 <http://bizgrok.com/train/train_article.html>.
e. <Ref 5> Author's Name:, None. "Employee Training & Development: Reasons and
Benefits." Management Help. 2006. Free Management Library: Copyright 1997-
2006, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. . 15 Jan 2007
<http://www.managementhelp.org/trng_dev/basics/reasons.htm>.

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