8 Gut Reasons to Provide Hands-On Practice in Equipment Training

…And My Reactions to Them

1. Practice builds competence.

Certainly this is a primary goal of hands-on practice. But what is competence? Performance-based training defines competence as meeting the requirements of the performance objective. But for competence to result from practice, at least three things must be true:

The conditions of the practice must realistically reflect the actual setting and requirements for the task on the job. For example, if parts must be assembled in dim lighting on the job, then at least some of the practice must be performed in dim lighting.
The practice must include the same performance as the task requires on the job. For example, on the job, performers seldom explain how to calibrate the doohickey, rather they actually calibrate the doohickey.
The practice must include effective feedback. Research has clarified what is effective feedback. Will Thalheimer, on his blog, wrote a very thorough review of the research available on feedback. Swinging a golf club involves some similar performance activity to assembling parts of a motor, so take a page from those who write about feedback for athletic coaches!

So yes, appropriately staged practice allows a trainee to refine techniques that in turn increases task efficiency. This does not happen by just reading about the task or watching someone else perform the task. It happens only when the task is actually “tried” by the performer.

2. Practice builds a better understanding of a task or process.

By trying a series of steps, a trainee experiences what works and what doesn’t work. New questions and answers are often discovered. Previously presented “theory” is not only reinforced, but enriched - resulting in a better understanding of how the system operates. Theory with practice facilitates the “why” part of the task far better than theory alone.

All of this will be true, but only if practice is implemented correctly, especially with regard to the type and timing of feedback. “Understanding” will not evolve easily when little or no feedback is present; on the other hand, “understanding” is undermined when feedback is delivered too quickly, leaving the trainee little time to process information.

3. Practice builds confidence.

It is believed that those who approach their job with confidence in their capabilities (self-efficacy) are more likely to view tasks as doable and less likely to avoid them. Putting it simply, practice leads to a performer believing, “I can do this!” Again, that will depend on the quality of feedback, both planned and unplanned.

Robert Mager discusses how small events during practice can impact a trainee’s self-efficacy. See Mager’s book, How to Turn Learners On… without turning them off, chapter 9.

4. Practice prepares for most eventualities faced on the job in the real world.

That sounds great, but is a bit over the top! This certainly can be partly true if…

Training is based on a “real world” job analysis to start with!
Strategies are built into the practice that promote learning transfer, and not just learning. One such strategy was mentioned above: the conditions of the practice activity must closely resemble the conditions in the “real world.” Ruth Clark does a great job of describing more of these strategies in her book, Building Expertise, chapters 11 and 12 [in the 3rd edition].

5. Practice builds fluency.

A person who speaks a foreign language fluently does not need to check a dictionary while speaking. Sometimes fluency is also called mastery, automaticity, or responses that are “second nature.” So just as practice can build competency (which is normally understood to mean “with the use of a reference” such as a manual), practice can also build fluency. However, the attainment of fluency will require a lot more practices and often with artificial time limits imposed. Picture, for example, how children attain fluency in math facts through timed, repetitious practices. It is similar to musical instrument fluency. Fluency is what some people mean when they are thinking - highly experienced or expert. Creating equipment expertise, that is, fluency, through equipment training practice is possible but would require far more extensive practice sessions than are typically included in a 2 to 4 week training program!

6. Practice helps trainers to improve instruction.

Trainers who observe trainees miss a step or commit other errors may gain insight to areas to improve their …

content presentation (if any)
demonstration of the task
job aid(s)

This is certainly true, at least for trainers who analyze what is happening while several people practice a task and who do not jump to conclusions based on one trainee’s performance.

7. Practice provides for tactile learning.

Most trainers have heard that trainees learn through verbal, visual, and tactile inputs. The significance of each input varies for each learner and also for each learner in conjunction with differing tasks. It is certainly true that hands-on equipment practice provides an excellent blend of all three inputs: tactile (learning by doing, by touching the equipment and tools), visual (looking at the equipment, read-backs, instructor non-verbal cues, and job aids), and verbal (equipment sound effects, along with instructor and peer feedback).

8. Practice makes perfect.

What a great, if misleading, cliché! Yes, practice contributes to “perfect” performance (as described by a performance objective) along with all of the other benefits listed above, IF the practice is planned and implemented correctly, inclusive of the ideas suggested above. So I believe it is more accurate to say, “Perfect practice makes perfect performance.”

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