The Teacher/Trainer Observation and Development System (TODS) is designed to enhance instructor performance and student results.
Improve the instructor, and you improve the student. That’s the idea behind Aramco’s Industrial Training Department’s (ITD) Teacher/Trainer Observation and Development System (TODS), a data-driven system designed to enhance instructor performance and thereby improve student results.
The concept recently attained international recognition, winning a silver medal from the Brandon Hall Excellence Awards.
The announcement was made recently during a live webinar attended by representatives from numerous international organizations. TODS won the silver medal in the Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development category at the 2022 Excellence in Human Capital Management Awards.
The Brandon Hall Excellence Awards annually recognizes the best organizations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. ITD’s submission was based upon the impact of TODS as a workplace development program designed to support competency and skill development needs within ITD.
What is TODS?
TODS measures the quality of instructional practice and provides a platform to monitor and drive instructors’ continuous professional development, thereby enhancing the quality of instructional delivery in ITD’s training programs. Since the introduction of TODS in August 2017, ITD has seen a steady improvement in the quality of instruction and associated increase in other key performance indicators, such as participant/customer satisfaction and success rates.
TODS has had a profound impact on the quality of and satisfaction with ITD’s training services. ITD apprenticeship graduates’ satisfaction with the ITD program increased significantly during the 5 years of TODS’ implementation, from 78.9% in 2017 to 84.1% in 2021. Perhaps more significant is the rise in satisfaction of line supervisors with the quality of recent graduates during the same time period: from 73.5% in 2017 to 82.4% in 2021.
“TODS is a key driver in helping ITD move the needle in respect to instructor sustainable improved delivery, that in turn, helps make the trainee experience richer, and furthermore has been recognized by line managers when graduates become employees.”
— ITD director Mohamed T. Alsubaiei
The TODS system improves instructors' competencies and performance across the department, gauging their quality of instruction in a variety of settings, including the classroom.
Data-driven Progress
ITD has conducted more than 3,000 TODS observations. Clear evidence shows that TODS improves instructors’ competencies and performance across the department. For example, during 2017-2021, the overall average instructor rating has increased by more than 6%.
TODS provides an enhanced evaluation system for gauging the quality of instruction in a variety of instructional settings for currently 280 instructional staff in ITD — academic, job skills, and safety training classrooms, as well as workshops and labs, and some driving and heavy equipment courses.
TODS assessments are based on a detailed rubric, which defines the competencies necessary to fulfill the overall objectives of the training program.
“I am paying attention to feedback from management … and seeing how I can improve myself as a teacher in the classroom.”
— Andrew J. Birch, Dhahran Advanced Industrial Training Center instructor
Dhahran ITC senior teacher Tyrone McKenna said, “We have attempted to maintain a high standard in our TODS observations for our instructors … to ensure our trainees are receiving the highest quality instruction and standards across the unit.”
The vast amount of data collected by ITD and the tangible results reported convinced the Brandon Hall Excellence Awards that TODS is a world-class program that has a tangible benefit to instruction, and the program is well-deserving of recognition.
— The Arabian Sun: October 31, 2022