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OD&T offers variety of training opportunities
The Organizational Development and Training (OD&T) unit of University Human Resources provides a variety of opportunities for UB faculty and staff interested in personal and professional development.
M. Scott Morris, associate vice president for human resources who is leading OD&T, explains that his unit offers two types of training: workshops and training classes.
Workshops feature hands-on application; participants receive a few hours of intensive work. “There’s not a lot of theory, but there is a lot of practice, a lot of interaction,” Morris says.
Full or half-day training classes are a little more theoretical, he says. “It’s all about interaction; we get people together and allow them to interact. Rather than to just listening to a lecture, participants start to have a learning experience that comes not just from the facilitator and the academic content of the course, but also from the experience and the knowledge of the people in class,” he says.
The unit also offers software and computer productive classes, and is investing in e-learning, which provides instruction for people who cannot come to a regular class, as well as those who want a follow-up to instructor-led training.
“We’re trying to help people continue their learning outside classroom,” he says. “The end goal is not to put people in the seats; the end goal is to effect a behavior change and have people take these skills and apply them to their work and personal lives.”
Morris notes that training offerings have been expanding progressively, from 10 classes in fall 2007 to 48 different classes for fall 2008.
In addition to professional development and training, OD&T has taken responsibility for new employee orientation. The program, Morris says, has been redesigned to move away from being essentially an overview of benefits paperwork. “The goal,” he says, “is to help people be proficient and reduce the need to learn by trial and error in their first 90 days.”
The new four-phase program starts with a full-day classroom session on the employee’s first Friday on the job that reviews the mission, vision and values of university. During the employee’s second week, they receive the traditional, but expanded, benefits session that takes care of all of the administrative details in order to ensure that they are ready to work. The third session involves a tour of campus, while the fourth session is a reception during which employees meet the university’s senior leadership.
For the full slate of professional development training programs available to UB faculty and staff, click here, then click on “learning and development.”
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