Imagine this: On completion of your graduation in Engineering, XYZ Company has recruited you as IT Support Executive. XYZ Company is an IT Business Process Out-sourcing firm providing services to a UK-based company. It’s your first day at work. There are 19 other trainees who either are like you or have worked for 5-6 years in another company.
Even as you interact with your colleagues, a lady walks in and says, “Welcome to XYZ Company. My name is Rachel James and I will be your ‘Corporate Communications’ facilitator for the next two weeks.” Then she goes on to say,
Scenario 1: We will begin with basic communication skills. As stated in the first slide of this power point presentation, basic communication skills are… (Expository teaching)
Scenario 2: We will be learning more about basic communication skills. You can stop me at any moment to clarify doubts. We know that basic communication skills are reading, writing, listening and speaking. Can any one tell me which skills you will be using when interacting on-line with customers from Norwich… (Interactive teaching)
Scenario 3: The first thing we will do is split into 5 groups of 4. We’ll work in our groups for the next two weeks to learn more about basic communication skills and to understand the communication methods used within the company… (Small group teaching/discussion)
Scenario 4: You might or might not know about XYZ Company. In the next 45 minutes we’ll find out more about XYZ Company through company advertising videos, search engines, IT magazines, etc. Once we research the topic, we’ll split into 4 groups of 5 to co-relate the data and create presentations… (Inquiry teaching/problem solving)
Scenario 5: Based on diagnostic tests done during your recruitment, we have created individualised training programmes. Log onto the computer system using your username and password. Double click the ‘Day One’ folder in ‘E-drive’. The folder has a series of tasks that you will complete within a stipulated time… (Individualisation)
Scenario 6: Please log onto the computer system using your username and password. On the desktop, there’s an icon that says ‘Virtual Learning Environment’. Double-click on this icon. You will be paired with a virtual customer… (Models of reality)
Print (1993) states, “In the cycle of the curriculum process, learning activities are integrally related to content and curriculum intent…The selection of appropriate teaching-learning strategies reflects the curriculum developer’s professional understanding of the task at hand and the needs of students…” Print’s (1993) definition forms the selection criteria for my imaginary training programme, i.e.
Content: Communication Skills Use and Usage by Indian IT agents amongst British customers.
Curriculum Intent: Facilitate and improve practical knowledge in the use of communication skills, i.e. reading, writing, speaking and listening, so that trainees can work as a team in the future to handle customer queries effectively.
Teaching Learning Strategies: ‘Small group teaching/discussion’ and ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ are the two strategies to be used.
Learner: A group of tenured and un-tenured IT agents who are not first-language users with limited exposure to British culture.
Learner Needs: Improvement in the use and usage of English language so as to be effective IT support agents.
Now that we know the background to my imaginary training programme, let us look at the learning activities used. Print (1993) defines learning activities as “those activities offered to learners in the teaching-learning situation which are designed to enable them to acquire the designated content and thereby achieve the stated objectives and more broadly, the curriculum’s intent.” Based on Print’s (1993) definition, I have decided to use the above stated two teaching learning strategies. The advantages and areas of concern for using ‘Small group teaching/discussion’ and ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ are as follows:
Small group teaching/discussion: allows me to divide the classroom into small groups. Each group works on the same task but they learn to work independently. They achieve the learning objective by using interactive formats such as group discussion, brain-storming, mind-mapping, etc. The interaction between trainees will result in communication skills improvement. The use of technology for topic research will improve their receptive skills. The discussions will improve their productive skills.
Print (1993) states “small groups are the only…opportunity for (trainees)…to acquire these skills effectively.” Group discussions will result in trainees working together in teams to achieve a common goal. This suits the training purpose of ensuring that in the future they will work as a team to sort out consumer problems.
An important area of concern is that trainees can lose focus. I can circumvent this by placing ‘off-task behaviour’ checks at points where trainees might deviate from learning objectives. Since the learning objective is to improve communication skills, it’s irrelevant how loud the discussions are as long as trainees are not discourteous to each other. It’s to be noted that the advantages of using this learning strategy to improve communication skills far outweighs its ‘areas of concern’.
Inquiry teaching/problem solving: Print (1993) states ‘Inquiry teaching/problem solving’ “ensures…learners are actively engaged in determining answers to questions or resolving problems.” This method will involve trainees in four stages of activity. Later, this will help them to determine a consumer’s area of concern. They’re as follows:
1) Problem awareness: Trainees determine the problem by asking questions and listening to answers provided.
2) Forming tentative hypotheses or possible solutions to the problem or issue: Based on the answers given, trainees will create possible solutions.
3) Researching and collecting data to test those hypotheses: Trainees will ask leading questions that will enable them to test the feasibility of their solution to the problem.
4) Forming conclusions based on the evidence collected and accepting or rejecting the hypotheses/possible solution: Trainees work on determining plausible solutions that can be substantiated with data.
The learning objective here is to ensure that trainees receive enough opportunities to improve their communication skills before they begin interacting with customers. The expository and interactive teaching strategies do not provide these opportunities. Since we require trainees to work in teams once they begin taking calls, ‘individualisation’ and ‘models of reality’ strategies do not work. Both these strategies require trainees’ to work as individuals and they defeat the training programme’s purpose.
Print (1993) suggests four criteria for choosing learning activities and they are diagrammatically sequenced as follows:
I have based my criteria on all four. When you work in the BPO industry, you will realise that there are little or no ‘resources crunch’ or ‘constraints’ based on finance, technology, etc. This multi-billion dollar industry generates enough finance to fund it-self and other industries too. The basis’ here are the first two. If I had a resource crunch or constraints then I would have a contingency plan in place. For example, if I had no access to online systems then I would have given each trainee printed sheets, magazines and other media examples to access information. As a facilitator I do know how to work with what is given to me so that I can achieve the objectives of the learning modules keeping in mind the learners’ styles of learning.
Appropriate content teaching with effective teaching learning strategies that achieve learning standards is an extensive field. Print (1993) provides us with the stepping stones to accomplish those objectives along with information about possible pit falls in disregarding them. Since I am convinced by what Print (1993) has stated, I’ll follow the above process in my training career in the future.
Bibliography:
Print, M. (1993) Curriculum Development and Design (2nd Edition). St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin
