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Nothing takes longer on any project than
fixing mistakes. Especially design errors. We take the time
up front to make sure we know what the client and audience
needs really are.
Then we create a course that makes learners
a success at their jobs, not just a success in the class.
We're 100% on time and on budget because we get it right the
first time.
Training is almost always just one part
of a great river of change: new system, a new way of doing
business, a new way of training employees. Training's just
one part of making learners effective on the job. Everything
that can impact its success has to be kept 'on the radar'.
That's why we offer documentation and implementation
support as part of a total success package. Summary job aids
are another important part of ABILITY's recipe for success.
Course materials need to look professional
or learners won't believe they're valuable, no matter how
good the content is.
I was a desktop publisher for 12 years before
going into training and I insist on a level of quality—for
visual appeal, attention to detail, and content—that
consistently challenges even the best of my subcontractors.
("My boss is really strict!" was a comment that
made its way back to me :-) ...)
Hard-skill training is about making sure
trainees can do a specific job when the training's done. That
means the developer must clearly understand the theory of
the tasks and be able to design and create materials that
effectively transfer that knowledge.
I use my documentation background to make
sure all technical/procedural material is thoroughly covered
in a way that makes it easy to learn.
- Structured writing:
We use of structured writing techniques that are based on
studies of how adults learn. This includes specific ways
of organizing data like tables, "chunking", and
a scan column to make it easier to take in and find information.
- Instructional design:
We use established instructional design methods to assess
the audience and training needs before developing the course
structure and content. Then we design interactive, real-life
ILT and e-learning that gets the results. See the Instructional
Design section for more details.
- Templates that work:
ABILITY has templates in a variety of programs (Word, PowerPoint,
FrameMaker, etc.) that are proven winners. Solid templates
are key to producing high-quality, professional training
materials and documentation that are easy to update.
The ways people learn are different: some
are visual learners, some hands-on, some verbal, etc.
Certain things are the same: people learn
better when they're awake (!) and participating. The materials
have to invite learning, note-taking, and confidence in the
content. Also, people understand speech more easily than businessy
writing, so we use a conversational style.
ABILITY courses are for real people. That's
why they work.
For instructor-led training courses, the
instructor audience has to be assessed as well.
If they're not training professionals, the
class materials have to be easy to teach from and make sure
that basic training standards and techniques are used.
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