When a few of Barb’s clients asked if she could write their training materials, she knew that she needed a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to understood exactly what was required.
Her initial task was to edit and rewrite where necessary Occupational Health and Safety courses to accreditation standard. Her association with this client lasted for 16 years until he relinquished his registered training organisation status.
Next, she did her “apprenticeship” under a highly experienced and successful trainer who taught her how to write single units of competency and how to cluster units.
A Professor of Engineering took Barb under her wing and showed her how to research and write units of competency for under graduate engineers and units in Process Plant Engineering.
An associate who owned a registered training organisation specialising in health asked if Barb could research and write online courses in CPR, Senior First Aid and Aged Care.
So, you can see that Barb’s experience is extremely varied. Here is the process she uses to develop training and assessment materials.
Process for Writing Training Materials
For a single unit of competency:
- Obtain the unit of competency
- Read and fully understand what training and assessment tasks are required to achieve competency
- Design a mapping document so each assessment task can be mapped back to the learning requirement
- Set up a template for the training document
- Set up a template for the assessment document
- Research specific content from books, Internet sites and direct interview
- Write the first draft of the training material
- Write the first draft of the assessment tasks
- Map the training and assessment tasks to ensure they meet the rules of evidence
- Provide draft material to the client for comment
- Ask the client to provide specific assessment tasks if Barb is unable to write a particular task
- Incorporate any changes into the content
- Provide the client with a final copy of the training and assessment content and mapping document.
This is a simple description. Some units need more input from the client than others, so the initial conversations will address this.
Clustering units has a similar process. Clustering means delivering two or more units together to create a logical flow and avoid duplication and repetition.
Deciding which units to cluster requires some thought but when you get it right students benefit from greater engagement and satisfaction and the trainer benefits by saving time and resources. Barb discusses clustering with the client before any work commences.
A sample of the industries she has written training and assessment materials for:
- Work health and safety
- Seafarers
- Oil and gas industry
- Under graduate engineers
- Process plant engineering
- Health industry
- Heavy haulage movement accreditation
- Traffic control
All enquiries are welcome.