Blog - Katrina Kennedy Training

07May 2025 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

How To Let People Do More of Their Own Learning

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They each had a list of steps to follow. Read the instructions Decide roles Lead the group through the instructions Debrief the activity Twenty-five people joined breakout rooms to decipher my instructions. Their task? Lead class for the rest of the day. The next six hours would be guided by their choices. They would start the activities. They would field questions. They would decided when things were done. They would have guidelines and timelines and suggestions. I would be there. But what would they do? They went to their break rooms and I held my breath waiting to see what would happen. How many requests for help would I have? Would they even know what to ask? Was this a really bad idea? Telling Ain't Training It's easy, especially in…

30Apr 2025 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

How to Use Quizzes As An Alternative To Lectures

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Let's face it. Lectures can be boring. We're often stuck feeling like we're required to lecture during in person and virtual training. But what if there was an alternative that was more engaging and more effective? Let's give it a try. Answer the following question. We learn new information best when: We listen to a lecture Watch a video Complete a pretest What's your answer? If you answered 3. Complete a test, you are on to something. How often do you find yourself lecturing during training? Are you looking for an alternative method to get information to learners? Are you uncertain what will work? Lecture is an easy solution when we don't know what else to do. We talk through a concept or process, hoping learners will retain ideas and…

19Apr 2025 by Katrina Kennedy 1 Comment

25 Ways To Improve Training

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Improving our work can feel overwhelming. Where do you even begin? Here's a list of 25 ways you can improve your work. Start with one. Do what works for you, skip what doesn't. Let me know what you try or what you'd add to the list! Designing Learning Design training that gets people involved in performing what you want them to do on the job. Interpersonal skills? Talk in small groups. Leadership? Role play. This is the Application (practice) piece of PAFR3 many of you've learned with me. Do less for the learner. Yes, I said it. Do less. Let them do more. Look at your training design. Are you talking too much? (See #8) Are you over explaining? Try less. Get them doing more. (see #1). Embrace effort. Learning is effortful.…

30Aug 2023 by Katrina Kennedy 1 Comment

How To Guide Breakouts with Timed Arrows

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You click join and find yourself transported into a breakout room. After a long pause, someone asks, "so, what were we supposed to talk about?" Have you experienced that awkward moment in a virtual breakout room? We've all been there. No one is sure of what we are talking about. No one knows who is going to start. It's fixable with a few quick PowerPoint slides. Adding timed arrows to PowerPoint slides you then share to breakout rooms can change that awkward moment AND increase engagement. In this video I show you how to quickly and easily add animation and transitions to your slides. Use them to guide discussions, provide multiple step instructions, and increase the interaction and value of your breakout rooms. The Steps First you will select the…

11Oct 2022 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

Things I’ve Learned In The Last Two Years (or so)

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Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Wasted. Lost. Paused. I stumbled upon an article with those three words describing the space between today and March 13, 2020. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of disagreement. The years were challenging, difficult, monotonous, tedious, trying, tragic, and long, but not wasted. We can carry many powerful lessons and accomplishments from our pandemic experience. Here is my non-exhaustive list of things that stand out for me. Our work is portable Working from home or from a coffee shop is not new, but we shifted and showed that we can work outside of a traditional office space in a large scale way. It wasn't perfect with dogs barking, kids needing distance learning help, the neighbor's seemingly constant leaf blower, but we did it. I…

24Aug 2021 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

Five Things You Need To STOP Doing In Virtual Training

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You've probably facilitated more virtual classes in the last year than you can count. You've unmuted, muted, and shared your screen numerous times. And, like me, you've made some mistakes. Whatever your experience level there are five things you need to stop doing in virtual training. These five things distract learners from your content and make you look unprofessional. Stop leaving computer notification on. Stop saying this isn't like "real" classroom training. Stop using the wrong method to get learner responses. Stop using multiple bullet pointed lists. Stop missing opportunities for learners to do the work. Are you doing any of the five? Now's a great time to stop. Let me explain each. STOP Leaving Computer Notifications On I don't want to hear your computer ping with notifications. Hearing someone…

17Aug 2021 by Katrina Kennedy 4 Comments

How To Use Four Creative Methods To Prompt Learner Responses

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We need connection. We need feedback. We need interaction in class. Asking questions of learners is one way we obtain connection, feedback, and interaction. BUT... You ask a question. And nothing happens. Nothing. What can you do to change this situation? How can you get responses from learners? Zoom fatigue is real. Screen time and Covid and social distancing and working from home have exhausted all of us. Everything feels like it takes a little more effort. Answering your question is hard. Learners will play the wait for someone else game until you change your approach. Here are four creative methods to prompt learner responses Give Me 4 "I'm looking for four responses. Who's got number one." This phrase prompts everyone to attention. We've got a goal. I hold my…

27Apr 2021 by Katrina Kennedy 1 Comment

How To Use Questions To Reveal Possibilities & Deepen Learning

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Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash Have you observed learners sitting quietly in the virtual classroom waiting for someone else to answer your question? Yes, you could have people respond in the chat. But what about that rich, verbal exchange you loved so much from the traditional classroom space? "People don't participate in virtual discussions." Thirty people in the Zoom meeting considered the problem for a moment. "Don't respond yet," I said. "We are going to try an experiment." I was willing to try anything. "For the next four minutes, please raise your hand and ask a question related to our problem. Two rules though, no justification and no excusing. Just ask your question. I'll record it. Our goal is twenty questions in four minutes." "For the next four minutes,…

23Apr 2021 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

How Do Learners Respond When You Ask A Question?

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What happens after you ask a question in training? Do you have multiple people eager to answer, scrambling over each other? Or do you hear...nothing. Just uncomfortable silence. Our natural tendency is to fill that nothing with something. Usually our own words. Do you do any of the following? Restate your question in another way? Answer the question yourself. Call on someone. Pause until there is a response. In adult learning there is really only one correct answer. That answer is silence. The Pause. It's difficult. It's uncomfortable. And it's completely necessary. The pause signals to the group that you intend for them to think. You want them to ponder the question. It also honors the system that we each go through prior to raising our hand (real or virtual)…

20Apr 2021 by Katrina Kennedy No Comments

How To Keep People From Leaving Early

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Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash The clock ticked closer to the hour and the exodus began. Messages began to drop into chat, "I've got a meeting at 11:00." "I need to be on a call at the hour." Have you been victim of the On The Hour Exodus? Frustrated that people don't stay until the end of the class or meeting you've so carefully orchestrated? Have you heard the lament of people who don't want to go but they've been scheduled for something else by someone else? The virtual meeting space has created a scheduling nightmare. It's so easy to think, "I can fit that in." Suddenly we are overbooked without a five minute breather or bathroom break between our virtual sessions. It seems one important way to overcome zoom…

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