If you work in the world of training, you must have already heard the term “training engineering”. Still a recent concept, it is however key in the creation of your corporate training courses. So what exactly are we talking about? And how do you apply it to your training plan? We've dug into the subject for you!
What is training engineering?
What is training engineering?
According to Philippe Clauzard (teacher-researcher and doctor in adult education and educational sciences), educational engineering Is”a set of methodical and coherent approaches implemented [...] in order to effectively achieve the objective sought.”
In a more pictorial way, we could define training engineering as the “architect” of all your courses. Like a house, your yards need of a clear plan to be effective, with strategic goals and specific resources. This is where training engineering comes in! It will set out the objectives, the necessary devices, and the best practices to manage your training courses so that they correspond to the challenges of your company.
To do this, it takes into account a large number of factors:
- your current training policy
- your need for skills development
- your strategy for acquiring new skills
- the economic and professional context in which your employees work
- and many more!
Training engineering is still very new in the educational landscape. We started studying it in the late 70s, and it's still evolving thanks to the research of educational scientists.
What is the purpose of training engineering?
The final objective of training engineering is to support the establishment of an effective training plan to achieve several objectives.
- Economic goals: focusing on the training of its teams ensures better overall productivity and therefore an improvement in the company's turnover.
- Strategic goals: training can make it possible to develop the company towards new strategic horizons (economic development, internationalization...)
- Social goals: providing a training plan that meets the expectations of your employees will improve the quality of life at work.
Why is training engineering important?
Many companies do not integrate training engineering into their business for the development of their training modules. And that is a mistake!
Creating a training ecosystem should not come about by chance. It must take into account the training needs of learners, the strategic, economic or social objectives of the company, and the whole context in which the company operates.
So many factors on which training engineering relies to develop a clear and coherent training plan for your company!
Again, if we imagine this concept, training engineering can be like a recipe to follow to cook a delicious chocolate cake. You can try to cook this cake without a recipe, but you may not only run out of ingredients, not know the steps and utensils to use, or take something inedible out of the oven! Do you get the idea?
What is the difference between training engineering and educational engineering?
The two concepts can easily be confused, and erroneously. Training engineering consists in determining the training project, while instructional engineering is only about content.
In the case of our cake story: the engineer by training would be interested in writing the recipe, while the educational engineer would take on the role of the pastry chef!
In this sense, Training engineering includes instructional engineering. Without the other, these two concepts would not be complete. The objective of educational engineering will be to determine the internal and external resources necessary to create the training. It will focus more on the “educational” aspect of the content.
At the operational level, for example, a training manager will ask the educational engineer for advice on what topics to address, and how to bring them to learners. To provide him with a relevant answer, The educational engineer will have to consult the trained engineer who will share his analyses and studies with him for this training project. Since these missions are very complementary, the two jobs can be carried out by the same person in small businesses.
3 levels of intervention in training engineering
Training engineering can take shape at three specific levels within a company: the strategic level, information systems and educational engineering. These 3 levels of intervention are also addressed in Thierry Ardouin's study,”training engineering for the company”.
1. The strategic level
At this level, the decisions taken for the various training projects will involve management teams and human resources. Educational engineering will then be part of a global strategy with a longer term vision.
In this case, it will be necessary to take into account the company's annual objectives, its career plan, its internal mobility needs, and the skills portfolio at its disposal.
2. The level of information systems
This level involves the educational engineer, with whom the engineer by training works hand in hand. This is about coordinate the project with internal actors (administrative assistants, training managers, training trainees...) and to select the participants on the various modules (trainers, training organizations, service providers).
3. The level of educational engineering
The third and final level of training engineering is the one that takes into account the creation of educational scenarios. The engineer will then ensure with the trainers and the learners that the selected methods are correctly implemented.
The essential steps of training engineering
Training engineering is based on 4 key steps:
Needs analysis
Needs analysis is the first step in setting up a training project. The idea is to understand goals and needs learners and business leaders. This step is also crucial for analysing the context of the labour market, training and professional retraining. The diagnosis of the trained engineer will give the company an idea of its situation in relation to the current situation.
The choice of training devices
At this point, the engineer's job is going to be to create a training project according to the needs identified during the first stage, and the necessary educational tools. Numerous documents will be necessary for the successful implementation of this project: provisional budget, training plan, specifications, OPCA training catalogs...
The objective here is to connect what would like to be achieved in terms of training, and what can actually be achieved according to the resources required.
Animation and piloting
The role of the engineer by training is not to pilot or animate the training modules. On the other hand, he must ensure that the training takes place as planned. His work will then be that of “conductor”.
It will in fact have to coordinate the actions of the trainers, ensure that the learners have all the necessary resources, and pilot the educational engineering training plan to verify that it is respected.
Evaluation and iteration
Finally, the engineer will have to evaluate the company's overall training plan to verify that it is running smoothly and the achievement (or not) of the objectives. This evaluation can be done on a quantitative level (number of hours completed, cost of training, return on investment, impact on productivity), or on a qualitative level (achievement of company objectives, skills acquired, actions implemented).
It is also the time when the engineer will check the results against the objectives set. He must then, in an iterative approach, give suggestions for improvement for the company's upcoming training projects.
Training engineering is therefore a profession in its own right, essential for the successful implementation of your training courses. At the same time different from educational engineering, but just as complementary, training engineering allows you to have a long-term and global vision of your goals of training, and the means implemented to achieve them.
