Posted by Global Communic... on February 18, 2011 at 10:26pm
Hello All,
Our institute is now planning for several short Web courses teaching Drupal technology to many college students and experienced IT engineers, so we will soon use very competitive salary to recruit several qualified instructors located around Boston area to teach the above courses, we will post the full job information here later. But before this, we would like to hear some advice about the above. Any suggestions and advice for the above will be highly appreciated.
Helen Yu
Comments
Active community engagement
Is this a full time or part time job posting? I think you could get more interest from part time as I think a lot of those embedded in the community who enjoy teaching would be who you'd want to target but they probably want to maintain a high level of involvement with the community. Either that or work into the job description some part about maintaining an active role in the community. I know that would be appealing for me if I was looking for work like that at least (the maintaining visibility).
Also re-releasing some aspect / portion of the content as OER for other members to use would give good publicity to whoever was writing the material as well as the college producing the work.
Ex Uno Plures
http://elmsln.org/
http://btopro.com/
http://drupal.psu.edu/
The course lecturing job is part-time job / Several hours a week
Thank you for the feedback. The course lecturing job is part-time job / Several flexible hours a week
24-hours Daily Global Tel. 1-617-418-3326 (U.S.)
China-Asia Office: College Area, Beijing
North America: Harvard & MIT Area, Boston
company: eGlobeBiz@Gmail.com
Qualifications
I've been a computer trainer -- part-time, mostly independent contract work -- for more than 15 years now. Based on my own experience, here are some of my thoughts about qualifications for a good trainer:
A good trainer must be able to bridge the gap between technology and human beings. Computers are logical, analytical, structured. People are organic, creative, spiraling and branching off in all directions. A good trainer can form a bridge between the two, helping people to learn and use technology to supplement and enhance their work and creativity as human beings -- rather than forcing people to become machines in order to work with machines.
A good trainer, thus, needs to be someone well-versed not only in technology but also in humanity. Personality types. Learning styles. The various facets of how we are different -- and knowing how to use that in the training. Visual information for visual learners. Written information for verbal learners. Talking with the auditory learners. Hands-on tasks for the kinesthetic learners. Not expecting everyone to learn the same way or at the same pace. Helping people discover how to build their own bridges between what they know and what they want/need to know.
A good trainer needs to be a good communicator. Articulate. Personable. Enough confidence to be comfortable presenting information; enough humility to be gentle, compassionate, patient, and approachable. Clear speech. Clear thought patterns. Plain, simple language. Talking about technology does not have to be full of jargon; I use a lot of analogies, metaphors, and figurative language when I conduct trainings, in order to build a bridge between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
If I were hiring a trainer, I would be just as interested in what kind of a person he/she is as I would be in his/her technological skills. A person might be great with technology -- but not so great at explaining it or guiding other people into a deeper understanding of it. A person might have infinite patience while troubleshooting computer problems -- and yet have no patience with a struggling student. A person might be able to write intricate, detailed computer programs -- yet be unable to describe computer tasks to students in simple, clear language.
To me, teaching computer classes is at least as much about the human-to-human connection as it is about the human-to-computer connection.
Katrina
Site builder, writer, trainer, graphic designer
Re: Qualifications from Katrina
Katrina,
Like you, I've been training for over 12 years now and what I believe makes me a good technology trainer is that I came from an English Communications background (teaching journalism) and grew my technology skills to where I could be a trainer for teachers to use technology in their classroom which then morphed into programming and web design and training others how to use several content management systems.
What I found, as you so aptly described is there are three types of trainers in this world:
1) The type of trainers who are masters of the content, but cannot relate it to others who aren't at their same level of expertise or understand their jargon. They assume others understand terms that may not be in their vocabulary at all or cannot size up the abilities of their individual audience members. They seek to impress others with their knowledge, but end up turning their audience off in the process This frustrates both the trainer and audience. The audience will politely shake their heads pretending to be following and understanding the content, but walk away with very little workable knowledge having been gained.
2) The type of trainers who have less knowledge than those who they are training. This is a disaster and I've seen it too many times where someone tries to blind their audience with smoke and mirrors in the form of "theory" but not give them any real knowledge that they can apply because they already knew the content walking into the class. It is the person teaching Access to SQL Database Managers but masking the class with a fancy name that fails in its approach because the trainer feels intimidated and tries to bulldoze their way through and just get it over with.
3) The type of trainer who fits the profile you outlined above. Your explanation is probably one of the most succinct I've ever read and I don't think I can put it any better than you already have. However, to me, the best trainer is someone who has the ability to articulate knowledge in a language that respects all members of the audience, sizes them up appropriately, paces the class to the greatest and least ability, and approaches learning with humility. This is not the time to showcase how smart you are to impress others, but to make the knowledge you have mastered digestible to all so they walk away with as much as they could cram in at the buffet. It is not overwhelming, but paced, welcoming, and human. Like you said, it takes patience, kindness, and appreciation for those trying to learn what you already know and is an art that comes with being a good teacher. A good knowledge set does not mean you will be worth a damn trying to relate that to others. You have to be a good teacher to begin with and some people just have "it" and others don't.
If you want to hire someone to teach Drupal, make sure they can really "teach" first.
FWIW,
Tom
Software Developer and Trainer
TCCSA
"There is nothing wrong. There is simply what is, and what you choose to make of it."
trainer versus instructional designer
@Katrina, well said.
@Tom, ditto.
Katrina said:
I believe a trainer with these skills is a trainer who is an instructional designer. I believe that many trainers fail because they haven't done what you have described here.
So ... what are "trainers"? In the purest sense of the word, I believe trainers are the the person who deliver the instruction. Instructional designers design and develop the instruction?
Not all trainers can design and not all designers can instruct. You can call yourself a trainer because you are a subject matter expert and can communicate at the appropriate level your audience needs but that doesn't mean the topics, sequences, activities, and materials provide good instruction.
My advice, when looking for "trainers" is to look at the entire package of the learning experience and describe what you are really looking for. If you have the learning experience designed and developed and are looking for a trainer with topic experience to deliver it, then I would recommend conveying that. BUT, if you want the "trainer" to design and develop the experience, you need to say that as well and then assess both skill sets before hiring.
There are some great trainers out there. They can deliver the subject matter with precision. But can they create professional instruction along with professional materials?
Trainers vs Instructional Designers
Good points, all, Cindy!
I've met some instructional designers who can create killer sites / materials, but put them in front of a live audience and they are out of their element. It is a rare person who thrives in both the "behind the scenes" and "on the stage" arenas.
Like you said, describing exactly what you expect this person to do in the job posting as well as looking at the entire package is paramount to success in finding the right person to provide what you need.
Still, there are some people who interview well, but cannot deliver. Perhaps it would be best to skip on the interview and have candidates create a 30-minute training and do that for the interview team. They should have self-created content designed and be expected to showcase their training skill and knowledge of the subject matter. Imagine that!
Not that you are asking them to do the impossible, but rather impress with a venue that allows them to prove their skill in design and training.
I'd take that over an interview any day because it eliminates the ability of someone to pull the wool over your eyes with interviewing skill.
Just a thought.
Tom
"There is nothing wrong. There is simply what is, and what you choose to make of it."
good idea on the sample
good idea on the sample training delivery. It can be a little nerve wrecking when you know you are being judged during a session but I suppose if you can live through that, you can survive anything ;-)