Overview:

In this session participants will be presented with the spectrum of learning resources and systems that Circuit Riders are currently using to improve their skills development along with how ideas for how these could be taken a step further. We will then explore perceived barriers to learning and solutions that may overcome these, before having a go at developing our own Personal Learning Plan relating to one of the Benchmarks, Standards and Associated Skills Sets discussed in the earlier Circuit Rider Training & Standards session. Participants will be asked to share what they see as most beneficial including specific resources, tools and projects to guide ongoing programme development.

Session Facilitator:

Kate White (Superhighways)
Paul Allen (LASA)

Biography:

Kate White has been managing Superhighways - a CVS-led ICT Support project, for over seven years, and in this time the project has grown from one sole worker to a team of six covering the South London sub region. Current services include technical advice and troubleshooting, ICT healthchecks and strategy development, ICT training, ICT volunteering and most recently a community wireless broadband and PC recycling project.

Paul Allen moved to the ICT field in 2000 when he started a web design course after various jobs with a community development flavour. He then went on to an Internet start up company, which went bust (not his fault) where he was their IT manager. Paul became a Superhighways staff member as a Circuit Rider based in Wandsworth CVS for nearly 3 years and was the part-time London Accessibility Champion for about 18 months. He has now been at Lasa for 9 months as an ICT consultant, trainer and project manager.

Session Notes:

Session related to Circuit Rider principles project. Perspective around professional development opportunities and quality aspects of service delivery. How do you currently learn and develop your skills? What do people want from the session:

• Keep up to date.
• How do other people deal with training
• Find out what can be done better in terms of development
• What is happening and future developments
• Share information and learn from colleagues
• Get information
• Develop training certification for Circuit Riders

Mixed group – delivering, co-ordinating and people who have undertaken CR training. Will cover:

1. The story so far…
2. How do we learn
3. What are the barriers and what are the solutions
4. Personal learning plans – skills sets and how to use them to develop plan

Funded by ICT Hub until end of May and possibility to be included in a BASIS project from LASA in London which will be available to the wider community. Traning and Standards project started April 2007 – led by focus group from the CR community. What methods do Circuit Riders currently used as like a tag cloud (see slide 3) with following information:

• Google
• self-discovery
• others experience
• classroom training
• online forums and lists
• screencasts
• webinars
• workshops
• trial and error
• osmosis from techies experimentation
• mentoring
• reading
• systematic research
• formal qualifications

Could include:

• Online community
• One-off buy in of experts
• Blogging about personal learning
• Reading – could cover a wide range of sources
• Shadowing

What came out of focus group (slide 4) often patched together learning – project moving on to enable better planning and affording of training. Imagine if…. We creatively pulled together the myriad of great existing Circuit Rider learning resources to create and nurture a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) where (see slide 5) Important to recognize the different people have different preferred learning styles, using resources available. How 3 different learners might select how they best learn. Barriers – what stops you learning…..

• Money – associated costs not just fee for training/conference
• Finding something that is appropriate
• Knowing what questions to ask
• Availability – e.g mentoring, is someone available locally
• Time
• Prioritization
• Access to resources
• Who do I need to connect with for peer-to-peer learning
• Retention of learning
• Measuring impact – will and has it benefited
• Confidence – to admit to needing to learning new skills
• Know it already – self-identify
• Availability of learning to meet your learning style

In pairs pick one barrier and how you might find a solution this, how do people overcome barriers?

• Money
• seeking funding
• prioritise learning
• flexible learning
• use free resources
• Day job gets in the way
• Make a convincing business case for training
• Measuring return on training in economic sense
• Plan and better time management
• Assessing long-term benefit and value
• Developing evidence that training was worthwhile – why did it work for me?
• Get more staff or volunteer to free up time
• Focus more on job rather than being pulled in different directions – outside the job description
• Formalise how you work in to a learning experience – recognise new skills through trial and error
• Focus on success not just on what is not achieved
• Access to Resources

Quote about how difficult it is to find time to plan learning - “Too busy treading water to learn how to swim”

Learning possibilities

• Online learning
• Directory of expertise
• Interactive/peer to peer online learning opportunities

Webinars – who uses them?

Common in USA and very popular method of learning Superhighways experience – where to go for high level training…need for server support, developed a relationship with commercial provider. Using remote resource dialled in to carry out work with worker on-site to learn how work was done. Problem solving and learning Cost – learning around security issues. Linked with partner organisation to be able to split cost and access training. Personal Learning Could we shape generic learning for the sector? This includes providing support for learners to:

• set their own learning goals
• manage their learning - both content and process
• communicate with others in the process of learning and thereby achieve learning goals”

Personal Learning Plan

Where do skills set for Circuit Riders come from? Links benchmark, standard and skill (see slide 9) – example of one specific area. Using example of ICT planning to look at how training can be identified, will allow drill down to what skills have and need to improve on Importance of training – key element Fill out skills checklist – identify 2 development areas Interested to see how this works in practice: Gave examples of how form was used Example of use of non-technical language – being observed and recognise weakness, using metaphors when explaining technical issues – “getting a database is like buying a new home”. Identified outcome and deadline Capability to set budgets and fit with financial planning. Skills Level – low. Develop through practice, may be a need to look at using models – simulating. Need to find training (online). If not happened in 12 months re-evaluate. How do you make sure you carry this out? Find people to check you have achieved this – can be an issue for sole circuit rider. If desirable why such tight deadline – how you decide what level to put things at? Personal learning can suffer if not prioritise needs Important to think about what to do next…. How was it for you? (using this process) Question – advisor to sit whilst you complete form, walk you through process? Is this an investment worth doing? Yes – could be done peer-to-peer. Accountability to complete planned elements. Using an advisor or colleague to help complete training form helps focus on needs and get a better overall picture. Done before with training officer – looks like a good template. What are the other training plans going to be? Hook up with someone with similar experiences. Directory of human resources – say from people on the ukriders list? Skills audit from people working in the sector – soft skills. Evidence of learning needs to be quick and simple

Attachment	Size
cr learning and skills.ppt	91.5 KB