Best and work

   
BEST AND WORST TRAINING EXPERIENCES ESSAY
This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade. It gives you an opportunity to apply concepts and theories from the textbook to your real-life experiences in training programs. You must complete this assignment individually, without contacting other students, and you may not use a paper or any part of a paper from a previous class or from another person.  The assignment addresses Course Objectives 1, 4, and 5.
Most of us have had to participate in some type of training on our jobs, such as new employee orientation, lunch-and-learn workshops, Employee Assistance Program training, technical skill training, employee benefits update meetings, or management development workshops. Some of us have experienced on-the-job training. Others have participated in professional development workshops or skills-based continuing education classes. Think about the best and worst training experiences you have had. What made the best experiences excellent and what made the worst experiences terrible? 
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Write an 8-10 page essay (not including cover and reference pages) analyzing one of your best training experiences and one of your worst training experiences.  Be specific in discussing what made the experiences good or bad.  Please review the content of Weeks 4-8 on learning theories, the design of training, training methods, training evaluation, and transfer of learning. This material should be reflected in your essay.
Your essay should include brief descriptions of the training experiences:

The target audience
The objective(s) of the      training (see Week 5)
The training site 
Training methods used (see Weeks      7 and 8)

The major focus of your paper is your analysis, which is worth 65% of the grade for this assignment. Your analysis should include:

An assessment of the specific      factors that contributed to the success or ineffectiveness of the      training; for example, consider these questions:

Did the training achieve       its objective(s)?
Was the training site       conducive to learning?
Were the methods chosen       appropriate for the topic and the audience?
Did you have opportunities       to practice and receive feedback?

A discussion of the learning      theory or theories that you believe guided the training (see Week 4).
A discussion of how your      learning as well as the overall effectiveness of the training were      evaluated (see Week 6).
An assessment of the competencies,      knowledge, and/or skills demonstrated or not demonstrated by the trainer(s).       The ATD competency model (see Week      1) is a good resource.
A discussion of whether or      not you transferred what you learned to your job, and what contributed to      your successful or unsuccessful transfer (see Week 4).
Your specific recommendations      for improving the training, based on what you now know about effective      training programs.

The information above should be included in your paper but you are free to organize your essay in whatever way makes sense to you. You may use the first person (“I attended a program” or “the trainer told us”) in discussing your experiences. Support your analysis with citations from the readings from this class or other HR courses, and additional resources posted in our classroom. Make sure you define all key terms and cite the source(s) of your definition. Since this is not primarily a research paper, no specific number of references is required. However, you must cite your sources. 
Use APA format for all citations, quotations, and references. References should be listed on a separate page as required by APA style.  Your paper should be double spaced with one inch margins and a font size of at least 11 points; do not include any spaces between paragraphs or sections. 
SUBMITTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Please add the following statement to the cover of your paper:
This paper is my own work that I created specifically for this course and this section. All research or material I used in preparing this paper has been properly acknowledged within the assignment in accordance with academic standards for complete and accurate citation of sources.
Submit your assignment electronically via the Assignment folder.
Name your file this way: YourLastNameFirstInitial_TrainingEssay
(Example: DoeJ_TrainingEssay)
Due date: Sunday, April 5, 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
Please see the next page for the grading criteria for this assignment. 
     
Criteria for Grading Best   and Worst Training Experiences Essay
       

A

B

C

F

Points Earned
 
Knowledge and       Application of Relevant Concepts and Theories
(65 pts)

Student       demonstrated exceptional knowledge of relevant theories and concepts; student       did an exceptional job of applying theories and concepts to workplace training       experiences; all statements and opinions were supported by appropriate       citations from the course materials and from other sources.
65 – 59 points

Student demonstrated       satisfactory knowledge of relevant theories and concepts; student did a       satisfactory job of applying theories and concepts to workplace training experiences;       most statements and opinions were supported by appropriate citations       primarily from the course materials.
58 – 52 points

Student       demonstrated less than satisfactory knowledge of relevant theories and       concepts; student did a less than satisfactory job of applying theories       and concepts to workplace training experiences; some statements and opinions       were not supported by appropriate citations.
51 – 46 points

Student       demonstrated unsatisfactory knowledge of relevant theories and concepts; student       did an inadequate job of applying theories and concepts to workplace training       experiences; many statements and opinions were not supported by       appropriate citations.
45 – 0 points

 
Comments

 
Presentation of       Ideas and Mechanics
(30 pts)

Student presented       ideas in a clear, compelling manner; essay contained few distracting writing,       grammar, and/or spelling problems; the page length requirement was met.
30 – 27 points

Student presented       ideas in an organized manner; essay contained several distracting writing,       grammar, and/or spelling problems; the page length requirement may have       been slightly exceeded.
26 – 24 points

Student presented       ideas in a somewhat organized manner; essay contained a number of       distracting grammar and/or spelling problems; the page length requirement       may not have been met.
23 – 21 points

Student presented       ideas in a poorly organized manner; essay contained many distracting writing,       grammar, and/or spelling problems; the page length requirement was not       met.
20 – 0 points

 
Comments

 
APA formatting
(5 pts)

All citations, quotations, and references were formatted correctly or       contained only one or two minor errors.
5.0 – 4.5

Most citations, quotations, and references were       formatted correctly or contained a few minor errors.
4.4 – 4.0 points

Some citations, quotations, and references were       not formatted correctly or contained major errors.
3.9 – 3.5 points

Many citations, quotations, and references were       not formatted correctly or contained many errors.
3.4 – 0 points

 
Comments

 
Total Points       Earned
(100 points max)

 
Overall Comments