The package will, therefore, have to include materials for the trainers. This can be in the form of trainers' guides or manuals. It aims to help the trainer run the training course and use the other material in the pack.
Visual aids are included in the pack to be used in the training session itself. Small versions could be provided in the trainers' guide which could be copied on to flip charts or OHP. The visual aids are not meant for the trainer to read as a prompt, but as aids for the trainees to see in the session itself. If the package is to be reproduced, sharing costs between many trainers can help these visual aids to be quite sophisticated. They can be professionally designed and produced in a form that can be used in the training. Flip charts can be printed and audio-visual aids, such as slides or videos, can be copied in whatever numbers are needed.
In the training session the trainees will need other sorts of materials to work on. Exercise sheets, questionnaires, role plays, etc., may be needed for each trainee. These can make the training session more participatory. Originals of these materials should be included in the package so copies can be made when running the particular course.
The trainees need training materials to help them take home and implement the training. These materials can be simple notes or handouts, but they could also be illustrated posters or booklets. These can make use of the same pictures as the visual aids. Many copies can be printed, which can
make their production comparatively cheap. Their function of taking the message of the training back to the village enables the trainees to explain what the training was all about to their community or group. It can also help remind the trainees to implement the training after their return home. A package helps the message reach further than conventional training and makes it more likely to be implemented where it is intended.
Another element in the package could be mass media programmes. Your training could involve media support to help get it to those who need it and to help trained people implement what they have been trained to do. This could be done with any appropriate mass media, such as broadcast radio or TV. It can also include folk media such as singers, story tellers, drama, etc. Media and training can be organised into campaigns which can reach large numbers of people.
By linking media to on-going training a demand can be created and training can be re-enforced. This media element needs including in the training package so that trainers are clear what the media is doing and how they can use it to make their work more effective. All these training materials need to be designed and illustrated with the same images. Their use needs to be linked so that they become more effective as a concerted effort rather than individual materials.
In a workshop the trainers can work out what overall, basic, topics could be developed into a training materials package that would be useful for their work. They could formulate what they could use and what the whole organisation, group or institute could benefit from. Working out how one topic should be put over and what the package would consist of can be a useful exercise. Try to list down as ambitious suggestions as possible. This should include listing who the target group for the training is to be, the particular messages or information and the proposed media for the elements in the package. Once one topic and one package has been planned, teams can be put together to start on the development process. Each proposal should be discussed with other trainers as to the long term viability of the idea. An orientation session may be needed to show them how to use the package in training.
Work on the development of training packages can be difficult if most training is seen as an isolated individual activity. If, however, it is seen as a basic function of a whole group, organisation or set of organisations, then it can be part of a process of sharing effective training experience. Training packages can become a means of spreading the training expertise as well as the training message itself.
If a trainer has had a good response to a role play, for example, he or she may not realise that it could be useful to an other trainer with the same problem in another area. If it is written down it can be copied, tried out and widely used. The first step, therefore, is helping people realise they have something to offer, which can be written down. This needs to be explained and the potential researched. Finding out what materials already exist is another necessary step, as it can help people immediately to see what they can use and what needs to be developed. If another organisation has produced material on a similar topic you can learn a lot from what they have done. If it is good you can buy sets of it rather than producing it yourself.
Other research is necessary to see what potential exists for both producing and using any material. Find out what training is being done and what needs there are for new material and new training methods.
The next step in the research involves a careful search for resources in the network area. What equipment, space and other facilities do the trainers and members of the potential network have for training? It can be difficult to produce tape slide shows if the trainers do not have any working slide projectors. Extra resources for equipment may be necessary if the training materials are to be widely used.
A training material network questionnaire
________________________________________________________________
name
________________________________________________________________
organisation/department
________________________________________________________________
Training needs Training courses given
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
________________________________________________________________
Training equipment available
________________________________________________________________
Training materials available
________________________________________________________________
Other training facilities/resources available?
_________________________________________
Once the initial research has been collated it should show who, what
and how your network can work. Ideas and methods of working can be
developed with the members or trainers of the network or organisation.
