Tips and Tricks for

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Tips and Tricks for On the Spot Training
Taking Advantage of Teachable Moments

• Cheryl Gould
• Spring 2004
• gouldc_at_infopeople.org

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• How To section
• Past Workshops material

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Knot Tying as a Teaching Problem

• Point of view
• Complicated task at first
• Skills require demonstration
• If need to learn to do it quickly and
  independently, require practice
• a diagram or illustration
• need to know why

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Bends

• Attach rope end to rope end
• make a long piece out of 2 shorter pieces

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Agenda

• Purpose of On the Spot training
• Using learning styles
• Give overview not just how to
• Chunking complicated tasks
• Teachable moments with computers
• Cheat sheets

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Teachable Moments and the Library

• What is your professional responsibility?
• Whats in it for you?
• Whats in it for them?
• Whats in it for the library?

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Whats Hard About On the Spot Training

• Not enough time
• Setting boundaries and expectations
• Where to start
• How far to go
• Too complicated
• Dont want to look or feel dumb
• Not enough time

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Telling Isnt Teaching(If you put a library on a
camels back, it doesnt make it any smarter)

• Learners need to know
• What it is
• Why they should listen
• How to use it

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The fact that you know how to find information
means that you're systematically prevented from
thinking about information the way your users
do. Mary Ellen Bates http//web.utk.edu/wrobin
so/531_lec_interview.html
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People Learn Differently

• Visual
• pictures, graphics
• mental images
• Auditory
• talk
• listen
• Kinesthetic
• let them do it, handle it, move it

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People Generally Remember

• 10 of what they read
• 20 of what they hear
• 30 of what they see
• 50 of what they hear and see
• 70 of what they say or write
• 90 of what they say as they do a thing

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Teachable Moments Consist of

• Welcome -- (human)
• Content -----(information)
• accurate
• clear
• relevant
• complete
• End --------- (human)

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Value of Scripting Answers

• Dont have to reinvent the wheel
• Helps with things you know well
• Saves time and energy handling common questions

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Why Dont People Just Ask?

• Want to see if its safe
• dont want to look stupid
• privacy concerns
• Not sure of
• what they need
• what library has
• services available
• Cultural differences

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The Process

• Welcome
• Ask questions to get to the real need
• Solution
• give answer that teaches what the library can do
  for them
• End
• Have I answered your question?

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Communication Isnt All Talk

• Verbal the words you say
• from 7 to 25 of the message
• Non-Verbal
• tone of voice
• rate of talking
• how you present yourself
• gestures and posture
• facial expressions
• appearance

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Welcoming

• Smile
• Make eye contact
• Greet
• Give your full attention

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Make Learners Feel Comfortable

• No judgment
• Dont assume knowledge of any kind!
• Be concise
• no jargon
• short sentences
• Try not to overwhelm
• There are 3 things Ill need to show you

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Get From the Opening Question to the Real Need

• Start with questions, not solutions!
• Clarify - before you proceed to solution
• Would you prefer the opera on a cassette or
  CD?
• Paraphrase - to be sure you understand
• So youd like 30 double-sided color copies. Is
  that right?
• You need 3 articles on genetic engineering of
  food crops, Do I have that right?
• You want to find a way to work off your 200 in
  fines?

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Assess the Situation

• Does the learner know enough
• assess skills
• library use
• readiness to use electronic sources
• catalog
• computer
• search skills
• Do you know enough to help
• how do you refer

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Referring

• Know staff members with expertise
• I dont know but let me get you to someone who
  can help you with that
• Have lists of common local resources
• classes
• community resources
• Know resources in other libraries

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Solutions

• Tell them why not just how
• Empower users
• make them self-sufficient
• have solutions that answer more than just the
  immediate question
• offer a library map to find not only sci fi but
  also the mysteries and art books

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How Far Do You Go?

• Im looking for a CD
• point to location of CDs?
• What kind of CD are you looking for?
• teach them to use the catalog?
• Are you interested in finding other CDs or
  material?
• You cant
• force someone to learn
• teach it all so teach whats important
• scripts help

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Techniques

• Use as many senses as possible
• explain in words
• handout with pictures and text
• draw on scratch paper
• Tell them the WIIFM
• Demonstrate, then let them try
• One minute of demonstration beats 5 minutes of
  explanation

Try to finish talking before the learners are
finished listening
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Chunking

• Long laundry list
• Put in order
• Chunk in to 3 to 5 main parts
• Main point
• subpoint
• subpoint

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Teachable Moments With Computers

• Assessment is critical
• Learners MUST have hands on keyboard
• Teach Help menus
• Refer to classes
• Copy and paste into word
• text
• images
• Internet printing problems

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Infopeople How To Resourceshttp//www.infopeopl
e.org/howto/

• New Computer Users
• Teach New Computer Users in English or Spanish
• Teach People to Type
• Teach People to Use the Mouse
• Quickguides (suitable for laminating for use at
  public terminals)
• Introducing the Internet Explorer Browser - DOC
  130k or PDF 256k
• Printing and Saving from Internet Explorer - DOC
  56k or PDF 100k
• Introducing the Netscape Web Browser - DOC 87k
  or PDF 176k
• Printing and Saving from Netscape - DOC 35k or
  PDF 15k
• Using Screenshots and Word's Drawing Features to
  Create QuickGuides - DOC 87k - PDF 23k

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When Situations Come Up Over and Over and

• Treat each person as if its the first time
  youve heard the question )
• Have a script
• Have a cheat sheet

Constant or frequent tasks handled well save time
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Creating Cheat Sheets

• Content
• accurate
• clear
• relevant
• complete
• Design
• KISS
• quick to scan
• easy to navigate
• headings
• use color and bolding to mean something

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Formatting Cheat Sheets

• Ideally one sided
• Plenty of white space
• Number things that are in sequence
• Stick to one font
• Times New Roman for readability in print
• No smaller than 12 pt
• NO ALL CAPS
• Use pictures or simple diagrams