As trainers and assessors, we recognise that powerful learning comes not from doing something, but from learners reflecting on what they did, why they did it and how it worked out. Great trainers include reflection activities and debriefs as key parts of any training sessions. Just like a mirror – we ask learners to look at themselves and share what they see. So what happens when one of our learner seems to be staring into a mirror that isn’t giving a very honest reflection of themselves, or who only takes a quick glance? A few choice questions and phrases might just tweak that reflection process. Note: The tweak below is going to work best if you have dutifully watched the learner and thought about some key learning points to guide the reflection. Also, it works from the idea that the learning comes from the learner doing the thinking helped by your questioning – NOT by you doing the talking and stating.
Training a Wider Membership Spectrum
As part of the AFAC 2017 conference held in Sydney last month, I saw a presentation by NSW SES about their new vision for membership types – aptly named Volunteering Reimagined. NSW SES now highlights the further variety of volunteers that can support the organisation during emergencies. While there is much to be appreciated about their reasons and goals for this new vision, as a trainer I immediately had a ton of questions about the practicalities of managing a new spectrum of members.
Velg Training: Next week is National VET PD Week
October 23-27 is the inaugural National VET PD Week, hosted by Velg Training and ACPET
Overcoming Optimum Bias
Overcoming Optimum Bias in the Emergency Services
Language, Literacy, Numeracy (LLN) in Australian Emergency Services
Language, Literacy, Numeracy (LLN) in Australian Emergency Services – Our sector is increasingly facing LLN challenges due to the diverse nature of our workforce.
Training Tweak: Demonstrations
A word I love finding in training sessions is “demonstrate” or “show”. There is however a particular method of demonstrating a skill that is (in my opinion) superior to many others. It will support visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners, while also reducing the need to retrain the brain after a skill has been imitated and learnt incorrectly.While many trainers may know know this demonstration method, I am spreading the message to anyone who can benefit from this tweak.
