Reflection 5 Sunday, Nov 18 2007

Today’s topic will be focusing on the Training Hall in the department where all the internal courses are hold by our mentor. In this post I will discuss about the learning environment, the seating arrangement and the teaching/learning materials that are available in the Hall.

Learning environment is one of the important components of effective training. I noticed the layout of the Training Hall is prepared well for any training courses. The Hall is clean with nice appearance and good lighting and space. However, the space is not used effectively because the seating arrangement of the Hall is a row based arrangement which reminds me with traditional classrooms.

Despite the fact that the target audiences are adults, the space that is available could be used effectively by dividing it to two sections. One section with Horse shoe seating look for presentation and demonstration purposes and the other section should involve effective group seating arrangement where the trainees have the opportunity to communicate with their pairs and get involve on their own learning. A blended learning environment will give both trainer and trainees the opportunity to express themselves and we achieve our objective of having better employees with high skills. (Kyriacou, 2001, p.74-75).

Training Hall Seating Arrangement.

Mixed Seating Arrangement

Another factor that I noticed about the Hall atmosphere is very cold that might cause an attention problem with the trainees. In fact, Hayat and I cannot focus because of this freezing environment. We suggested reducing it but our mentor told us it cannot be changed! I hope the trainees will be able to focus on the training next week with this atmosphere.

Furthermore, there is some teaching resources as I noticed in the training hall such as TV, video, white boards. However, the multimedia projector is brought only for training days to the Hall as our mentor said. As for learning materials, trainees have laptops to do some practical exercises only on the training day. I think it would be better if the training department is ready with all the equipments that are required to be provided.

To sum up, I think the department is still new and with time everything will be changed. Technology and learning environment will be improved for better.

Reference:
Kyriacou, C. (2001). Essential Teaching Skills. United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

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Reflection 4 Saturday, Nov 17 2007

Hi all,

Communication is “is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels”. (website). Today I will discuss about the type of communication that we share with our mentor. I have been observing my mentor since we started the WP.

We have been discussing with him about issues concerned the Training Department such as lack of staff, technology which can lead to difficulties as being an effective section in the organization. I noticed my mentor is an open-minded person who accepts ideas and suggestions. He also clarified his point of view politely with us and he considered our suggestions for future actions to be taken.

Another point I liked about our mentor’s behavior is he gave us the correct tasks with the detailed information to do for the department which were related to our studies as ED.Tech students. Furthermore, our mentor is a supportive manager who helped us to get a PC to solve the Articulate Engage problem and he also updated with us about the work that we done at the end of each day. I might think working with him as an Educational Technologist in the future. 🙂

To sum up, I learned that effective communication between staff and their managers can strengthen their professional relationship and motivate the staff to be productive.

Reference:
The Importance of Effective Communication.(n.d). Retrieved November16th , 2007 from http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/interper/commun.htm#introd

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Reflection 3 Wednesday, Nov 14 2007

Hi all,

How are you doing with your work experiences? I hope all of you having good time. 🙂

Reflection 3:

Today Hayat and I decided to solve the Articulate Software problem by asking our mentor to provide for us a PC from the Bank. I was happy because our mentor was a supportive person and the PC was in Training Hall within an hour. I believe if we as student trainers find support and opportunity to be creative from our mentors to achieve our objectives of the work placement. As a result of this, our products will be effective and useful. However, this is one element of producing beneficial learning resources.

Furthermore, I learned a lot about the bank environment and I started using some terminologies that are relevant to my work environment. I think I can apply what knowledge I gained while creating the products into real practice if I train the Bank’s staff.

Moreover, I improved my solving problems’ skills by looking for alternatives instead of wasting my time observing the nature view of the training hall. I also start being a critical learner when I thought creating a presentation using Articulate and summarizing the detailed records that our mentor gave us will be more effective than the PPT that our mentor prepared.

To sum up, we finished creating the presentation and the booklet and we are hoping these resources will be used for future training by our mentor. I am happy because I did some work that are related to my studies.

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Reflection 2: Solving Problems Tuesday, Nov 13 2007

Solving Problems

As I said in my first post about creating learning materials for a course called “Bank’s Products” for all the managers of the NBQ. Our mentor discussed with us about the purpose of the course or as I call it “workshop” which will be updating the managers’ knowledge about the kind of products the bank provides for the customers.
I found this workshop an effective one because it will help the managers to improve their branches and attract more customers.

The second thing Hayat and I decided was what kind of learning objects we will create and what type of software will be the best choice for preparing them. Our plan for the materials was:
1. Creating a presentation as a teaching tool for our mentor.
2. Creating a movie maker as a warming up activity to start the workshop and to engage the trainees.
3. Creating a booklet as a reference for the trainees to be used after the workshop.

We had some difficulties creating the presentation because the Articulate Engage Trial Version was expired on our laptops. We tried our best to solve this problem by contacting my teacher Nick and reinstalling it again on our laptops. However, we did not solve this problem. Therefore, we focused on preparing the other two materials.

At the end of the day, we finished one material which was the Booklet. However, we did not know how to solve the Articulate problem. I think it will be a good idea if the college provides it for us. Hayat and I also decided to suggest to our mentor to buy the Articulate software after he tests our learning objects. I also realized that working as an ED.Tech is interesting more than being a computer teacher!

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Reflection 1 Tuesday, Nov 13 2007

This is my first day in my work experience in National Bank of Umm Al Quwain. I had some expectations before visiting the place. One of my expectations was to take part in developing the Training Center in the bank and to prepare a “Needs Analysis” paper for this purpose. However, I found myself in the right position as an Educational Technologist preparing learning materials for the training courses that are provided for the trainees.

Although I believe that the training department needs development, my mentor already divided the type of training that should be taken by the employees of the bank. These types of training are studying aboard, courses in banking institutions in the UAE, Attending conferences and workshops and courses given by my mentor regarding to the employee’s needs. I think the first two types are serious courses taken by the trainees. But the other two types could be more like lessons or workshops because there is no real planning for the course.

I also observed that the training department lacks staff, technology and organization. However, I believe it will be a better section in the future because it is still a new department.

To sum up, Hayat and I start planning to prepare our first learning materials about “Bank’s Product”. At end of the day, I felt we will have a rich experience during our work placement.

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Work-experience Saturday, Nov 10 2007

Hi all,

This is another first post I am doing in the word press because I guess the first blog is gone! Or I don’t know what happened to it.

I know I am late and I have around five posts to do!

I will start reading some blogs of my classmates and I hope all of you enjoy reading my reflections!

Overall, my work-experience is great because I applying what I have learnt at college into real practice.I hope everyone having the same experience. 🙂

Regards,
Z.Abdulla

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