Print Syllabus

Office: Student Health Center - 220
Phone: 208-885-4944
E-mail: tthorste@uidaho.edu

Required text

Noe, R. A. (2008). Employee Training & Development (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Willmore, J. (2006). Job Aid Basics. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

Required readings

Zemke, R. (1998). How to do a needs assessment when you think you don’t have time. Training, 35, 38-44.
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Rossett, A. (1997). That was a great class, but… Training & Development, 51, 19-24.
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Deming, B. (2001). Ten tips to being positively engaging. Training & Development, 55, 18-19.
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Goldwasser, D. (2001). Beyond ROI. Training, 38, 82-90.
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Information about the Outreach Course Fee

The Department of Psychology and Communication Studies charges a $35/credit hour course fee for all outreach courses (that is, all WWW courses, and all courses offered off of the Moscow campus). Without the fee, we would not be able to offer the courses.  Please keep in mind that the refund policy for special course fees is different than that for regular course fees.  After 2 weeks in a regular semester (or one week in summer), if you drop a course, the bursar will not refund the $35/credit hour fee.  This is a university policy, not a departmental one.

Course Overview

Training is increasingly important to maintaining organizational success. Increases in technology and diversity in organizations, as well as other factors, has placed increased emphasis on the need for training. Not only does it improves the knowledge and skills of employees, but it can also aid in retaining valued employees. This course is designed to give you an understanding of how to identify training needs, develop an effective training program, and evaluate the effectiveness of that program. The focus will be on training employees in organizations.

Objectives

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Conduct a needs assessment
2. Evaluate trainees’ readiness for training
3. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of various training methods
4. Design a training program to facilitate transfer of training
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of training
6. Describe the four approaches to employee development and why they are important 
7. State what a job aid is and when they should be used.
8. Develop a job aid

Grading

A standard 90-80-70-60 grading scale will be used. Grades will be based on quizzes, assignments, and participation in discussion.

Quizzes
(See the Schedule for Due Dates)

We will have 8 quizzes (one quiz for each of the eight lessons; there is no quiz for the final lesson). The quizzes consist entirely of multiple choice questions.  These quizzes are timed.  No outside aids or assistance are allowed to be used while taking the quizzes (i.e., you cannot consult your textbook or the website while taking the quizzes).  You must take the quiz by the date provided.

Assignments
(See the Schedule for Due Dates)

Students taking this course for graduate credit (i.e,. Psyc 550) have to complete the same assignments as the students taking the course for undergraduate credit (i.e., Psyc 450). In addition, students taking the course for graduate credit will be expected to complete a some article summaries. More detail on these article summaries will be provided below.

Assignment 1: Task analysis (10 points)

Assignment 2: Transfer of Training Matrix (5 points)

Assignment 3: Writing Training Objectives (5 points)

Assignment 4: Research Scenarios (5 points)

Assignment 5: Career Interests (5 points)

Assignment 6: Development of a Job Aid (10 points)

Research Summaries (48 points)
(Required for Psyc 550 students only)
(See the Schedule for Due Dates)

You will need to read and summarize 8 empirical articles on training.  The purpose of this assignment is to increase your familiarity with the research literature on training and give you a deeper understanding of some of the topics in the course.

Each article summary should be about 3-4 pages (double-spaced) and is worth 6 points (see Research Summaries page for more information).

Late Assignments

Please pay careful attention to due dates as these will be enforced. Assignments that are one day late will lose 10%. Assignments more than one day late will not be accepted. If you need more time to complete an assignment, you must notify me prior to the due date.

Participation

There will be a few times throughout the semester where we will have a chance to interact in some discussions. These discussions will be asynchronous; that is, we will not have to participate at the same time, rather you will be responsible for posting a response sometime within a particular time frame. The first eight lessons will have a topic for discussion. You will need to contribute at least once to each topic. Participation in these discussions will be worth a total of 16 points (2 points each x 8 lessons). Your discussion entry must be posted by the end of the week to receive credit.  

Response to Question 1,2, 3, & 4 by Friday, May 23

Response to Question 5 & 6 by Friday, May 30

Response to Question 7 & 8 by Friday, June 6

Academic Honesty

I expect that your work on the quizzes and assignments reflect your own efforts.  There may be times when outside sources are used for assignments.  If outside sources are used, students must appropriately cite the source.  

If evidence of cheating is found, a grade penalty will be assigned to the assignment or quiz and the incident will be reported to the Dean of Students.