Definitions (Chapters 3-8) Flashcards
Needs assessment
The process used to determine whether training is necessary and, if so, in what areas
Content expert
A person who is knowledgeable about: 1. training issues 2). knowledge skills and abilities required for task performance 3) necessary equipment and 4) conditions under which tasks must be performed
Competency
Special knowledge skills or behaviours that enable employees to perform their job
Competency model
A model identifying the competencies necessary for each job as well as the knowledge, skills, behaviour and personal characteristics underlying each competency
Job analysis
The process of develping a description of the job (duties, tasks and responsibilities) and the specifications (knowledge, skills and abilities) that an employee must have to perform
Basic skills
Skills necessary for employees to perform their jobs and learn the content of training programs
Cognitive ability
Verbal comprehension, quantitive ability and reasoning ability
Self-efficacy
Employees’ belief that they can sucessfully perform their job or learn the content of a training program
Situational contraints
Work environment characteristics including lack of proper equipment, materials, supplies, budgetary support and time
Norms
Accepted standards of behaviour for members of a work group
Focus group
A form of qualitative research in which a group of employees and subject matter experts address specific training needs. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members
Benchmarking
The use of information about other organisations’ training practices to help determine the appropriate type, level and frequency of training
Learning
Acquiring new and modifying existing knowledge, skills, behaviours, values or preferences resulting in a realtively permanent change in capabilities not emanating from growth processes
Verbal information
Names or labels, facts and bodies of knowledge
Intellectuall skills
Mastery of concepts and rules
Motor skills
Coordination of physical movements
Attitude
A combination of beliefs and feelings that predispose a person to behave in a certain way
Cognitive strategies
Strategies that regulate the learning processes; they relate to the learner’s decision regarding what information to attend to, how to remember and how to solve problems
Reinforcement
A theory assesting that people are motivated to perform or avoid certain behaviours because of past outcomes that have resulted from those behaviours
Social learning theory
A theory asserting that people learn by observing other people (models) who they believe are credible and knowledgeable
Self-efficacy
Employees’ belief that they can successfully perform their job or learn the content of a training program
Verbal persuasion
Offering words of encouragement to convince others that they can learn
Modelling
Having employees who have mastered the desired learning outcomes demonstrate them for trainees
Goal-setting theory
A theory assumming that behaviour results from a person’s conscious goals and intentions
Need theory
Helps to explain the value that a person places on certain outcomes. Aneed is a deficiency that a person is experiencing at any point in time.
Expectancy
Belief about the link between trying to perform a behaviour (or effort) and actually performing well; the mental state that the learner brings to the instructional process
Instrumentality
In expectancy thery, a belief that performing a given behaviour is associated with a particular outcome
Valence
The value that a person put on an outcome
Andragogy
The theory of adult learning
Perception
The ability to organise a message from the environment so it can be processed and acted upon
Working storage
The rehersal and repetitation of information, allowing it to be coded for memory
Rehersal
A learning strategy focusing on learning through repetition (memorisation)
Organising
A learning strategy that requires the learner to find similarities and themes in the training materials
Retrieval
The identification of learnt material in long term memory and the use of it to influence performance
Generalising
Adapting learning for use in similar but not identical situations