I strongly believe that training can be effective in developing professional practice if the participants have an open mind and a positive attitude towards being trained, and if the training content is relevant to the participants needs, and the trainer is completely professional and supportive of the participants engaged in the transformation process.
I also believe that face-to-face training is generally more effective than on-line training, but recognize that there are situations where in-person training is not possible. In these cases on-line courses can be developed which are effective and worthwhile. In some cases, like courses to develop writing skills, on-line is better, and so I offer two specialized on-line writing courses, as you can see below.
All my events and courses are run-on-demand. Please contact me if you are interested in any of my courses or you would like me to develop a bespoke course to exactly match your training needs.
The principles behind my on-line courses are:
- on-line courses need to be short to be effective, as extended courses have high drop out rates. Most of the courses are 10 – 15 hours in duration. These can be delivered over two days, over a week or over a three week period for example, or a longer period.
- on-line courses need to have a synchronous component to maintain engagement. The courses use Teams to engage our participants with the learning materials and tutor.
- on-line courses need to have flexibility. The courses can be delivered entirely synchronously or in a mixed mode of synchronous study and self-directed learning through engagement with asynchronously presented materials.
- on-line learning is best done in small groups. Anyone can lecture to the whole planet, but for real, in-depth development of professional practice or learning a skill like a language small group learning is best, which is why my courses are restricted to 5 -10 participants.
- attending an on-line course is not enough to ‘learn’; it is only the first step. Learning happens through deep engagement with the learning materials and tutor and then through a process of reflection, reconciliation and incorporation of the lessons learned into the participants’ professional practice. This is why I offer a two stage certification process. Stage One is successful attendance during the course and meeting all the course’s formal requirements. Stage Two is the completion of one of a choice of assignments or a portfolio of work with is evaluated according to public criteria. Once the assignment or portfolio has been satisfactorily completed the full certificate is issued.
- My course design is based on the Essential Content vs Total Cost course design method, which you can read about here.
At the moment I am offering these online courses:
- English for Teachers
- Language Awareness for Teachers
- Materials Development for Teachers
- Assessment for Teachers
- the Certificate for Teachers of Uniformed Personnel