Holistic Report Submission 22/07/2016

Holistic report for 1106-21

Written by

Hoang Van Manh (PWH5269)

Date: 22/07/2016

1. Introduction

1.a. My name is Hoang Van Manh. I am now the Deputy Manager and Instructor of Safety and Environment Faculty of PetroVietNam Manpower Training College (PVMTC). I have 10 year experiences working here. Beside of management jobs, I am also in charge of training HSEQ courses for employees of oil and gas companies in Viet Nam who are Vietnamese or foreigners. So I have been working in adult training environment for 10 years. I also teach safety subjects for students of my college.

1.b. This report is referring to the training sessions that I have completed during the IVQ 1106-21 program. The sessions’ information includes the following: Session number 01: Basic First Aid training and Session number 02: Basic Fire Fighting. They are two units of the course/program/qualification Basic Safety Training that to be training for personnel who are new and will working on offshore environment. In this report, I also share about some techniques that I have been learning from IVQ class and apply in my own courses.

1.c. The objective of this report is to complete the required evidences in this program.

2. Unit 101: Identify learners needs

2.a. Overview

There are five steps of the learning cycle including the following:

+ Identify learner's need,

+ Plan and design the suitable training

+ Deliver the training to the learners/audiences

+ Assess the training results

+ Evaluate the training and improvement

+ Identify learner’s need.

Why do i identify learner’s need first before commencing other things. In organization training or vocational training, the need of learners is very important. By understanding clearly about the capability of learners, strength points and week points, i know the level of competency that learners need to improve or fill the gap.

How to know the needs. There are several ways to get that including formal and informal methods. You can ask questions directly to learners or face to face interview. You can send them the questions forms via email or post. Or you can check the evidences of competence by verifying the certifications or observing them doing some tasks or as some eye witness… So the way you choose to identify needs depends on your resources. How much time you have? How much cost you can spend for? The schedule and availability of involved persons? And the purpose of checking that suit levels of training.

In my faculty, we are the HSE training provider for oil and gas industry in Viet Nam. Currently, we are the OPITO Approved center. Beside of this, we also supply the HSE training courses following Viet Nam standards and internationally guidelines such as HSE UK and OSHA.

The practice of identify learner’s need, i now conduct for external learners (delegates from oil and gas companies) and internal learners (trainer/instructor of the faculty). For external i use the booking procedure to get the demands of customers. Then upload booking and confirm on our database so that i arrange the suitable training schedule.

For internal, based on the training matrix or competency matrix, every year i have the plan to improve our trainers/instructors so they can handle the course by themselves. Then i send the people to attend training not only in-house training, on-the-job training but also oversea training. After each milestone, my faculty has competence assessor to do assessment before report to manager for approval of new specific training course trainer/instructor.

+ Design the training contents

Once complete identifying the learner’s needs, the trainer/instructor should proceed to the next step of “plan and design for the training”. So, how to plan and design the training suitable for learners. The answers you already got from the results of the first step. You have known the competency of learners, what training units/modules/qualifications they have to attend, what are the gaps need to be filled in and some other needs such as translation, disability support, request for services…

Planning for the training, trainers should check and verify some basic information to include training location or venue, suitability of facility and equipment, weather conditions, availability of time and schedule for both trainers and learners, support of transportation… Trainers and learners also sign onto the plan to confirm their understanding and agreement between both sides.

Before commencing training, trainers/instructor should design course programs/contents suitable to training levels of different learners. And how to design well. One of the good practices is that i design courses following international standards or industrial guidelines. I can also use the internal requirements of organization or out sourcing for that job. However, when designing, i need to focus on the aim and learning outcomes of training by answering some of these questions: the purpose of training, what are knowledge and skills that learners achieve after leaving the class.

In my faculty, i use guidelines for all instructors when teaching called Lesson Plan which is theory lesson plan, practical lesson plan or mixed. I put in that clear instructions for trainers so that experienced or non experienced can conduct training following our standards. Some key notes in lesson plan to include course/module title, date and time, trainer’s name, aim, learning outcomes, activities in class, resources to be used (slide, equipment, flipchart, multimedia…), assessment methods and reference.

+ Deliver training

After design and plan, now trainer is ready for deliver training. If you prepare well, your training can be run well. I just do what i think and write down on the plan. However, training activity is not just static. It is a dynamic motions. Trainers should not copy one style that you are success for one class to the others. Just because of different classes, always different learners.

