Structuring the training project

THE USE OF PROJECTS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES IS INCREASING rapidly (note the number of people now writing about it) and the method is now being fairly extensively used both in industry and in education. In many cases, however, it is used as little more than a sort of do‐it‐yourself training kit whereby the trainee is given a topic or a problem and left to his own devices; if the result is less than satisfactory then it is the fault of the trainee and certainly not the fault of the training officer! If the training officer is to use the project as a TRAINING method then he will have to be involved all the way through and not confine himself to a few comments handed out during the project review. In fact, the whole project will have to be very carefully planned and structured so that the trainee's progress is continually monitored, thus enabling the training officer to prompt, encourage, guide and advise. The training officer must do this if he is to assist in the learning process and not merely chronicle it.