Recently I had the privilege of attending a professional development session with Karen Boyes from Spectrum Education. What a whirlwind she is! Karen specializes in helping teachers understand how to teach so children learn and helping parents support their children's learning can - and she teaches the children themselves how best to learn what they are taught.
The interesting thing was that before we fully found this out, Karen was using these techniques on us while we were exploring different business models for our professional speaking. It was great to be re-inspired about diversifying how we train.
On a similar note, I attended a presentation by Dr Rich Allen on whether e-training can fully replace face-to-face training - something that could have been presented lecture-style, but in Rich's inimitable style, was extraordinarily interactive - showing the value of inter-personal engagement by doing, you might say.
That said, I've recently being working on blended delivery of environmental training - using a mix of workshop, on-site and electronic training methods. The two key themes emerging from my research were the growing desire of trainees to play an active role in their own professional development - something that dramatically changes the traditional role of the "trainer", and the gathering wave of collaborative learning, which can be so widely enhanced by social media. It's all very exciting!
Click here to find out more about Karen's work and here to find out more about the work of Rich Allen.
