Big Learning in the Big Easy

By Annika Shore, MPH | October 20, 2015
Professional Development Consultant, ETR

I love trainings. I love facilitating them. I love participating in them. And this past September, I found out I really love training in New Orleans!

 

That’s where ETR trainers and other leaders in the field of adolescent sexual health gathered last month for a rigorous four days of learning together. The goals? For these leaders to become trainers on two evidence-based programs (EBP), Reducing the Risk (RTR) and Draw the Line/Respect the Line (DTL).

 

Those of us who use evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs feel strongly that young people deserve meaningful sexual health education. Effective sexual health education helps youth build knowledge, skills and attitudes. 

It Works for Adult Learners, Too

Well, ETR thinks these principles are true for adult learners as well! ETR’s Training of Trainers (TOTs) uses a research-based approach to professional development that helps adult professionals gain relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes too! The benefits of this approach were seen in full force in our New Orleans training.

For example, the Training Coordinator at the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy described her experience at the TOT like this:

I recently completed my first Training of Trainers with ETR. It was an incredibly well-designed and thoughtful process, with emphasis on the ETR Distributive Learning Approach. The pre-assessment and pre-work had us prepared to “dig in” to the training materials and allowed the participants to make the most out of the time we had together to build our skills as trainers. I look forward to the continued support from ETR as we implement our first training of educators.

—Shannon Lindsay

Three Golden Nuggets: Make a Training Great

We learned so much together! Here are three golden nuggets from all that we learned that we’d like to share with you.

1. Practice may not make perfect, but it does make PROGRESS!

Every participant at the TOT in New Orleans practiced the unique and critical skills necessary to conduct a research-based Training of Educators.

They practiced teaching educators how to facilitate roleplays, how to conduct condom demonstrations, and how to lead a successful brainstorm. They practiced using key facilitation skills, such as productive listening, the “powerful practical pause” and the meaningful probe.

They practiced all these things and more—and then they practiced again! Too much practice? Never!

We know participants in our trainings have limited resources and time. We want to make sure that their time is used wisely. Research tells us that practicing key skills is one of the most critical pieces of a successful in-person training. Everything about experience with adult learners supports this perspective 100%.

2. It takes critical thinking and sound knowledge to follow through on evidence, adaptations and fidelity.

We know that RTR and DTL are “evidence-based programs.” But what does that really mean, and what do we do with that information?

Those learning to become trainers on these programs need to know the ins and outs of the evidence base for the programs. They need opportunities to think critically about how to adapt these programs to best fit their population. They need to do this while maintaining fidelity to the core elements that made the programs work in the first place.

At the TOT in New Orleans, we spent time digging deep into the research, evidence and theory behind both of these programs. And then we dug even deeper and talked about the ways these programs can become more responsive to the needs of  young people in their communities.

Participants left with in-depth knowledge about the programs, as well as resources and skills they can use to answer any questions that come their way as they move down the path toward implementation.

3. Get Up and MOVE!

Trainers I’ve worked with all across the country agree on this point: participants need to connect their bodies and their minds in order to solidify their learning. I often hear trainers describe this as an “intuitively understood truth.”

But it’s more than this. It’s also scientifically proven!

So, in New Orleans we didn’t just sit in our seats and stare at a PowerPoint. We got up and moved! Participants and trainers alike lead activities to help build that mind-body connection.

These activities not only helped participants integrate what they were learning into their long-term memories. They also provided handy take-away ideas—the participants left with a whole new toolbox of ways to engage their learners when they go home and conduct their own trainings.

But Wait! There’s More!

These are just three of the take-aways from September’s fantastic TOT. Trust me, in this extraordinary group, there were lots more.

Thank you to our participants from all over the country, and thanks to the Big Easy for being a great host to us. Our training wasn’t quite a Carnival, but it sure was fun!

 

 

Annika Shore, MPH, serves as a professional development consultant with ETR. In that role, she provides evidence-based professional development and technical support to HIV, STD and pregnancy prevention initiatives across the country, and supports all aspects of ETR’s professional learning services. You can reach her at annika.shore@etr.org.