Forum - July 2008

tem serves as a central repository for all information related to the project, such as training outlines, drafts of participant manuals, video scripts, and most importantly, SME comments crucial to development work. “The ability to have threaded SME discussions in Blackboard helps provide a history for the feedback provided and decisions made,” Niday says.

The last option can be particularly effective, as someone who has experienced the thrill of a dynamic learning environment sparked by a good activity can convince peers of their value. When developing a new course on Low Income Housing Tax Credits, an affordable housing program, IREM curriculum developers counted on the one faculty facilitator among a team of nine SMEs to achieve buy-in on several activities. “LIHTC requires a close observation of essential steps necessary to comply fully with the program,” says Steven Kerens, an IREM faculty member for 26 years. “Through activities, students have an opportunity to demonstrate to themselves, and to me as the instructor, that they know these steps. I was concerned that others on the team were visualizing a lecture format, which does not achieve this objective.”

TWO

HELP SMES UNDERSTAND THE STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE.

Without sinking into adult learning theory, you can help SMEs understand what is effective in reaching students. For example, adult learners get the most from training when they are able to share and apply their experiences. Good learning activities facilitate that process by placing ideas in realistic contexts, setting the stage for lively discussion and allowing students to demonstrate understanding.

However, SMEs often view activities other than the conventional assessment as time-consuming “fluff,” especially when you suggest cutting content to make time for the activity. Engaged association members are passionate about their profession and its practices. They may • see the activity as the elimination of • information essential to the professional • development of their colleagues rather than a more effective way of transferring knowledge.

To help SMEs envision how a good • activity will facilitate learning, run through • a similar activity with them, incorporate • an activity into the design process at a SME meeting or enlist a SME with facilitation experience as your advocate.

THREE

UNDERSTAND WHAT MOTIVATES SMES.

Consider the following volunteer SME motivations:

• To obtain value from membership.

• To serve a profession by assisting in the transfer of knowledge.

To demonstrate expertise.

To gain expertise.

To influence the association and its messages.

• To influence the profession and its methods.

To network with peers.

To compete with peers.

To achieve recognition and prestige.

You can engage SMEs by what motivates them, increasing energy and the likelihood of quality contribution. Say an

YOU CAN ENGAGE SMEs BY WHAT MOTIVATES THEM, INCREASING ENERGY AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF QUALITY CONTRIBUTION.

SME argues for the inclusion of a particular professional method in a course, but the information she provides is unfocused — a series of stream-of-consciousness e-mails. A gentle suggestion that the method will reach hundreds of emerging professionals each year, and thus permeate the profession, may cause her to refine the information so that you can sequence it in a way that reaches the student.

Understanding what motivates volunteer SMEs also helps when various approaches to training content are in dispute. For instance, if two SMEs are clashing in competition, they may not be taking the most rational approach to development. In this case, appeal to another motivation, as most SMEs have not volunteered on one motivation alone, or seek the input of another SME.

Always keep in mind that what motivates a volunteer at the beginning may not endure. As a failsafe, try to get what you need from SMEs as early in the process as possible, when energy and motivation are at their highest.

Nonresponsive, ineffectual and quarreling SMEs are a fact of training development. As much as we want them to be perfect, volunteers are busy professionals with other obligations. They have responsibilities to family and friends. They have aspirations and ideas that do not always translate into learning objectives or training outlines.

By dreaming away the reality of our volunteers, we not only make our jobs more difficult, we discount the collegial and respectful relationships we are able to foster in the association environment. Those relationships perhaps best facilitate the training development process. When volunteer SMEs view those of us in association and corporate education as partners and allies rather than task masters, they are more likely to provide us with what we need to develop the quality education our members demand.