Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Training For Dummies By Elaine Biech

Training For Dummies

Training For Dummies
By Elaine Biech

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Product Description

Millions of Americans have to train others as part of their jobs. Whether you're an employee training your co-workers on a new process or skill, a volunteer asked to train new volunteers, a chef training your staff, or a paramedic giving CPR training, it's just as important to know how to teach others as it is to know what you're talking about. It doesn't matter how much you know about your subject if you can't share it with others.

Fortunately, Training For Dummies offers all the nuts and bolts of training for anyone who has to educate others on any subject and in any field. It covers all the modern, interactive instructional methods and dynamic training approaches available and helps you get trainees inspired, involved, and enthused. Training For Dummies will help you:

  • Keep it interesting so trainees learn more eagerly
  • Master the jargon of training
  • Use audio and visual aids effectively
  • Prepare for the training certification process
  • Evaluate your results and improve your tactics

Elaine Biech, President and Managing Principal of Ebb Associates, Inc., and known as "the trainer's trainer" shows you all the tips and tricks of the trade. Based on her long experience as a trainer and her work for clients such as the IRS and many Fortune 500 companies, Biech helps you discover:

  • Tips, techniques, and tidbits for enhancing your training sessions
  • Methods that improve trainee participation
  • Alternatives to the traditional lecture method
  • Tactics for gauging and managing group dynamics
  • Strategies for addressing problems in the classroom
  • Hints for understanding and adapting to different learning styles
  • Helpful resources and other extra material you can put to immediate use

No matter what you do for a living, there will probably come a time when you have to teach others what you know. Training For Dummies cuts through the complicated jargon to present the basics of teaching and learning in straightforward, plain English so you can share your specialized knowledge with those who need it.

Product Details
  • Amazon Sales Rank: #49229 in Books
  • Published on: 2005-03-25
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .90" h x 7.38" w x 9.20" l, 1.32 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 408 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Follow a training cycle start to finish!

Use modern instructional techniques and dynamic delivery to reach and teach learners!

There's a big difference between "knowing your stuff" and knowing how to teach others your stuff. Trainers have to know both. Whether you're an employee who has been tapped to train co-workers or a professional trainer who wants to hone your skills, Training For Dummies provides proven, effective tools and approaches.

Discover how to

  • Conduct needs assessments
  • Custom design training courses
  • Adapt for different learning styles
  • Enhance participation and learning
  • Prepare for the new certification procedure

About the Author
Elaine Biech, known as "the trainer's trainer," is President and Managing Principal of ebb associates inc, a strategic implementation, leadership development, and experiential learning consulting firm.

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
5No Train, No Gain
By !Edwin C. Pauzer
One of the pitfalls of being a training specialist for such a long time is that it is easy to become complacent with your knowledge level and your writing habits. "Training for Dummies," which should be titled "Training for Schmarties" is one of those books that will help you avoid that.

Author, Elaine Biech covers the instructional systems design model (ISD) or A.D.D.I.E., in detail. These are analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. She states the difference between what it means to be a teacher vs. being a trainer. This is one of the only texts I have seen that offers some construction of an instructional design draft, although I wish she would have shown and explained a two-column format in depth. She did provide samples of a three- and four-column format.

Biech goes into overdrive regarding implementation from room set-up, the things that could go wrong, dealing with nervousness, and handling the disruptive influence, all types of them, to mention just a few. She also covers the four (or five if you prefer) levels of evaluation superbly.

One area I was hoping that she would address is how trainers can deal with managers who make disastrous training decisions that will be a supreme waste of time and money, but will blame the trainer rather than recognizing their decision as the reason for failure. (I was once asked to do training to control or reduce absenteeism. Thank God, he had a poor memory)! This is a constant uphill battle for trainers and I see half-hearted training efforts squandered on almost a weekly basis. (If you're out there reading this, no, you can't have Team Building in only one day Why? Because it's not enough time to build teams, dummy)!

I have a few dozen texts on training. If you could only have one of them, this would be the one I would give you. If you're serious about training, it is one book you need to keep on your table instead of your shelf.

Remember...

No train, no gain.

P.S. Don't get overconfident if you have a full seminar in Hawaii or Scottsdale, AZ. They might have other reasons for being there.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
4Even If You ARE Smart...
By Sojourner
Most of the time, people asked to conduct a training event or to become trainers are really smart, really good at what they do, and want to help others become good also. Where the perception that these smart people are "dummies" comes is from the stupid things they do in class, in their small group demonstration sessions, conducting on the job training, or in one-on-one mentoring. It has always amazed me that otherwise smart people can be so dumb when it comes to teaching others what they know.

TRAINING FOR DUMMIES comes to the rescue with a plethora of advice, helpful tools, and resources as well as a clear articulation of WHY you do something (or don't do it) when training. Using Gagne's Nine Instructional Events and other solid, research-based instructional models, TRAINING FOR DUMMIES provides anyone - from novice to experienced trainer - a clear roadmap to success as a trainer.

DO NOT skim this book. Turn to the sections that fit your most pressing need (and there is a ton of them!) and read long, and read deep. Learn how to handle that challenging student as well as understand why that student may be exhibiting "dysfunctional" behaviors when you are working so hard to help them learn. Learn how to organize your thoughts, your interactions with the trainees, and all those things that successful trainers do. It is no wonder this book is endorsed by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), it works!

Read it before EVERY class, after every class, and keep it by your bed. At night, read a paragraph or section before you go to bed. In the morning, read it before starting your day. Keep a learning journal nearby to write down questions, insights, or the many ideas TRAINING FOR DUMMIES will inspire. This is a VERY user-friendly book. Your trainees, students, bosses, and fellow trainers will be glad you read it and use its advice!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
5Training is NOT for Dummies
By Davis E. Froeber
Even a cursory reading of Training for Dummies should convince anyone that conducting good quality successful training is definitely not for the inexperienced. Step by step Elaine peels away the layers of good training to show the reader how it should be done. From the neophyte to seasoned professionals, there are training "gems" here for everyone.

Training for Dummies starts those new to training with a review of adult learning theory and an exploration of the basic training cycle, assessing needs, and designing learning objectives. Moving on from theory to practice, Elaine offers a trainer's bible for delivering dynamic training sessions covering such topics as great training openers and making the best use of visuals and multi-media. One particularly helpful chapter deals with what to do when problems occur in the training room. We have all had those days when the room is cancelled, the projector bulb goes out, or there is one person in the group that is intent on making our day miserable. Numerous problem scenarios and strategies for dealing with them are offered.

Making training interesting and fun is a theme that runs throughout the book. Elaine's mandate to trainers is clear: training should not be boring. In the final section of her book, she offers six chapters full of ideas you can put to immediate use to energize your training.

It is evident that Elaine has years of training behind her in writing this book. She shares so many of the tips that have made her a recognized master trainer that I would recommend keeping a notebook nearby to glean some of her best ideas. When you integrate these into your next training event, you and your learners will experience the difference.

Davis E. Froeber
President, Intercultural Dimensions

http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/0764559850

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