agora basic course: additional resources. tips for trainers

Tips for Trainers

AGORA Basic Course: Additional Resources

Objectives

• Know what user training resources are available to you for AGORA

• Consider your institution’s training resources and equipment and how AGORA’s materials might be modified

• Review tips for successful training

AGORA Basic Course• A series of training modules for individual users

covering:– What AGORA offers and main features

– How to open AGORA, register, log in and navigate to find journals and download articles

– How to use CAB Abstracts, Summon Search tool and publishers’ websites to find citations and download articles

– What other e-resources AGORA offers

– Powerpoint Presentations (~45 minutes each) and hands-on exercises (Word) docs

Your resources• When planning for training, consider the

following:– What facilities do you have for training?– What equipment? Projector? How many

computers? With Internet connection?– Enough for hands-on work? If not, how can

you make training interactive?– What level of Internet and computer skills

do your users have?

Tips for successful training• Prepare beforehand• Check the venue• Facilitate learning• Introduce training and participants• Handle questions and discussion• Troubleshoot• Keep participants focused• Ask open questions• Summarize and evaluate• Make improvements for future training

Preparation

• Do background reading and get hands-on experience

• Don’t have to be expert; OK to say “I don’t know” and research/ask AGORA

• Read presentation notes and annotate for yourself

• Remember your own workshop experiences: What did and didn’t work?

Preparation

• Do the computer exercises and identify any problems

• Get list of attendees and information on their skill levels if possible

• Get contact details for venue and organizers if off-site

• Print out handouts and workbooks

Check the Venue• Arrive early• Know support staff and their contact

information and learn the layout if new venue• Set up and check computers and other

equipment • Practice exercises again• Get computer log ins and bookmark web

resources• Organize materials

Facilitator’s Role• To “create conditions in which learning

can naturally take place”

• Encourage “active learning”-student discussion and cooperative, hands-on activities

• Minimize passive listening and note taking

• Be responsive to needs and interests of group

Facilitator’s Role

• Don’t sacrifice comprehension for coverage of all material

• Build rapport and find out background and interests of participants

• Provide short and varied activities

• Check for signs of engagement and comprehension (eye contact, posture, facial expressions)

Facilitator’s Role• Don’t talk to/read from screen • Make eye contact and try for

conversational style• Encourage, listen and positively respond

to participants’ comments, questions and feedback

• Listen to discussions but don’t interrupt; remember comments and questions for group discussion

Getting Started• Introduce yourself• Tell participants what will be covered and

what they will gain• Explain the timetable and the activities • Point out the location of facilities (food,

bathrooms, etc.)• Find out what people already know and

what they are interested in learning• Make them feel at ease

Getting Started

• During introduction, allow participants to get to know one another (and you to know them) through planned activity (“icebreaker”)

• Increases comfort level with collaboration

• Examples

Questions and Discussion

• Use people’s names when addressing them

• Tell people when you want them to ask questions (during or at end of presentation)

• Explain that questions increase learning for whole group

• Be enthusiastic and encouraging to all responses

When Things Go Wrong

• Overtime

• Broken projector

• Slow/no web connection

• Difficult participants

• No understanding for you and participants

Keeping Focus

• Listen to groups

• Clarify questions for individuals or group

• If unrelated discussion or web browsing, ask how participant’s doing and what conclusions they’ve reached

• If questions are off-topic, save for breaks or after workshop

• Assistant facilitators can help

Closure and evaluation

• Conclude activities with summary

• Provide overall picture

• Ask open-ended questions instead of “Do you understand?’

• Ask participants to reflect on their learning

• Be positive about achievements

• Hand out feedback forms

Changes for next time

• Reflect on problems and successes• Look for trends in feedback• Make notes on changes to be made to slides,

exercises, handouts• Share notes with other facilitators and AGORA

(agora@fao.org)• Make changes immediately before you forget

or run out of time• Ask on where you did not really understand

Questions?• For training support from AGORA team:

– In Africa, please contact the Information Training and Outreach Center for AFRICA itoca@itoca.org

– For other locations, contact agora@fao.org• For training materials, go to website

www.aginternetwork.org/en/training/ or contact us. Please let us know what you need (agora@fao.org)

Summary• AGORA provides training materials for

your use

• Think about your own training facilities and how you can modify resources to fit your situation

• Follow tips for successful training

• Do own research on AGORA and user needs

Thank you.

Any Questions?

Updated February 2015 Questions? Contact agora@fao.org

The source of much of this lecture is the INASP Training materials on Introduction to the Internet from http://www.inasp.info/training/internet/download/index.html :

All INASP training materials, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are copyright INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications).

Used and modified according to the Creative Commons license at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/