DL Trainers’ Development Path

The twenty-first-century challenges – globalization, information overload, rapid changes, virtualization – lead to more and more requirements for learners and educators. The skills that learners need to contribute effectively to society are in constant change. Our education systems are not keeping up with the fast pace of the world around us. Professional development, at all points in a teacher’s career, is necessary to keep up with changing research, tools, practices.

Most institutions and training organizations look much the same today as they did a generation ago, and educators/trainers themselves are often not developing the practices and skills necessary to meet the diverse needs of today’s learners. They see the necessity to enter e-learning market and change their profile but they are often afraid of such change – especially mature educators – or the training available do not offer the clear move to e-learning with simple explanation, good tasks, examples, exercises and comprehensive for trainers knowledge necessary for Distance Learning.

The project is the response to the lack of programs that offer new skills to the trainers/educators/mentors who work in a traditional way and would like to acquire new skills connected with e-learning. The trainers/educators/mentors with experience usually are afraid of entering new areas and using new tools that require IT knowledge. The problems of non-formal education and staff skills are particularly important. Organizations from Poland, Lithuania, Greece, and Romania have experienced trainers who can smoothly pass from traditional teaching to DL (e-learning).

Main aims

• Enhancing the quality training of trainers/educators/mentors in DL.

• Exchange of best practices of partners org in DL.

• Fostering the provision& assessment of trainers’ key-competences: DL and e-learning training abilities &digital skills which will be included in curricula.

• Introducing, developing &promoting innovative methods & tools in training by supporting personalized learning approaches for trainers/educators/mentors, teaching them ICT in an accessible way offering OERvia platform, open &flexible learning, virtual mobility by introducing e-learning platform open to all trainers.

• Promoting cross-border cooperation in education & learning via e-learning as all partners will work on DL and e-learning.

• Enhancing the professional development of persons working/active in education by offering them new competencies & ability to work online by changing their professional profile.

• Increasing quality &range of training, ICT-based methodologies & use of OER – by introducing new methods, tools, e-learning, personalized teaching.

The project will reach mature people who are trainers/educators/mentors who work in a traditional way and would like to acquire new skills connected with e-learning and DL.

Aim

In the program we will prepare an educational program for trainers / teachers / mentors / teachers who will teach / train on-line (in distance education) using IT devices, existing platforms and we will try it during pilot trainings.

We will increase the skills and abilities of instructors / teachers / mentors / teachers and prepare them to teach online in distance education systems. In each partner organization a team of 10 instructors / teachers and consultants who are professionals but have little experience with on-line training will gain new skills and qualifications.

The result will be the training of these trainers (70 hours per group) and their preparation for work on electronic platforms and distance learning systems. Each partner will train 10 trainees during pilot training
We will develop educational material, curricula for the Distance Learning Development Training Program and set of materials – each partner will prepare a series of training scenarios. Printed and online.
The guide and set of tools will be prepared by partners, translated and printed in a number of copies that are necessary for distribution to instructors + digital version
The Joint Staff event – 3 staff members will participate in two 5-day training sessions in Greece, will exchange experiences, will discuss new on-line teaching methods, will present their sample trainings.
Interactive website of the project with electronic resources, materials available to visitors, who want to improve their skills, acquire new skills. The partners will prepare the materials, conclude a basic interaction section with the website that allows interactive use and e-learning functions.
Multiplicity events – each to the partners. dissemination of results, materials, guide to trainers / teachers and organizations.
Creating an International Educational Route Program for distance learning educators that will be open to individuals who wish to develop or acquire skills. Each edition – will be an average of 10 participants in each partner organization, 70 hours of training. We will try it and improve it.
An e-learning website of the Training Program for the development of distance learning educational paths that will allow you to learn how to work as a distance learning teacher / instructor on your own as a program based on detailed teaching assignments. With the instructions, the trainers / teachers will learn how to operate it.
3 transnational meetings – 2 people from each partner x2 days
Leaflets of promotional materials, posters, gadgets with information about the project and the logo

Produced

O1 – Creation of study programs and scenarios for the Training Program for Teacher Development Roads, pilot course

O2 – Driver and toolbox trainer / mentor / teacher / teacher in distance education

Multiplier

E-2 Workshops – introduction to the distance learning path of the distance learning trainer – an average of 20 participants

E-learning platform

http://e-learning.dl-trainers.eu/www/index.php

Course methodology

The most important rules we apply in practice are to use educational videos, pictures, infographics, texts to facilitate a self-teaching process. An instructor / mentor / teacher who wants to learn how to work online will get here information, tips, which he will follow and will learn step by step how to become an instructor / mentor / teacher. There are many exercises, tips. All materials are collected in 7 stages. The user can follow the plan or choose what is needed. This is a kind of guide “how to become a trainer / mentor / educator and face some challenges and obstacles”. We soon applied video whenever possible, because we learned through video and not text. It is not only practical, but also incredibly effective. We believe that a culture of creativity in education. Here you can strengthen and inspire yourself, become strong, energetic teachers.

Who is this lesson for?

By creating an e-learning course, we have kept a goal in mind, the content should be so useful for mentors / teachers / instructors with the experience of teaching in the traditional way, but who wants to become an online teacher and spread the word? online knowledge tools. Clear layout and organization of information will help the future DL teacher to acquire new digital skills and learn new tools for the effective implementation of their content.