INTRODUCTION: HOW TO BECOME A GOOD PEER TRAINER
When a training action begins, the program must be thoroughly prepared, the purpose and objectives set for developing the activity must be known.
It is considered important to build on the experience in order to “choose” the theoretical contents, activities and practices to be implemented during the learning process. You should inquire about the background and characteristics of the learners with whom you are going to share experiences, knowledge, experiences, etc., during the days on which the training is going to take place.
When starting the training it is important to think that you are prepared; even to adjust the program based on the partial results that the learners are obtaining. You must be aware of the strengths and weaknesses that you have as a trainer.
However, when the activity begins, the mise-en-scène, it is the moment in which we are going to demonstrate whether all that previous work that has been done with care, dedication and technique is valid.
On one size is the curriculum, the own means and resources. On the other, there is the group in the training situation; with people and individuals who come – just like the trainer – with prior knowledge and ideas about the course they are going to take.
It is time to get to know each other, to start and start the learning machinery. This first moment is the most important, the subsequent success, the performance and results obtained will depend on the atmosphere that is achieved at the beginning of the training action.
Some strategies to promote learner motivation and that help create an appropriate atmosphere:
- Know the learner; their individual characteristics and their interaction with the group. Explore their motivations and expectations to relate them to learning.
- Report the meaning of learning, its impact on the world of work; advise and guide; relate the learning to the experiences of the learners and the context they live.
- Formulate clear, concrete objectives and link them with the interests of the learners so that they perceive their importance and understand in which direction they are going.
- Attend to learners individually: assess their desire to learn, keep them informed about their progress, skills, difficulties and guide them to improve or overcome them.
- Create a climate of trust, participation and respect in the group.
- Promote initiative, creativity and cooperation.
- Plan the learning sequences and practical activities linked to the socio-occupational reality.
- Ask for and value results.
PEDAGOGICAL METHODOLOGIES
All training activities pursue the learning of certain contents and the achievement of certain objectives. However, not all actions are equally effective. This is because each training action pursues different objectives and requires the implementation of a different methodology.
The effectiveness of many training plans is that they are developed using two or three different methods. This integrative approach is essential if you want to achieve a useful training proposal.
a) Exhibition methods
They are characterized by the clarity in the presentation of the information to the learners and are supported by the oral presentation of one or more experts in the content of the didactic unit or topic that is exposed (conference, symposium, panel, round table, etc.).
What should the trainer do?
- Inform learners at the beginning of each didactic act about the objectives to be achieved, together with the content to be addressed.
- Summarize the essential points of the day, of the Didactic Units and of the Modules as a way of reinforcing the concepts and contents.
- Use examples, experiences and redound and influence the most important aspects
These methods, if not alternated with less directed ones, tend to promote superficial learning, which does not favor the acquisition of technical or practical skills.
b) Methods based on practical demonstration
In training in which the acquisition of practical skills and abilities is necessary for the performance of the job, these are the methods that will find the most applicability. The aim is for learners to learn through practical and coordinated demonstration processes of tasks (demonstration workshops, laboratory research, social research, etc.)
What should the trainer do?
- State the objectives clearly
- Explain the activity with the breakdown of tasks
- Trainer´s demonstration
- Each learner performs the task
c) Methods in which the teacher and the learners actively intervene in the construction of learning
Interrogative methods, in which the communication between trainer-learner is based on the formulation of questions by the trainer. It is used in those training actions where the participants already master the knowledge under study, focusing on the interest in the participants becoming agents of their own training, through personal research, contact with the reality under study and the experiences of the working group.
What should the trainer do?
- Define the objectives of the activity before beginning.
- Raise problem situations.
- Answer the learners’ questions to help the discovery process, but without solving the problem.
- Ensure that at the end of the process the procedure for solving the problem and the different solutions are clearly described.
d) Methods based on group work
The peculiarity of these methods is the active participation of the group of learners, harmonized with prior planning and carried out under the direction of a person with the necessary skills for this purpose.
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