Educational manual training

Petersburg, Russia. Runkle became a proponent of using this Russian system of manual training in teaching technical skills in general education as well as in engineering. In , Calvin M. Woodward opened the Manual Training School for boys in St. His curriculum included science, mathematics, language, literature, history, drawing and shop work.

Shop was included to keep instruction more interesting, to provide learning in the use of basic tools common to a variety of jobs and to increase general education. Woodward felt that manual training was essential for proper intellectual and moral education and was also a way of restoring the value and dignity of hand labor. He advocated adding manual training to the traditional curriculum in order to bring education in line with the demands of modern society. Manual training would help students realize at any early age the connection between knowing and doing.

Proponents recognized the potential for intellectual development through the training of the hand and the eye as well as the potential for occupational payoff. Initial introduction of manual training ideas into the schools at large was encouraged on the basis of the perceived economic benefits to the boy or girl receiving the training and to the overall economy of the region.

As manual training programs were developed in schools by adding study in the areas of drafting or mechanics, the curriculum retained its rigorous preparation for college entrance requirements and, unlike vocational programs today, did not represent any educational dead end for the student. Manual training received strong support and spread rapidly.

By , cities provided it in high schools. Louis public schools accepted the responsibility for vocational training. The direct benefits of occupational skills as opposed to the remote values associated with completing a liberal education "through the hand" began to have a greater appeal. In the years following, manual training became more subject centered, required the completion of specific exercises and was oriented to skill development. Vocational education in secondary schools had become an accepted part of American education.

Firth, G. The Curricular Continuum in Perspective. Peacock Publishers, Inc. Internally, training manuals help all employees remain efficient and productive in the course of doing their jobs.

Externally, training manuals are critical content pieces for customer education, training, and, most importantly, satisfaction. A thick, corporate looking booklet bound in a bland cover. The old booklet format still has its place in the world e.

While the packaging of the traditional training manual has changed, its noble purpose remains consistent. A training manual is a set of instructions that improve the quality with which a job, process, or task is performed. Companies use training manuals with in-person, remote, on-demand, and just in time training. A few common applications include:.

Companies create employee training manuals to increase organizational productivity and ensure everyone has the tools and information necessary to excel at their jobs. On the flip side, companies and organizations create training manuals that support their customers, too.

They teach how to use their products, when certain features come in handy, and demonstrate key workflows. Training manuals for customer education help users get the most out their purchase. They are a critical resource, and every successful company provides them.

The best training manuals are easy to follow, informational guides. They lay out concepts in clear language, using relevant examples and imagery. Done right, a good training manual becomes a trusted resource for employees and managers or customers and clients. With the right approach, you can quickly go from outline to production, and provide your co-workers or customers, whomever your audience may be, with a helpful, easy to use resource.

The first thing when you start working on your training manual is knowing for whom you are writing. To do this, develop a picture of when, where, and how people will access your training content. Answering these questions helps you to right-size your content.

With an understanding of things like audience skill level, their context, and their content preferences, you can build your content to fit their expectations and needs. And, while you probably do, spending some time to flesh it out and bring the picture into clear focus will help you craft training content that truly solves your audiences problems.

A great training manual is easy to navigate. Someone encountering it for the first time feels comfortable discovering the information they need and a returning user is able to quickly find specific content and topics. You can make sure this is the case for your training manual by strategically planning your content. Simply put, this means laying out all of your training material and organizing it in a logical fashion.

There are different themes you might use to organize and categorize the topics in your training manual. You could organize them by:. If you do have a lot of topics, consider placing them in groups and using headings and sub-sections to create a logical flow and organization within your manual.

Use this structure to create a table of contents in the final manual. In many cases, there will be ideal ways to deliver your content. Figuring out which it is requires thinking about both your audience and your content. You have a number of options for delivery.

Common delivery mediums for training manuals include:. Questions like these will tell you if things like video, interactivity, and particular assessment strategies are viable techniques to include in your training material. At the same time, some topics are more suitable to video, while others are better for text and imagery. You can combine different formats in one and provide rich, media supported content.