Effective Staff Training Research Articles

Training and Continuing Education Program in Automation

A survey, undertaken in Austria 3 years ago, showed that automation plays an important role in 49% of all small and medium-sized enterprises. 62% of them viewed effective staff training as essential. Therefore continuing education of specalists for planing, assembly, start up and maintenance of automation facilities is absolutely necessary. The existing educational possibilities in Austria are, however, as yet incomplete.Therefore this training and continuing education program was initiated by the Austrian Minister/ for Science and Higher Education. The goal of this initiative is the coordination of already existing courses offered by various institutions, universities and other organisations. These offers are completed by newly developed courses to the continuing education program of automation within a framework of economic and social aspects.

Careers:

A major Information Technology training award scheme, designed to encourage the development of effective staff training projects in organisations operating new computer technology, has been announced. The Computer Weekly training award '84 sponsored by Harris Information Systems, has been developed in recognition of the constraints that skill shortages are placing on the development of the potential of new technology within user organisations. Awards will be made to organisations and individuals judged to have initiated the best Information Technology training project for their staff. The scheme is open to UK‐based organisations, and covers training schemes both for data processing professionals and nonprofessional end‐users of systems. Entries will be judged on their merits, regardless of the size of their organisation, the number of trainees, and whether mainframes, minis or micros are the subject of the training project. Valuable prizes will be given to those individuals who have initiated training schemes which provide the most effective and imaginative solutions to the problems faced by their organisation and its staff in dealing with computer technology.

A rapid training procedure for teaching manual sign language skills to multidisciplinary institutional staff.

The benefits of teaching manual sign language skills to severely and profoundly mentally retarded persons are becoming well documented. However, if these individuals are to use manual signing for functional communication, then their daily caregivers must also be skilled in the use of signs. In this study, a program for teaching signing skills to institutional personnel was evaluated. The generality of the program's effectiveness was investigated in three studies involving different groups of staff: paraprofessional direct care staff, specialty habilitation persons, and nurses. Results showed that the training program, consisting of written and verbal instructions, modeling, practice, and verbal feedback, was effective in rapidly teaching signs to all participating staff members. Also, the acquired signing skills maintained over time, the program was well received by staff, and staff used the signs in their routine interactions with institutionalized residents. Results are discussed with respect to the need to insure that handicapped individuals have a manual signing community with which to use their signing skills and to important components of effective staff training programs.

An institutional staff training and self-management program for developing multiple self-care skills in severely/profoundly retarded individuals.

Although considerable attention has been given to the development of institutional staff training and management programs, the generalized effects of such programs on staff and resident behavior have seldom been examined. This study evaluated a program for teaching institutional staff behavioral training and self-management skills during self-care teaching sessions with severely and profoundly retarded residents. Following baseline observations in three self-care situations (toothbrushing, haircombing, handwashing), four direct care staff were sequentially taught to use verbal instruction, physical guidance, and contingent reinforcement in the toothbrushing program. During maintenance, staff were simultaneously taught to record, graph, and evaluate resident and their own behavior in the toothbrushing sessions. Staff were taught use of the training and self-management skills through a sequence of written instructions, videotaped and live modeling, rehearsal, and videotaped feedback. Observer presence and experimenter supervision were gradually decreased during the maintenance condition. Results indicated that during training and maintenance staff: (a) learned to use the training skills appropriately and consistently in the example situation (toothbrushing); (b) applied the skills in the generalization situations (haircombing and handwashing); and thereafter (c) maintained consistent and appropriate use of the skills with infrequent supervision. In addition, important changes in retarded residents' independent self-care responding occurred as staff training skills developed. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and continued development of effective staff training and management programs.