Using conferences and trainings as opportunities for members to develop ‘train-the-trainer’ curricula
Abstract
Members who create training sessions after attending workshops and conferences are more apt to remember and apply the information they gain, as well as share it with colleagues. This in turn helps programs spend training funds efficiently and build capacity by improving training for future members. The Schools of Hope Project in Madison, Wisconsin has developed a process for capturing the knowledge and tools its members acquire at training sessions and using them to train others. This effective practice was shared by LEARNS at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in January 2008.Issue
National service members attend conferences, workshops, and training sessions to help them gain the skills and knowledge they need to serve successfully. It is often expected that members bring back information and materials that can be shared with others. Unless the information and ideas members bring back are written down, debriefed, or otherwise captured, they can be lost as members turn their attention back to their day-to-day work or complete their terms of service. An opportunity to build organizational knowledge and get the most value for training dollars (which are often limited) is lost.
The Schools of Hope Project in Madison, Wisconsin, was granted extra training funds when the AmeriCorps*VISTA team was in the ninth month of its 12-month term of service. To spend the money, the project coordinators chose to send their VISTAs to an institute offered by LEARNS, the Corporation for National and Community Service's training and technical assistance provider for mentoring and education success. However, they knew the VISTAs would leave soon, and wanted to make sure the training had long-term benefits for the program.
Action
Their solution was to create a process to help the VISTAs capture what they learned at the institute and package it so it could be saved and used by the program to train future members.Before the session
Before VISTAs left for the training, the coordinators developed and gave them a two-page form to be filled out for two of the sessions they planned to attend (See "Resources" section to view). The VISTAs procured the agenda provided by LEARNS and negotiated who would create a summary for each session.
During the session
At the training, the VISTAs used the form to capture information about objectives and content of the sessions they attended, as well as any materials distributed.
After the session
When they returned to their project, the members were given time to take the forms and develop hour-long condensed versions of the sessions. They created an outline and assembled materials for each session so that a staff person or future member could pick it up and deliver it with minimal preparation. Members were encouraged when creating their sessions to consider and emphasize information they thought new members would benefit from, or that they wished they had when they started.
Context
The Schools of Hope Project is funded by an AmeriCorps grant with matching funds provided by the United Way of Dane County (part of the greater Madison, Wisconsin, metropolitan area). It is a dynamic collaboration between and among the United Way, RSVP of Dane County, and the Madison Metropolitan School District. The Project tutors low-income preschool and elementary school students in reading and math in Madison and two neighboring communities (Verona and Sun Prairie); providing trained tutors and resources to schools and neighborhood centers, and supporting home literacy by providing resources for families. Between 1998 when the program was started and 2004, the school district, with the help of this program, eliminated the reading achievement gap between students of color and their peers.The program uses AmeriCorps members to recruit and support community volunteers who work with the children, as well as to provide tutoring themselves. Each member is assigned two schools, and is responsible for all volunteer management tasks at both. The project currently has 18 AmeriCorps members and 1,000 community volunteers serving 5,000 children in 35 schools.
Outcome
Enlisting members in designing training sessions for their peers helped them be more intentional and focused when they attended the LEARNS institute. The forms they filled out during the training and the subsequent sessions they created captured the information they found most relevant for the benefit of the AmeriCorps members that followed them. The VISTAs created high quality "train-the-trainer" style materials that future trainers and members could easily use.After the completion of this group's service term, the project subsequently transitioned from a VISTA to an AmeriCorps State project. Each year the project establishes a variety of member committees, including a training committee. Several of the new AmeriCorps members serve on that committee, whose purpose is to search for, evaluate, and recommend member training events and activities. The committee will review the outlines created by the former VISTAs and prepare a selection for delivery to new members.
Evidence
The Schools of Hope Project's new member-development and training-design practice is too new to have generated data for evaluation. Anecdotally, the program's co-director, Karen Dischler observed that the practice energized the members and helped them feel more invested in the program through their efforts at improving the project's training. Dischler notes that one former member has checked back in with her to see if the session she designed had been delivered, and that another VISTA came back to the project as an AmeriCorps member and is heading up the training committee that will deliver the sessions he and his colleagues created.Posted On
January 24, 2008For More Information
Resources
VISTA Training Session Description - Word versionVISTA Training Session Description - PDF version