Friday, June 17, 2005

E-Learning: Training People How to Coach @ Target


On Wednesday, I attended the E-Learning Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting for ASTD NY and saw a demo of an approach being used by Target to train supervisors on how to coach cashiers. The link in this post's title is a presentation related to that application (note: unfortunately, the link is now dead), and given by David Guralnick of Kaleidoscope Learning (from a 2003 ASTD conference). David hosts a SIG meeting every month at his company's office.

Because coaching is a "soft skill," it is very challenging to teach it via e-learning. More concrete, linear skills are easier to train using online methods (e.g., step-by step instructions on how to assemble something).

The model that David's group used (Watch, Rate, and Compare) to design an e-learning experience is one that might be effective for coaching skills training. Learners watch a video clip of a scenario, they then rate the virtual coach on several dimensions, and have a opportunity to compare their ratings to "experts." The learner can then reflect on the differences and similarities between his/her ratings and those of the experts, watch the video again, and in some cases see a video of the same situation performed very well.