Design and Evaluation of Training Programs - Week 4

Introduction: Hello and welcome to week four of the course Design and Evaluation of Training Progams and Workshops. Today we will do several activities to explore the importance of context in teacher training, identify strategies to conduct an effective training needs analysis, and compare the drafts of your data collection instruments and give peer feedback. If we have time, we will also explore the topics of desconstructing lesson plan templates and classroom observation protocols as a professional development strategy.

Warm Up: What do you see?

Click on your assigned link below and describe your image to your partners with as many details as possible. Try to determine what are the similarities and diffrences between your images.

• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE
• Student D: CLICK HERE

Now, let's consider another image (CLICK HERE). Discuss these questions with your partners. 

• What does this new image make you think about?
• What do you think the artist's message could be?
• How might this image serve as a metaphor for teaching?
• How might it serve as a metaphor for training and developing teachers?

Task 1: The Importance of Considering Context and Needs

For your reading response task last week you read portions of chapters 2 and 6 in Graves' (2000) Designing Language Courses. Discuss the following questions with your partners. 

• What are we talking about when we refer to context?
• Why is it important for training course designers to define their context?
• Graves introduced the term "problematizing" in Chapter 2. What does that mean and why is that a valuable strategy for teachers and trainers?
• CLICK HERE to go to the Google Doc and work together to share some important factors to consider when defining context.
• Consider the two graphics below from Graves (2000) Chapter 6. In what ways might the purpose and process of carrying out a needs assessment be similar and different in the context of designing a language course or the context of designing a teacher training course?

Click to see full sized image.

Click to see full sized image.

Task 2: Peer Feedback on your Data Collection Instruments

Let's take a moment to share what you brainstormed for the draft of your data collection instruments. 

• How are your ideas simliar and different?
• What suggestions could you make to broaden or narrow the scope of some of your questions?
• Are there any additional areas you would suggest your partners explore?

Task 3: Deconstructing Lesson Plan Templates and Classroom Observation Protocols

In your professional development tips reading this week you explored several topics including creating an observation form and anlayzing lesson plans. Let's explore how we could use these two documents as tools to support teacher development.

• Comparing and evaluating specific lesson plans
• Evaluating and improving specific lesson plans
• Comparison of lesson planning templates
• Co-creation of new lesson planning template, experimentation, and analysis
• Independent or co-creation of observation protocols, experimentation, and analysis
• Guided observation protocols for novice teachers
• Ideas for working with video observation protocols