TK0-201: CompTIA CTT+ Essentials Certification Video Training Course

TK0-201: CompTIA CTT+ Essentials certification video training course by prepaway along with practice test questions and answers, study guide and exam dumps provides the ultimate training package to help you pass.

Group Facilitation (Domain 4)

6. Virtual Tools That Engage Learners

Nowadays, there are some great virtual tools that can engage learners in the virtual classroom. You don't want someone logging into a webinar and then going about their business, doing other work, or being distracted at home. They just have the laptop off, and they've had some play. You want to keep engaging them and making them involved in the course. So the whiteboard area, if you have the ability to access it as part of your virtual classroom, is great because it allows you to actively write or draw. That's very stimulating for the learner. Perhaps they can even contribute if that's an option, and they have that ability too.

The chat window is a great way to take comments, so if somebody has a question that's just on their mind as you're speaking, they have the opportunity to drop it in the chat window. And then, when it comes to the time of the class, when you're asked to answer questions, you can go back to the chat window and make sure you've covered everybody's concerns.

Commend the students by name who've submitted the comments, because, of course, that indicates that they are engaged. And that can be beneficial peer pressure for the other students. Some tools, such as Zoom, have a feature where you can raise a digital hand, and as an instructor, you'll see a small notification that you can address. And that's a great way to give people the opportunity to speak without feeling like they're interrupting you. Screen shares are great too. So you can screen share, but you can also allow the student to screen share.

So if they're demonstrating something, maybe you have a group activity where it's their turn to teach the class a technology, a skill, or how to do something. They can share their screen and go through the steps, so leave plenty of room for that. It does not have to be a webinar just because you're in a virtual setting. Prerecorded video is great too.

Don't forget that. You can just show a video right there in your virtual classroom, and that's very stimulating because there's a lot of movement, a lot of color, a lot of audio, and it's a change of pace. So make sure to access those videos. You can sometimes find excellent external providers of high-quality content. Whether it's on YouTube or some other site, you have access to their video content. It breaks it up. It means that you're not talking the whole time; you're talking a little bit, and then you can show a video to kind of reinforce what you've just taught.

That comes from a different source, and it really directs people's attention, keeps them interested, and keeps them focused on what you're teaching. Breakout groups are great too. I know Zoom has a great feature for breakout groups now, so for group activities, you can manage that and monitor that as the host of the meeting. Send people off into their various groups so they can work, and then bring them back into the main room when they're done with a group activity.

So the point is, whatever platform you're using, really know the tools that will engage the learners and then use them. If you're developing a course specifically, know the virtual classroom tool that you're using and then implement all its features. Because the more interactive your class is, the better your students will learn.

7. Performing a Task Analysis

As a technical trainer, you may be required to perform a task analysis. And a task analysis is when you take a fairly complex technical ability and you break it down into its subsequent parts, into its subsequent steps, and you get a clear understanding of how one step leads to the next.

So you can really break down something complex with a subject-matter expert or somebody who's very versed in the technology; they just perform complex tasks very quickly and they don't break it down into a step-by-step by step. But as a trainer, when you're trying to give these technical demonstrations, you need to understand how that works. So task analysis is usually performed when you do it ahead of time.

You will meet with a subject matter expert or somebody who uses the technology and knows it well, and you will watch them and perhaps perform side by side with them so that you thoroughly understand the steps of the technical process. So there are two forms of observation that you might perform with a subject matter expert: passive observation and active observation. So passive observation means simply watching this person and possibly taking notes. You're asking them to do it slowly so that you can jot down every different step.

And an active observation is when you have the technology open on your interface at the same time and you are watching and possibly taking steps as they do it. Ideally, you want to do both, because in the technical classroom, you're going to be demonstrating the technology. So you need to make sure you know how to do it. Why not try it a few times with the subject matter expert? Make sure you understand the logic of the workflow. Why did we do this step, then that step, and then the other step?

And to be abundantly clear, don't skip over any little tasks that you think might be obvious to your learner. It is not for everyone's level of technical ability. So make sure you break everything down so you can create what is called a hierarchical decomposition of the skill. And you'll see this on the right here in the diagram. So at the top, you have the skill or the outcome. This is what you need them to be able to do. And then you break that down into steps one, two, and three, starting at the bottom of the initial state, which is the very beginning of the technical task.

