2007 - May
Yours In Training
 |
May 2007 |
Freecall 1800 2 TRAIN (1800 2 87246) www.mrwed.com.au |
In This Issue
Training News: VET leading international student growth
MRWED News: Marc Ratcliffe at Reform to Transform Forum in WA
Training Tip: Giving Constructive Feedback
Website of the Month: www.gifs.net
Training Game: Gone in 60 Seconds (Contextualised)
Also...
Training News:VET leading international student growth
New figures released by Australian Education International reveal that the vocational education and training sector is leading international student growth in Australia. According to the 2006 figures released this month, total international student enrolments in vocational education and training were 83,685, which is a 25.7 per cent increase on 2005.
Asia remains Australia’s main source of international students, representing more than three quarters of enrolments. The highest growth continues to come from India (42 per cent between 2005 and 2006), the Republic of Korea (19 per cent) and China (10 per cent).
MRWED News: Marc Ratcliffe at Reform to Transform Forum in WA
MRWED Principal, Marc Ratcliffe has been selected as one of 38 presenters to speak at the annual Reform to Transform forum being held at the Burswood Entertainment Complex in Perth, WA on the 14th and 15th of May. His presentation Building your Trainer's Tool Kit: 12 proven tricks to sharpen up your training aims to assist trainers and planners of training to develop fun and worthwhile experiences for their students. More information on the conference can be found at www.vetinfonet.det.wa.edu.au/home. You are free to download a copy of Marc's presentation slides (PDF format).
If you don't have the FREE Acrobat Reader, download it from the Acrobat site.
Training Tip: Giving Constructive Feedback
For the trainer's feedback to have the intended impact, it needs to be constructive. Constructive feedback provides useful information for the candidate and should create a desire in them to improve. However, the feedback must be specific, that is, it must identify:
- what was done well;
- what could be improved; and
- how the improved performance could be achieved.
One way to ensure that your feedback is constructive, is to use an itemised response. After observing a learner's performance, you can list the strengths observed as well as any concerns you may have. By specifying strengths first, you demonstrate to the learner that you have truly listened to what was said and observed what was done. Beginning this way makes it easier for the learner to hear and accept your concerns later.
For Strengths, you might say:
- "What I liked about your performance was..."
- "The highlights about what you did included...”
- "I particularly liked..."
- "The things you should keep on doing are…”
For Concerns, you might try:
- "As an extension, you could..."
- "Your performance could have benefited from..."
- " Areas where you could make improvements are..."
- “You may want to consider…”
Before ending the feedback session, make sure that the learner has understood the suggestions for improvement and has an action plan for implementing the suggestions. Good luck!
Website of the Month: www.gifs.net
Whenever we are in the classroom, our trainers are often asked about the animations we use in our presentations. Well, thanks to this month’s “website of the month”, the mystery is solved. Check out www.gifs.net/gif/ for a large variety of free animations which are suitable for Microsoft’s Powerpoint or Apple’s Keynote. Further to this, if you don’t mind paying for your animations the following links will enable you to subscribe to other websites, for a small charge, to gain access to thousands of additional animation options.
So go on, get animated!
Training Game:Gone in 60 seconds (contextualised)
Many of our TAA students would be familiar with our game “Gone in 60 seconds”. This is the activity where we have four flash cards depicting clip-art pictures of people, places, things and emotions and we ask small groups to come up with stories that connect all four pictures. As the name suggests, each story can be no longer that one minute in duration. Aside from being a creative warm-up at the start of the day, it also allows us to make the point that as trainers we have to successfully bring together different people, from different places, who do different things and have different emotions.
There are many variations to this game, but one we used in Tanzania earlier this year was particularly noteworthy. Put simply, we contextualised the activity by using pictures of the student’s local area and local reference points. We also labeled each of the pictures in Swahili. As a result, their storytelling was richer and they felt much more comfortable with the activity, as they were talking about things relevant to them. This activity therefore doubled as a confidence builder for the students..
A little closer to home, you could also contextualise the images to relate to your students’ workplace, job role or course content. For instance, the cards could depict examples of workplace locations and areas of risk and the students could be asked to create a quick casestudy which identifies how to reduce the risk of harm in these locations. This variation would be suitable for a course on occupational health and safety.
Next Issue
In the next issue of Yours in Training! we will review the “outcomes” focus of the new AQTF standards and highlight options for getting your training resources and articles published. Until then, may all your training be good training.
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Happy training!
Marc Ratcliffe
Principal – MRWED
