Management Skills Training Courses
Objective: Practice management skills learned online in a classroom setting with your peers
Background
A major business company that offers management training to employees partnered with an English language school in China to create a bilingual version of their online modules. The language company wanted to provide something extra for their students - teacher-led trainings that students would attend after doing the online modules for a truly blended learning experience. I worked as part of the content design team for these courses.
The final products I worked on were two Powerpoint lessons focusing on two different management skills. To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted confidential information. All the designs shown here are mock-ups designed by me to showcase the thought and activities that went into these courses.
Tools Used: Microsoft Powerpoint and Word
The final products I worked on were two Powerpoint lessons focusing on two different management skills. To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted confidential information. All the designs shown here are mock-ups designed by me to showcase the thought and activities that went into these courses.
Tools Used: Microsoft Powerpoint and Word
The Challenge
The language company wanted to find ways to help their learners succeed in their jobs, since many people took their courses in the hopes of climbing their career ladders.
There were several challenges here. The first one was analyzing the course for the most valuable content that could help a broad range of students in their careers. While the online modules were self-paced, the teacher-led course would be two hours, so it needed to be engaging and not too overwhelming. I also needed to find opportunities where the skills could be adapted into training exercises to be done in class.
Lastly, my audience's first language was not English, so I had to make sure the content was as clear as possible.
There were several challenges here. The first one was analyzing the course for the most valuable content that could help a broad range of students in their careers. While the online modules were self-paced, the teacher-led course would be two hours, so it needed to be engaging and not too overwhelming. I also needed to find opportunities where the skills could be adapted into training exercises to be done in class.
Lastly, my audience's first language was not English, so I had to make sure the content was as clear as possible.
Planning for adventure
With only the management course as my "SME," I needed to start with taking the course myself. I took notes on the main ideas and then narrowed them down to the best ones to be covered in the two hour session. During this filtering process, I asked myself questions, such as:
Since not all the students attending would be managers, I needed to make the course relevant and engaging for people of all backgrounds. I also wanted the two hours to be broken up with a mix of activities so the students wouldn't get bored. To further help diffuse the mass of information, I decided which skill I most wanted the students to walk away with and built my way backwards - what information did the students need to know to perform that skill well in the final practice?
Powerpoint slide example:
Creative skill training
Since the students came from many different backgrounds, I wanted the learners to contribute to the topic and learn from their peers' experiences. This is an example below of an activity to get the students on their feet and discussing their opinions.
Materials example:
I created all complementary materials for the lessons, such as cue cards to use in role-plays or checklists to use as take-aways. Below is an example of cue cards given to the learners to describe their roles in a conversation they would have with other learners to solve a problem.
Practice makes perfect
It was important for the students to actually practice the skills from the online management modules. So, I designed each course to culminate in a specific skill practice, such as a role-play or a problem that needed to be solved as a team.
I believe having students act out scenarios is a great way for concepts to stick. They can compare their performance against an example or checklist. Even better is to have the students compare their final performance with their skill base before taking the course, which can be gleaned from a pre-course survey.
I believe having students act out scenarios is a great way for concepts to stick. They can compare their performance against an example or checklist. Even better is to have the students compare their final performance with their skill base before taking the course, which can be gleaned from a pre-course survey.
Reaching the destination
What I learned from this project:
- Theme repetition- whenever possible, I tried to consolidate the information into simple categories or steps that were repeated throughout the lesson. There was a lot of information to go through, but referring back to a continued theme helped tie it all together.
- Management skills can help people in all aspects of life. In order to appeal to students who were not managers, I created scenarios that anyone could relate to. I think students respond well to skills when they can see the bigger picture or other ways they are relevant to their lives.
- Make learning collaborative - Students can learn from their peers as well as the teacher.