So going back to, for example, creating charts based on data in an Excel spreadsheet, the initial state is a blank spreadsheet on Excel. And then the skill outcome is the ability to fill data into the spreadsheet and then turn it into a representational graphic. So then, what are the individual steps that take you from the initial step to the outcome? So you break that down, you're very specific about all those steps, and then you practise it before you teach your course. And this hierarchical decomposition, if you do it yourself and make it look good with some sort of graphic, as it's shown here on the right, you can actually use that as a handout or something for the class too. So if you've done it for yourself, you can teach it and also create some sort of visual aid with it at the same time.

8. Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Goals

In the domain of four-group facilitation We're going to talk about some educational psychology again. Now, we talked about some theories of adult learning in previous sections, but mainly in the context of designing a course and preparing course materials. But with Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Goals, I want you to view this as sort of a real-time cognitive process that's happening in the minds of learners as you deliver material. So imagine that you are the technical trainer. You're standing in front of adult learners, and as you facilitate the education, these mile markers of comprehension are happening in their minds. So these are like steps in the acquisition of a new skill or knowledge that will be happening.

And understanding these helps you deliver the information in a way that touches on each one of those mile posts to make sure that there's been a thorough absorption of the new material. Don't view it like some sort of checklist that you're going to literally have in your hand as a technical trainer, making sure that you've done them one after another. It's not like that. But understanding conceptually how your learners will learn in real time while you're teaching helps you make sure that you're guiding them in a way that's most beneficial for the learner. So according to Benjamin Bloom, there are three types or domains of learning goals.

The psychomotor domain is like physical-motor skills and how students learn those. Then there is also the cognitive domain, which consists of cognitive events—things that happen in the mind during the comprehension of new information. And then we have the effective domain, which is changes that occur in a student's feelings about the material they're learning or their emotional state. So let's go back and look at these one at a time. To begin with, we have the psychomotor domain again: motor skills and tactile abilities. So here's how it goes: Here's how you lead them through these events: Number one is perception. This is where a student will simply be watching you perform a task, and they will use their senses to observe what's going on. Next is the set. And this is where they kind of get ready to learn the new task. They kind of prepare themselves to mimic you. Then there's the guided response.

And this is where they follow along step by step with the technical function that you're performing. The mechanism step comes next. And this is where a student takes everything they've learned about perception. also their level of readiness to carry out the task themselves And then there's the step-by-step function you just used. And they put it all together so that they really comprehended how all the steps went together to meet the desired motor skill goal. After that, they will be able to perform a complex, overt response. This means they can do the task themselves without a stepmother's guidance. Then comes the adaptation stage. And this is where they might even be able to modify the task slightly to fit other circumstances.

So maybe you give the students an activity to do where they have to use the same technical skill but apply it to a different challenge or tweak it somehow to solve a problem. That's the adaptation stage. And then finally, they will enter origination, which is where they understand the skill, have mastered it, can perform it by themselves, and can adapt it to new circumstances. And now they may even enhance it, expand the task, experiment with the technology, and really learn some of the ins and outs that will apply to their daily job roles. So when you're teaching a motor skill, you want to kind of guide it in this order, and it will really help your students to learn thoroughly.

Psychomotor Domain Okay, let's move on to the cognitive domain. The first step in the cognitive domain is knowledge. So this is just the ability to recall technical information, vocabulary, and concepts. Also, just like remembering "data in, data out," This is what the word means; this is what the term means. and the student can just regurgitate. Regurgitate a definition: "beyond knowledge is comprehension." And this is when they not only understand the details but also how the details come together, and they can really comprehend the technical concept to the point of being able to explain it. They will then apply what they have learned in order to understand the concept and apply it to a real-life example or implementation.

During the analysis stage, they will understand cause and effect and how the new knowledge had an effect in the real world. And in the synthesis section, they will be able to create new solutions and designs based on their learning. So, similar to the psychomotor domain, once somebody really absorbs information, they can start playing around with it and start handling different kinds of challenges, tweaking it a bit to meet and solve new problems. So they do the same thing in the cognitive domain too.

And then finally, in the evaluation stage, they can explain a technical approach to a proposed solution. So this is kind of building on what they know; there's a new problem, and they can explain how the new knowledge can be used to solve that problem, which is in the cognitive domain. And then finally, we have the effective domain for receiving, responding, and valuing. So in the initial emotional state, they're open to learning, they're receiving, and they're paying attention. Then there's the part where they respond.

So they're engaged and participating in the learning. They're answering questions, they're formulating answers, and they're involved in the discussion. And then finally, in the valuing stage, they have the ability to apply the information to new and varied situations. So again, not only have they engaged themselves, they're interested.

