I have been a teacher, educator, trainer my whole life. I thought I was pretty good at it, but covid set up a challenge that I hadn't foreseen.
Up to 2020 I held regular practitioner trainings in various shapes. 3, 5, 9 and 12 day in-person certificate trainings. Informational, experiential, skills and knowledge building with hands on practice. All designed to provide my trainees with what they needed in their newly founded knowledge and skills. To work with their clients effectively and most of all safely.
Covid put a stop to this. At the time in 2020, it wasn't clear where this virus was going and how long it would be here when viewed from the lockdown situation, we found ourselves in.
With time on my hands and the realisation I may have to shut down my business, I found myself re-imagining training taking place in alternative ways.
This is where I bumped up against some fairly solid beliefs of mine that had laid dormant until faced with this challenge.
My existing in-person training approach had continuously been developed through the previous 12 years. So I was holding tight to my ‘baby’.
Some of my beliefs that revealed themselves were;
- I didn't believe this training could be improved on.
- I really liked seeing groups face to face.
- Face to face learning was by far the best approach.
- I believed this combination approach of experiential learning, teaching and practice was of high quality.
- The energy of the training this way couldn't take place in any other format.
When I finally decided to get over myself and look at the reality of re-orienting my business for survival, with the possibility of going back to as it was, as we returned to normal, I realised a few things straight away.
- Online trainings meant that my trainees wouldn't be limited by location, other than timezone for international students.
Was available to many more people. - Wouldn't have to face the additional expenses of travel, accommodation or having to come out of their life for a period of time.
Then I started to reflect on my face to face training with what I knew were limitations, but had not been ready to acknowledge.
Content was presented in a booklet with reading, worksheets and exercises to do at their own pace.
- The trainings were highly experiential and trainees were often processing thrown experiences of the day or week, so were not always in the right space to listen to explanations of theory or practice during teaching periods.
- They often didn't realise the importance of what was being taught of new philosophies and practice at the time. Once taught in the course, trainees could go to their booklet, but couldn't revisit the lesson in real time.
What I found in my in-person trainings was:
Most didn't read the notes or complete the worksheets or exercises.
Once important information was missed, it often didn't get picked up again, unless individuals elected to redo the course at an extra cost.
In my covid re-imagining I formatted the key principles, philosophies into specific lessons or modules. Selected key information and ideas that needed to be introduced and understood prior to the experiential components taking place. These were self-paced at one per week and consisted of teaching materials of mixed media, to cater to different learning styles, with assessment tasks though-out.
In the new experiential component, online face to face group, we were putting into practice demonstrations and practice of ideas, principles and skills that had been introduced over the preparatory self- paced learning modules.
Trainees would go into break out rooms to discuss or practice the skills and principles before coming back to the main room with questions and examples to be nutted out in the group with me and my co trainer.
While in break out rooms I periodically entered to check how they are going and to offer any advise or assistance to their practice or discussions.
In this I am very aware that trainees need to figure some things out for themselves and not have me watching over everything they discuss or practice, in holding their hand through all processes, so as to aid their learning and confidence.
At the end of the experiential, trainees go back to online learning to complete the course. This includes finalising assessments to be sent to me with case studies.
What I have found most interesting in this way of teaching is how many of the trainees go back over key lessons once they realise through the experiential they hadn't fully understood it, or alternatively go through the whole course again and let me know this is an incredibly useful resource, as they hadn't realised the importance of some of the key elements in this unique body of knowledge and training. Unlike comparable therapy trainings.
What I discovered:
I found that while it’s nice to see people in person face to face, the same level of community and collective experience may be created online.
100% face to face in person learning is not necessarily the best approach. As composite online learning and teaching approaches to cater for a wider range of learning styles are more trainee-centered in support of more efficient learning for my students.
Online courses that engage the trainees in requiring more interaction is effective in catering to their learning styles and in allowing them to take as long as they need to complete and understand each module.
Energy has no boundaries as its everywhere. It is present in a phone call or online zoom and not limited to in-person face to face.
More thorough and accountable assessment processes strongly enhance the learning processes. Interestingly, I already knew this as a school teacher, but had made an assumption that adults didn’t need to go through a similar learning and assessment approach.
Post covid I could have gone back to full in-person face to face trainings, but realised the value of the mixed mode online experiential style rather than what I had previously offered.
I do realise there are probably more improvements I could make, when I am ready to look deeper again.
The challenge I presented myself with during the covid crisis, encouraged me to seriously re-evaluate what I was doing. This led to being able to let go of beliefs that turned out to be invalid. No doubt my own thinking and creative processes have been expanded in extending the neuro-plasticity of my brain.
I strongly encourage you to look at what you are doing and whether its best practice, but know from my own experience we don't enter this uncomfortable place unless we are faced with some hard realities to consider. The pressure of being between a ‘rock and a hard place’ is perfect for innovation.
I offer online Brief professional psychotherapy Rapid Core Healing Trainings on
Yildiz Sethi and Family Constellations
and one-to-one personal packages for change, recovery and transformation.