Training from the Back of the Room! - Sharon L. Bowman

65 Ways to Step Aside and Let Them Learn
The author's four-step instructional design and delivery process involves learners every step of the way. 
Designed to be user-friendly, Training from the BACK of the Room! is filled with definitions, descriptions, and practical training strategies for each of the 4 Cs:
Connections—Fifteen opening activities that connect learners to the topic, to each other, and to what they want and need to learn.
Concepts—Twenty strategies that engage and involve learners during the lecture or "direct instruction" training segment.
Concrete Practice—Fifteen strategies in which learners actively review content and practice skills.
Conclusions—Fifteen learner-led summaries, evaluations, and celebration activities.

In addition, the book offers "nice-to-know" information that will add to what you have learned: the secret about adult learning theory, a new way to write learning outcomes, The World Cafe, tips for interactive e-learning, and other useful resources to expand your learning adventure.

[Book Description Source: www.amazon.com ] 


Ratings
Goodreads Rating - 4.27 out of 5 (136 Ratings; 18 Reviews - As on April 23 2017)
My Rating:  4 out of 5
My Comments:  A very innovative approach to training that promotes Learning by Doing. Techniques described in this book will appeal to learners who tend to get quickly bored by lecture style delivery by trainers.


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The Big Book of Team Building Games - John W. Newstrom & Edward Scannell

Quick, Fun Activities for Building Morale, Communication and Team Spirit 
Did you know that games can be a terrifically effective way to build team spirit, communication, and trust among people who work together day in and day out?

Team-building games and activities are so stimulating and enjoyable that everyone in the department actually looks forward to them! 
Now you can choose from 70 varied and imaginative games and activities that have been specifically designed for the manager who's looking to:

• Raise sagging morale in a department
• Liven up boring staff meetings
• Improve communication
• Promote a culture of harmony and cooperation
• Have fun with your work team

Each of these games is fast, creative, easy-to-lead, and will help you accomplish your team building goals.
Learn valuable tips on how to present games and how to select activities for particular situations. 
Get essential advice on what not to do when leading games, and much more!
 [Book Description Source: www.amazon.in]
 

Goodreads Rating - 2.0 out of 5 (46 Rating, 2 Reviews) 
My Rating:  2 out of 5. 

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Facilitating Groups by Jenny Rogers

Getting the Best Out of a Group
A systematic, well-written and compact book which will serve well as a quick reference for the facilitators.

Book Description (Source: www.jennyrogerscoaching.com)
Every manager, every coach, every HR professional, every trainer, every team leader – anyone who needs to get the best out of a group needs to know how to facilitate. Facilitation bypasses coercion, teaching or chairing. 
It’s about how to read a group, how to challenge appropriately and how to name the apparently unnameable; it’s about having the skills which make it safe for the silent to speak and the over-talkers to calm down.
 It’s about knowing that the role is to remain objective and why that matters so much. It’s about being able to design events which perfectly match what the group needs and then to run such events with aplomb. 
This book, written by a facilitator with 30 years of experience, cuts to the heart of the practical skills that any facilitator needs

• How to get clear what facilitation is and isn’t
• How to get the measure of what is going on in a group under the surface
• Preparing and designing events with impact
• 6 vital skills that every facilitator needs
• How to deal with facilitator nightmares – eg the person who runs out of the room crying, the angry participant, the one who talks obsessively, the silent – and many more.

   

Tales for Trainers by Margaret Parkin

Tales for Trainers is an introduction to using stories, anecdotes and metaphors to give training programs more impact. 
Beginning by setting the use of stories in learning on a sound theoretical footing, the book goes on to include sample stories that trainers can read aloud to groups. 
The author provides 50 tales that will immediately help trainers, managers, educators and coaches to reinforce key messages and stimulate fresh thinking.
Proven to work in a variety of training environments the stories themselves range from ones written specifically by the author to carefully selected extracts from literature (everything from Lewis Carol to James Thurber). The linking factor in all of the stories is that they each work brilliantly as an aid to learning.
Complete with a detailed matrix showing which tales can effectively be used to promote particular learning concepts (communication, leadership, problem solving, dealing with change, etc), this radical and ground-breaking book is sure to change the way you help others to learn. 
[Source: Back cover of the book]

 My Comments: 
Thought this book would be quite useful and handy for the training programs I conduct. But most of the tales in this book are personal stories of the author which can't be reused effectively . Also I found very few tales having the necessary punch and impact to demonstrate the concept which the author wants to clarify.
I am sure there will be better books in this genre.

Goodreads Rating - 3.5 out of 5 ( 4 Ratings)


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Delivering E-Learning

Author:       Kenneth Fee

Published:  2009

Publisher:   Kogan Page

Hardcover: 200 pages

Buy from Flipkart

In this information age one cannot afford to keep away from the potential benefits which e-learning can deliver. However the subject of e-learning is still misunderstood and still accounts for only 10 % of all the training though its popularity seems to be on rise. 

The author Kenneth Fee through this book presents a complete strategy of design, application and assessment of e-learning initiatives.

The focus of this book is on the process of learning rather than on the digital technologies that enable e-learning.

There are seven main chapters in this book.

Chapter 1- Understanding e-learning: Corrects some of the common misconceptions about e-learning and defines e-learning, the three components of e-learning and five different models of e-learning.

Chapter 2- Advocacy of e-learning: Provides guidelines on recognizing and overcoming objections to e-learning and influencing effective e-learning implementations.

Chapter 3- E-learning strategy: development:  Discusses the know how of devising and implementing an effective e-learning strategy which is aligned  with the organization's learning strategy as well as its overall business strategy. 

Chapter 4-  E-learning strategy: suppliers and resources: Demystifies the digital technology associated with e-learning and examines ways of classifying the technology vendors and integrating them in the strategy in a most effective manner.

Chapter 5- E-learning strategy: learning design issues: Explains how e-learning design is different from the design for other media and shows how to make e-learning program work well by pointing out the pitfalls to be avoided in this process.

Chapter 6- E-learning strategy: measurement and results: Discusses the various approaches that can be taken to evaluate an e-learning program and how they can be linked to strategy development.

Chapter 7- Learning more about e-learning: Gives pointers to further information in terms of web references and annotated bibliography.

 Epilogue - Offers some  thoughts on the future trends on e-learning.

Most of the chapters have a section called "Virtual Round Table" where the author consolidates the responses of six international experts on e-learning to the following questions he asked them in separate interviews:

• What  are the big issues in e-learning at the moment?
• What works well and what doesn’t work so well in e-learning?
• What the main trends in e-learning are at the moment?
• How e-learning will change in the future? What it could look like in 10 years’ time.

There is also an illustrative case study which runs throughout the book. It is about how a learning and development manager with a leading UK retailer successfully implements e-learning in her organization.

 

Quite a concise, well-written, introductory  book on the e-learning strategy  which also provides insights on how to manage e-learning effectively.

A MUST READ for every learning and development professional taking first steps towards e-learning.

Useful Links:

• Table of Contents (detailed)
• Author's website
• Author's blog

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