What is a Lesson Allocation?

Lesson Allocations are a key tool for training managers to set clear and consistent expectations for their instructors and assessors. This article is tailored for training managers, and discusses what the advantages are of using allocations, and in what situations you might choose to not use them.

Training based organisations typically assign sessions to instructors through a variety of means. Sometimes entire facilitator manuals are available, detailing every objective and priority for the lesson, as well as all the resources that will be required. On other occasions, nothing more than a lesson title, a date and perhaps a few rough ideas about what should be covered are pencilled on the back of a napkin.

ITM allows training managers to easily create a Lesson Allocation, which is a pre-formatted report giving the instructor all the basic details they need to start preparing. The instructor can use it as a guide when they create their Lesson Plan.
It's important to understand that Lesson Allocations and Lesson Plans are not the same thing. Allocations (created by the training manager) set the boundaries and objectives, and Plans (which are created by the instructor) specify how the instructor intends to deliver the session and meet the objectives.

Some advantages of Lesson Allocations:

The Instructor is well informed about what the objectives are
Training will be more consistent, as Allocations can be easily re-used
Sessions are more likely to finish on time, as the Instructor knows which points are Must Haves, Should Haves, and Could Haves, and can therefore adapt their lesson plan based on how much time is available
Students receive training that more closely matches what the training managers wanted
The Instructor is free to use their creativity and experience in deciding *how* to deliver the session
Can be as detailed or as generic as you want

Allocations draw from your syllabus - they show the exact Learning Objectives you want included in the session, and group them by priority. If you are working with a very experienced instructor, then your LO's don't need to be particularly detailed. However newer instructors would benefit from more detailed objectives, so it's clear what should be in and what should be outside the session.

Sometimes you may want to not create a Lesson Allocation report. For example, if the session is does not have any objectives (i.e. Lunch, Briefing, Debriefing, Course Photo etc), then the Allocation holds just the timings, which can be communicated through other means. If your course comes with a highly detailed facilitators guide, an Allocation may not be required, as the objectives, timings and so on may already be included in the guide.