There are three parts of training which are open, body/content and close parts. However, there are many different techniques to show the parts of training. I can use explanation, group discussion, round robin activity, asking questions, brainstorming, demonstration, tell story, showing video…

 + Assessment

Can i just do training without assessment? The answer is absolutely no. I must do assessment to confirm that learners have achieved learning outcomes or they have not. Assessment is one important part of training.

So, when and how to assess. I can do formal and informal assessment. I also have initial, formative and summative assessment. That means i can assess before, during or after training. There are several ways of assessment to include examination, questions, observations, assignment, project, approved prior learning, witness, simulation…

In my faculty, i often use multi-choice questions and observation of practical exercise for assessment. For practical exercises, delegates will practice after my demonstration and explanation. They can do in a group of maximum 4 or just one person. Once they finish their jobs, I also give them the feedbacks on what they have just donning. I share them good points, safety points and things need to be re-assessed. Based on training procedure, delegates have time for re-assessment is in within maximum 3 month because of their working schedule (onshore and offshore work shifts).

+ Evaluation

After I complete the above steps of training, now is the time for myself to think back to things I have done. Something I did well and some I need to improve for next classes/courses. We are the people, so think about and realize our week points is not an easy job. When I first joined into the faculty, I saw experienced instructors tech courses in Vietnamese or English very fluently and by their easy ways. But when I first came in front the class and told them the course, I felt nervous and I had little things to explain. So the experienced instructors support me too much and I also tried to be able to do jobs by myself. Now I have already improved myself and keep learning not only HSEQ courses’ contents but also training techniques. I want to be an expert in HSEQ training field.

2.b. A good learning experience for me as a learner

The trainers showed me using flexible and suitable training methods and material in class. We can sit in tables with small groups or we can stand in a round circle with big group. And sometime we can use flipcharts instead of slides or white board. I also learn about activities we do before starting class. That is energizing activities. For two sessions, I were invited two time to be energizer. And they were exiting for myself.

2.c. A bad learning experience for me as a learner

Some of learners came to the class late even in AM or PM. I knew the course commenced in our PVMTC, and some persons were busy with their work. However, we should be on time to the class.

2.d. Because of the above, I am the instructor I will remember to always prepare carefully and properly for my courses. I also be in the class on time and remind my learners to do that. I will always think about how to bring energizers to learners as well as let them feel exiting in training.

2.e. About my learners during this training session. He graduated from university. He needed translation for some technical terms. His learning style is read/write. He can do his job independently.

2.f. How did I find out information about my learner needs. I conducted diagnostic meeting, sent forms and questions via email. I also talked to him directly.

2.g. Why important to know about my learner needs. To help me prepare better for training such as location, translation, services and other supports. Know properly about learner needs, I will use suitable training and assessment methods. I also prepare for teaching situation may happen in class. Prepare well, I will be confident for class.

3. Unit 102: Planning the training

3.a.b.c

My first practical assessment for the first unit/session was on 2nd June 2016. I was the first presenter of my group in the afternoon. To prepare for that, I chose the topics of safety that I am familiar with. That is basic first aid. I already have the slides, video, training handout, lesson plan and equipment for practical like first aid dummy, facemask…However, when attending this course, I have learned that trainers/instructors can make something different. Trainers/instructors can do a better presentation. So I decided to use flipchart and A1 papers instead of using slides and video as I did in practice session.

I drawn some pictures to demonstrate key figures of contents. I also organized the class arrangement by inviting learners come up in the center of room and in front of flipchart (this helped all learners to see information) and we stayed in a round circle.

My second practical assessment was on 12nd July 2016. This time based on the requirements, I prepared some slides of basic fire fighting and I used facilitating technique. Training aids that I used are projector, fire extinguisher, board and pens. I planed the time to be between 13:30 PM to 13:55 PM. In planning, I chose techniques such as explanation, questioning, and demonstration. I want learners find out information and result by themselves during the course.

4. Unit 103: Delivering training

4.a.b.c

My first practical assessment (first session)

Before I started, I explained to the class safety points and we shared together ourselves information such as full name, department and experiences. Then I introduced aim, learning outcomes, assessment and contents of training. During my show, I used some skills like asking questions to collect answers from learners, eye contacts, walking around class, body language, and invited learners to demonstrate following my demonstration. I saw the learners really involved with training class. They could understand what I was talking about and could practice exercises. 

