A training that I thought was very beneficial was during my dental assisting training at work. It connected directly to the job that I was doing and it was very effective. My team leader showed me the steps and allowed me to practice while giving me feedback. This matches our course materials because good training is when practice is encouraged and feedback is given regularly in order to improve skills. The training also allowed me to use “transfer”, which means I was able to use what I learned straight away in real workplace situations. Another reason why I think it works really well was because the training had clear goals to achieve. I understood what was expected of me and what good performance looks like. The lecture states that training design should establish objectives and replicate work situations so that the employee is able to transfer what they learn in training to their actual jobs.
A class I did not find very beneficial was a writing class I took in high school, where the teacher did not give proper feedback in order to improve our writing skills. Without having proper feedback from the teacher I was not always able to apply it to my future writing. This made the class less effective because I was not able to improve my skills and apply better writing skills in the future assignment. This connects to the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model, where training should be judged by reaction, learning, performance and results. Training should feel interesting and is only beneficial if individuals actually learn something from it to use later in life. The Kirkpatrick model is used to evaluate if training actually improves learning and workplace behaviors. Good training needs to have proper goals, job connection, practices and feedback in order for it to be useful. If these things are lacking, the training can feel disconnected and useless.