Page 115 - Making Instruction Work

chap 9 3/14/97 1:26 PM Page 101

target population description 101

• They truly enjoy having control of their day. They like to
decide how they will spend their time. They would much
rather be on the road than in the classroom.

• They enjoy handling customer complaints, and they espe-
cially enjoy having a satisfied customer ask for them by
name. They like to solve customer problems, but some
aren’t too skilled in customer interaction.

• Many like to tell themselves that they will soon start their
own business, but few understand the implications of that
challenge.

• They do not like to use test equipment or wiring diagrams
in the presence of the customer, because they feel the cus-
tomer will conclude they don’t know what they are doing
and that the repair will take a long time. They prefer to
“wing it” rather than use test equipment.

• They prefer their training be “hands-on” rather than the-
oretical, and they badmouth any course that includes as
much as 50 percent lecturing.

• About 20 percent will say they don’t know why they’ve
been sent to the course. These either think they are com-
petent enough already or don’t want to learn to handle a
wider range of products. These are the reluctant dragons.

NOTE: The descriptions in these two examples contain
several items that should influence the shape of instruc-
tion (content as well as procedures) designed for these
students. If you find it hard to spot these cues, try this:
Write a brief description of your own personal character-
istics and then compare it to the characteristics of any
course you’ve taken. The discrepancies between the way