My second practical assessment (second session)

Following procedure, I introduced safety points, aim & learning outcomes, schedule and assessment methods. This session I used formative assessment.

This session I apply facilitating technique so I think it was better than the first one. Learner talk and involve more. They could answer my questions related to theory of fire. They could also find out themselves the way of using portable fire extinguisher. I did invite one learner come in front and demonstrate how to use equipment and he did well.

Learnings from two sessions, I think i should use variety techniques. Don’t rely two much on few techniques. This is very important because I can transfer knowledge and skills to learners by suitable and flexible ways. And the most important, learners achieve learning outcomes by exiting learning environment.

5. Unit 104: Assessment

5.a.b.c

For assessment, I need to follow VACSR principles.

V = Valid. This means that the method I choose to assess my learners is appropriate to what has been learned. For example, I would not assess performance of first aid skills by using multi-choice questionnaire. That would not be valid.

A = Authentic. This means that the work has been produced by the learner, and not copied or ‘borrowed’ from someone else. In my training unit, I used observation assessment method. And learner was to be assessed for demo class is Ta Van Cuong. So I must observe Cuong’s performance.

C = Current. It means that my learner’s work, skill or knowledge is sufficiently recent and up-to-date to be relevant and useful. I did use latest version of lesson plan as well as approved standard.

S = Sufficient. Each qualification lays down its own rules as to sufficiency, but normally it is sufficient that all the assessment criteria have been met. So for my first aid unit, the aim and learning outcomes focus on performance skills. That is why I just used observation method instead of using a combination with multi-choice questions.

R = Reliable. This means that if the assessment was to be repeated again that similar results would be achieved. This can be in respect of a different group, or if the same learner was asked to repeat the assessment.

+ Types of assessment

There are three main types of assessment which are initial, formative and summative assessments. Each method has its own purposes and to be used in different situations.

Initial assessment

If you want to survey levels of students before training. This method is to be used. Send questions forms to learners, interview directly or observe them doing their jobs… are some applications of initial assessment.

In IVQ Level 2 & 3 training, the instructors did survey our level of learning by sending us questionnaires related to training experiences, asking us about strength and week points. They also requested to seat in real class to observe teaching skills. Therefore, I think they can adjust progress of training and provide suitable information to our class.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment provides feedback and information during the instructional process, while learning is taking place, and while learning is occurring. Formative assessment measures learners’ progress but it can also assess my own progress as an instructor.

During IVQ Level 2 & 3 training, I have to go through formative assessment such as unit/session practical assessment, examination, holistic report on blog.

In my real training, I also have formative assessment applied for training course having modules. At the end of each module, delegates will be assessed for their competent via observation and multi-choice questionnaire.

Summative assessment

Summative assessment takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process. Typically, no more formal learning is taking place at this stage, other than incidental learning which might take place through the completion of projects and assignments.

I usually apply this summative assessment for in-house training courses. At the end of the training, I provide delegates examinations for final assessment beside of table top exercises during training.

For two practical assessment (two training sessions) I used formative assessment including questioning and observation. Because firstly that is the requirements of training. And secondly, I used them to suit my training contents and assessment as well as facilitating method.

6. Unit 105

6.a. Feedback from observers

First session: “Very good presentation”, “Know his subject well”

Second session: “Excellent”, “Very confident”, “Require more practice on facilitating style”

6.b. Self evaluation

I think I can do better and better in training courses even though I have run the courses many times. For improvement, I think I need to make some adjustments on training. For example, sometime ask learners appropriate questions for suitable contents. Or sometime use activities or teaching methods for right time and right learners. Beside of these, I should always remember basic principles of learning cycle, KISS, SMART, assessment methods, VARK, VARSC, GROW, 5W-1H, teaching and facilitating methods…

7. Conclusion

I think the IVQ level 2 and level 3 are very useful for myself. I have been improving and learning from the training programs, trainers and other learners. The time before, I applied some techniques of advanced training. But I did not understand clearly and properly than I am now after IVQ level 3. And I have the chances to apply what I learn in actual 03 HSEQ in-house classes from June to now. I think they are all very effective.

So, I would like to say thank you to City & Guilds for preparing and issuing standards. I also thank you to the trainers, learners, IV, EV of classes who share their knowledge and experiences in teaching/training jobs. And especially, I would like to say thank you PVMTC for the master plan to train and improve our trainers to become better trainers and may be the world class trainers in future.

Thank you.