All training developed for the California Department of Parks and Recreation was created using the 5 step ADDIE Model for instructional design. Analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. During my tenure as a Training Coordinator, I have attended two state-sponsored courses on training development for in-class training, and for our current situation, Virtual Instructor Lead Training (ViLT). Using my new-found knowledge, I have designed a challenging ViLT version of Bear Necessities that has received rave reviews. The training is interactive with true and false quizzes and other games that challenge the knowledge they have gained through the self-directed workbook supplied before the course. Most importantly, it challenges the notion that online trainings are boring and one-sided.

After years of studying adult learning styles to overcome a personal struggle, I have come to recognize the need for diverse training methods. We all have visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning capabilities. I develop training that addresses all three. For Bear in Mind 2021, I illustrated the workbook using a combination of designs that relate directly to the employees. The brightly colored graphics directly relate to the content and provide a visual representation of the concepts we are training. Auditory learners have 2 options; Adobe has a feature that can read the content of the workbook to the employee, and then the addition of the Zoom Training reinforces the key concepts with knowledgeable trainers. It would seem that the kinesthetic learners would suffer the most with online training, but when you gamify the content and have them interact with every slide even the kinesthetic learner’s benefit.

With my eclectic background, I can design a training program that relates to certain populations within the department. For example, over the last few years I have built rapport between several supervisors and administrative officers around the state. The reason for that is because I believe the targeted training should be influenced heavily by the people who will be taking the training. Before I designed Bear Necessities: EEO Training for Supervisors and Leads, I wrote a survey asking for what kind of information supervisors needed from the Human Rights Office in order to do their job. I also performed informal interviews before and after in-class training. I was able to determine that supervisors were missing a critical skill in reporting sexual harassment and discrimination to our office. No one knew how to fill out the forms.