The Accidental Technology Trainer - Recap

I got to attend a great workshop yesterday by Stephanie Gerding, author of The Accidental Technology Trainer. Stephanie had lots of neat ideas and did a great job of modeling what she was teaching throughout her session. Some of what I came away with -

For everyone who feels like it's wasting time to go around the room and have people introduce themselves, there's a method to the madness. Stephanie explained that this is most useful in longer classes (you wouldn't want to do this in a short session) and that it serves several purposes. It breaks the barriers and gets people to talk and it helps the trainer identify various skill levels of the participants and assess the needs/wants of the group.

Key skills needed by a technology trainer - approachability, social skills, self-confidence (just remember the audience wants you to succeed), subject knowledge, patience, flexibility, planning, facilitation, communications, respect, control, coffee (energy), delivery, undo (willingness to make mistakes), and PLAY!

Neat way to get people to feel comfortable in a computer class is to establish "Rules for Computer Class"

1. Ask the stupid questions (everyone else is wondering the same thing). Later the idea to give dum dum lollipops to people who ask 'stupid' questions.
2. Make mistakes - that's how you learn
3. Cheat - talk to your neighbor, look at their screen

Be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.

Strategies for Active Learning from Mel Silberman's Training the Active Training Way

1. engage your participants from the start
2. be a brain-friendly presenter
3. encourage lively and focused discussion
4. urge participants to ask questions
5. let participants learn from each other
6. enhance learning by experience and doing
7. blend in technology wisely
8. make the end unforgettable

Activities to increase learning and retention

• polling - especially good for online classes (Stephanie used polling throughout)
• pair share or learning partners
• action plans
• question sharing
• snowball fight - this was especially fun. Everyone writes their question or idea on a sheet of paper, ball it up, and then throw them around room for a while. At the end, various questions/ideas get shared and discussed. Great after lunch activity!
  
• scavenger hunt - best search idea - painting dogs toenails
  
• top 10 lists - what you want to know, what you learned, etc.
  
• chocolate hugs (if your get stuck) and kisses (for right answers)
• jeopardy (and other variations on game shows)
• Bingo - start class with everyone having a bingo card that has terms you'll be mentioning throughout the session. As they hear/see the word they mark it. First one to bingo gets a prize. I googled make your own bingo cards since I was curious and found http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/bingo/, there were lots of options
  
• Crossword puzzles
• Who wants to be a millionaire

• frogstar.com for sounds to add to presentations

Handouts - to use them or not? Consensus was if you have them you should talk about them. Most people aren't using as many as they used to, making basic handouts with key points. Stephanie suggested if you're teaching something that requires participants to create a username/password you should include a place on the handout for them to write it down.

Don't want to give out copies of your powerpoint on disk? Upload it to slideshare.net. This is definitely going to require some investigation on my point. They have a World's Best Presentation Contest that's worth checking out.

Stephanie gave out a great Workshop Plan template. Key to me was not to try to cover more then 3 learning objectives in an hour session - that would give you 15 minutes for each topic plus 15 minutes for intro and ending and Q&A.

Cool Things Other People Are Doing

• Princeton Public Library -
• Tuesday Technology Talks (see page 21 of their newsletter for other ideas)
  
• Fun with Flickr
• Fantastic Freebies for Everyone
  
• 23 Things - a program developed to help staff learn more about new technologies (watch for NEFLIN to replicate this program in the fall)
  
• ImaginOn.org
• Geek Out, Don't Freak Out! - a series of classes to help patrons learn to use their technology gadgets
• Teen Volunteers - on call to help in the library and as class assistants. Offer classes for seniors with teens providing one-on-one help.

Other stuff that came up throughout the day (and I wasn't the only one plugging the great resources from NEFLIN) -

• The NEFLIN Staff Development and Technology Interest Groups & Wikis are both great places to share ideas and ask questions.
  
• Get Quick Reference Guides from NEFLIN - an easy way to provide handouts either in classes or during one-on-one training.
• Don't forget you need to evaluate your training. Use one of NEFLIN's survey options - either borrow the NEFLIN survey workstation or set up an online survey using TouchPoll Web. Both are free to NEFLIN members and allow unlimited evaluations and responses. If you aren't sure what to ask, Google and get some ideas (or ask NEFLIN to send you samples of surveys other libraries have done).
  
• Several people in the workshop don't have good classroom facilities or projectors to use during training. Don't forget you can borrow a projector from NEFLIN for your next training session.
• Stephanie had a neat set of slides she ran before the workshop started and during breaks. It was a set of quotes about technology training.
  
• Don't forget about using maintainIT and WebJunction instead of recreating the wheel. LOTS of resources are available from these two resources.