Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips, 4th Edition

While a well-designed presentation can be an effective training method, overreliance on presenting usually leads to boredom, lack of involvement, or limited learning for the participants. A different method can often take the place of a presentation entirely. A presentation can also be reinforced by utilizing another method. In this chapter, we will examine eight alternatives to presentations that you can use even if your participants have little prior knowledge of the subject being taught. These methods are:

1. Demonstration
2. Case study
3. Guided teaching
4. Information search
5. Study group
6. Jigsaw learning
7. Learning tournament

DEMONSTRATION

Instead of talking about a concept, procedure, or set of facts, you may be able to walk through a demonstration of the information in action. Involving participants in the demonstration, if possible, is important so that they can actually hear, see, and touch the relevant learning materials. The advantage of a demonstration is that it adds showing to merely telling. Here are two examples.

EXAMPLE: On the third afternoon of a five-day course on family process, a trainer began a module on family permeability—how a family relates to the outside world. He began by explaining that no family is self-sufficient; all need the stimulation and support of others. However, a family needs to rely on itself as well, since always turning to outsiders, he suggested, robs ...