This can be done at a meeting or workshop and can be supplemented
by training newsletters to keep everyone informed about developments
and training.
The workshop and research should be able to produce lists of trainers'
needs for the network to meet. The includes lists of resources and
training materials that the network should produce. There will be
a need for a list or directory of the members and elements in the
network or organisation. This should include details of who does what
and who has what so that others can gain access to any available resources.
It should also include details of courses, materials and other resources
that exist already. These documents should be the backbone of a training
material network or organisation. They will enable considerable development
and improve the quality of work. Each member of the network should
find it easier to draw on the other members for support and assistance.
Resource centres
Part of this network should be resource centres places
where equipment can be used and kept. They can also act as clearing-houses
supplying materials from one point to another. Resource centres can
be access points to the network and contact points to keep
things moving. See on Training media production units page 115
Training trainers
One way of establishing and improving training is to
train the trainers. This should include training in appropriate training
approaches and methods. This can be a very useful step and a common
activity of the training network. If all the trainers in the organisation
are trained trainers and share similar basic ideas about training
and the methods to use materials, then it will be easier for the network
to share the materials. Their use will also
be better as the trainers will know how to use
materials most effectively.
Trained trainers should also know how to do more of the development
of materials themselves rather than having it all come from the top.
This will give an organisation or network far more strength and flexibility.
Such creativity should be drawn on and used rather than frowned on
as inconsistent.
Both the training of trainers and the organised use of training materials
has a multiplier effect. If they succeed they can reach lots of people,
as each step of passing on training results in more and more people
reaching the message. The organisation can train people to train people
who will pass on the message to yet more people. With better materials
the quality of this message will be maintained. This approach can
help get good training to many groups, villages and individuals.
Sustainability
An organisation or network can sustain a training or the use of a set of materials. One trainer can train others to use the materials and run the training courses effectively. The first trainer may be promoted but can leave behind at least 20 others to take her or his place. If the organisation is good it should be able to absorb, adapt and develop training and materials so that it can continue to spread the skills and expertise.
Organisation is not just a useful way of spreading good practice.
With a full set of materials, training can be spread without losing
too much on the way. It can also continue the use of the materials,
so the training is able to be
sustained and institutionalized.
It can contribute
to a real development.
An important part of the use and development of training
materials is the process of their evaluation and revision. This should
be built into a system of use and development so that materials can
be continually updated and developed.
Evaluation needs to be done first by trainers. They can
judge how the materials help their training in real training sessions.
They can give a response based on the actions of the trainees and
the general progress of training into field-level implementation.
It is on this work that the evaluation of materials needs to be done.
Evaluation can be done by giving feedback questionnaires to the trainees
for comment on the training. This should include comments on the materials
as well. Quick responses from trainees can be useful but are not the
same as a real evaluation of the training's impact and effectiveness
on the trainees' work after they have been trained.
Evaluating materials may involve looking at how the trainers used
the materials in the training. This would also show how effective
the training and materials orientation was for the trainers. The trainers
may have evolved different ways of using the materials in the training.
This needs to be evaluated and recorded as it may be useful for others
to follow the same approach.
One of the best ways for evaluating the effect of materials in training
is to simply sit and observe the training. See how the training works
compared to what the trainers' guide says about how they are meant
to do. Following up the training and seeing how it has been applied
and used is the only real way evaluation can be done. This can be
time consuming and difficult to organise. You can question people
about what they recall of the training and ask what they now do differently.
You can see if they still display the poster or handout that they
received from the training. You can see if they follow the materials
and have changed the way they work.
Training materials are tangible and so can be of use in seeing what
is being done. If the materials are being used then the new training
approaches may also be used. The effect of training is usually very
difficult to see as it is often about attitudes and skills. Demonstrating
new skills can be difficult to test without turning the process upside-down.
Training should not be about teaching people how to pass a test but
about real change.
The demand for training materials can be a way of gauging their effectiveness.
If all the trainers want more handouts, etc., they must see their
use. If everyone has displayed the posters and wants more, they must
find the poster useful. If the posters are displayed in the trainers'
homes and not in the training context, it may not be as effective
as was hoped though.