They're wrapped up in the technical concept, but now they're actually trying to figure out how they might use it and how they might apply it, and their curiosity is piqued to the point that they get a little creative. So again, that's a brief overview of Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy of educational goals. Please come back and review this. You are not tested on these in terms of knowing all of the different steps on the CTT Plus. But it is good to be familiar with them because you are going to build them conceptually into your courses and then, in real time, make sure you kind of follow this flow and make sure that learners are meeting these educational goals as you teach.

9. The Social Learning Theory

In Bandore’s social learning theory, it's emphasized that we as humans are social animals. And that being the case, we actually learn rather well in groups when we have the opportunity to interact with people. There is something inherent in social interaction that is very reinforcing for us. We see people's facial expressions of approval when we do something right. We see negative facial expressions when we do something wrong. We laugh together, and we motivate each other. And all of these normal human interactions can be harnessed in the classroom to reinforce new learning. So when you're designing your course and when you're teaching your course, make sure you leave plenty of opportunity for the social element.

So perhaps your students already know each other, so they might be very aware. They work on it on a day-to-day basis with each other, and you won't have to do much to facilitate this socialization. On the other hand, they could be meeting each other for the first time. If that's the case, it's great to give people opportunities to talk a little bit about themselves, connect, and have some free time to talk to each other and socialize. Now, as a technical trainer that's trying to be authoritative and firm and keep some structure to your class, it can be a bit unnerving to really release your control and allow the rambunctiousness of some socialising in your class. Things will get loud, people are going to laugh, and they're going to move around. While it could be unnerving for you, it is very important to get people stimulated this way.

So really, work some time into your course design so that you give people this opportunity to meet each other and make those bonds. All of this is going to help them learn. And in his social learning theory, Bandura talked about four things that are reinforced by social learning attention. When we work with others united on a task, we have a way of really focusing because we know everybody else is focusing, which increases retention. Learners absorb what they're targeting very well. Again, because of this reinforcement, both positive and negative reinforcement have occurred. When we try to perform tasks or explain things, we're going to be corrected, and we're going to be guided in the learning process by our peers. Reproduction is great.

We're going to actually have to perform something new in front of people at a very small group level that allows us to get good feedback and to guide each other in the performance of a new task. And then finally, motivation. I mean, think about it. You come and sit in a class as a student. Maybe you're with other learners who are there for varying reasons.

But when you get together and talk about how the material is beneficial, what's going to be good about learning the new task or the new skill? It helps to sort of increase the motivation of the individual, which an instructor can harness to keep people focused throughout the course. So make sure you're using the social learning theory and that you're giving plenty of opportunity for students to get to know each other, to work with each other, to give each other feedback, and to practise new skills together.

10. Facilitating Group Learning Activities

Group activities really leverage the social learning theory, so make sure you use plenty of them. We talked about them before in course design, but as a reminder, when you're actually facilitating the group activities, you're going to have to take a good, strong lead, be clear about the activities, and then allow some time for the groups to enjoy themselves working together. So, a few reminders: keep in mind that these activities are based on accurate information.

So if you're going to allow students to learn from each other, you need to make sure that they are doing it correctly as best you can. So make sure they have good, solid instructions on how to perform the technical task so that they're not teaching each other incorrectly. Also, make sure that these are activities that truly require collaboration. You don't want a group activity where one student is just watching the other do the task, and then the other is watching the other.

No, but it really ought to be something where they're working in harmony together so that the activity really involves both people or the entire group at the same time, rather than a bunch of people just sitting around. They also need to be well designed, so really give some thought to what it's going to look like in real time in your classroom. You might even practise some of the group activities ahead of time. So if you have that opportunity, you're in a larger organization. You can steal a handful of people to just see what it looks like, give them the instructions, ask them to perform it, and see how it's going to go over so that there are no surprises when you're in the classroom.

Make sure your instructions are clear, and take charge when you start breaking people out of the structure of just listening to a lecture; this is when things get a little high energy. People are moving around the class, they're talking to each other, they're laughing, and they're getting noisy. All of that is fine, but just make sure you take charge so that you keep people on topic as best as possible so that they're following the instructions of the activity.

Design games are great; physical activities are great. There's been some research done on how, when our pulse is slightly elevated, we learn particularly well, particularly motor tasks and memory things. So although you don't want people running around in a technical classroom, when you get them standing and sitting and moving around just a little bit, it can really facilitate learning at a new level and is a great way to keep people interested in your course.

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