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I keyed in on this email as being relative to some training I have conducted
in the past. As a certified instructor for National Cryptologic Schools
(NCS) this seems pretty familiar to their way of training personnel.
The NCS replaces "Instructor-Led" with "Facilitator." The big concept to
grab here is,
1. You are training adults.
2. You are training adults who are already in a specific technical field.
3. Most adults attend training because they want to learn, or want to learn
a portion of the training topic.
This concept lends nicely to "facilitating" a discussion. Letting students
learn from students, while the "facilitator" controls and dictates concepts
and ideas for the discussion. Obviously, this isn't something that can be
easily conveyed in one posting. The training is conducted around a lot of
open ended questions and a non-traditional training environment.
The training guides are laid out in outline format, with ideas, concepts and
hints, much like a master guide or teacher's guide, if you are familiar with
those types of documents. If you would like more on the manuals, let me
know, and I may be able to provide some adequate examples.
Sue called out the need to write her own material, and I must whole
heartedly agree. As an instructor, more often than not, the facilitator
guide provides a spot to stick my notes and yellow stickies that help me to
develop the idea in the module. The facilitator guides are there to help
instructors, not make any individual an instructor.
As for "modular" and how it relates (in this case). The manuals or
facilitator's guide, is broken into topic concepts, called modules. Modules
are then subdivided into parts (part 1,2,3...). These merely represent an
outline of discussions and topics to discuss.
The NCS depends heavily on the ability of an instructor to convey
information adequately, but being reserved enough to allow others to
facilitate conversation. It definitely has its drawbacks, but when you have
a well qualified and well prepared instructor, the training is top-notch.
There is a screening process in place for instructors, but it is not
extremely rigorous. Fortunately, it is a small environment and instructors
can lose a certification as fast as they get it.
Hope this helps, let me know if it is up your alley.
JR.
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