Follow-up visits can act as reminders and re-enforcers of the training
message. In this way the testing of training can act as training itself.
If this is the aim, then it can be useful to organise a follow-up
workshop as a training session. This can help the trainees discuss
what problems they have encountered in implementing the training.
It can present and support solutions to those problems. And it could
help evaluate the training's effectiveness and the materials' revision.
Evaluation is not useful unless it goes with a process of review and
revision. This should question if there is still a training need to
be met. Has the training and materials met part of the need or do
others still have to be trained with the whole course or part of it?
If part of the need reminds, should it be clarified and expanded?
The courses can be further developed to meet the new need. Old materials
can be updated and improved using the feedback received in the evaluation
process.
Obviously with expensive media, revision can be difficult to do over
and over again. This process of evaluation and revision may cause
one to thinkcarefully about committing oneself to an inflexible media
which can't be modified. Large editions of print media or expensive
videos, for example, will be far more difficult to revise than simple
slide shows or hand-drawn flip charts.
Training materials are not the same as the actual training. And it is the training that needs the most careful
monitoring and evaluation to see
that it meets its objectives. If
it does, the materials used for
it can be assumed to function
correctly. Sorting out the
effectiveness of materials
or trainers can be very
difficult. But it is obviously
something that needs doing,
if both the materials and
training are to be further
developed.
It needs some staffing to train people to use the resources,
to maintain the equipment and order materials, etc., to be in stock.
Equipment
This first level resource centre would need equipment to duplicate
and screen print. It could have flip chart stands, cloth boards and
materials such as templates to use as simple non-electric media.
Evaluating Training Materials
Space
Such a unit would involve only a small amount of specially adapted
space, though the space to work may be one of its most useful resources.
The requirements for space would have to be based on how many people
would want to work in the unit at a time.
Second level
A self-service resource centre can also be set up with
simple electric-operated equipment such as a photocopier, OHPs and
slide projectors. This centre would need some skilled input to keep
the equipment running and maintained.
This could be a slightly more complicated operation as specialists would use it rather than many different trainers. This could include a photocopier, a desk top publishing computer and laser printer, or a stencil cutter and duplicator. Still camera, slide projector and OHPs, flip chart stands and cloth boards could be kept in the training rooms rather than in the production unit.
The staff will need to write and design material, edit and manage the unit, operate the computer and printing. Staff would also work on collecting and distributing materials. For screen printing quite a few skilled hands are needed to produce any number of posters.
Space
The space would need to be adapted to the needs of the technology. It would need to be air-conditioned. A sound proof studio would need to be built cut off from the control room which would have the recording equipment.
These five options for possible units can be adapted to your particular needs. The variety of factors are difficult to predict or generalize about.
One constant factor is cost. These can be estimated in a comparative form. The start up costs may be different than the running, maintenance or staff costs over time and in different contexts.
It is still useful to list the main equipment needed for each level
and option and give a guide price at 1992 prices. This will give an
idea of what the difference in costs of these options are. It will
be necessary to repeat the estimation at any particular time and place,
to allow for import duties, local market conditions and inflation.
Comparative costs list
screen printing equipmentNo electricity required
tables
cloth boards
flip chart stands
tablesCost: $ 4000
OHP
flip chart stand
cloth board
slide projector
computer and dot matrix printerCost: $8000
duplicator and stencil cutter
still camera
slide projector
OHP
flip chart stands
cloth board
computer and laser printerstorage racks
screen printing equipment
still camera
slide projector
OHP
flip chart stands
cloth board
Equipment: good photocopier
computer & laser printerCost: $20,000
still camera
slide and sound projector
OHPs
flip chart stands
video monitor & VCRs
sound editing tape recorders
microphones
cassette copier/recorder
video camcorder
Equipment: good photocopier
computer & laser printerCosts $50,000-80,000
still camera
slide and sound projector
OHPs
flip chart stands
video monitor and VCP
video editing suite, high band Umatic VHS and VHS recorder
sound editing tapes
recorders/microphones
cassette copier/recorder
video camcorder
video 3 chip camera
portable Umatic or VHS recorder