Effective Training

Thomas Robinson

The best training session I have ever been apart of was an opportunity given to me by the employer of a summer internship I did in the summer of 2020. The specific training course was on how to properly operate a forklift which came with an official certification. What made this training session a good one was the brief but informative lecture, and the hands-on learning aspect that entailed on-the-job-training and a sense of simulation. The brief lecture was short and to the point which was refreshing having been used to college classes. More importantly, the training session replicated job site conditions, and had us perform tasks while monitored by a supervisor which made me confident and ready to start learning.  Another aspect of this training that made it great was the group-building aspect of it all. This training was given to a group and as such, when everyone was tasked with operating the equipment and told to move heavy objects, the whole group was there to watch. This was nice to have so many people spotting you because you are generally nervous operating equipment for the first time, and it also allowed the instructor to stop and ask if the rest of the trainees saw any problems or obstacles before the operator proceeded.

A form of training that was less than ideal for me was a sediment erosion lead course that was presented fully online apart from the final test which was given in person and on a jobsite. What made this training a bad experience was the long lectures online that were unengaging. Having sat through these and taken all the possible notes, it still made me feel unprepared to go on a job site to conduct sediment erosion protection measures because of the lack of hands on experience and instructor cooperation. I think some form of group-building dynamic training and more time spent on site with a certified erosion specialist would have made this training much more effective.