Training the Trainers/February 2013 event

Volunteers who want to take a leading role in Wikimedia UK's training programme are encouraged to read and sign up below. For initial queries contact daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk The location is currently being decided - any suggestions please include them on the discussion page.

Where and when

The workshop will take place on the weekend of 23-24 February 2013 in Newcastle, and it will be run by a professional consultant. This session is based in North East England to target volunteers that are based towards the North of the country.

The timings of the event are: Saturday 9:30 am - 6:30pm, Sunday 9am - 5pm. Light breakfast and lunch will be provided; we are also planning a social dinner after the training on Saturday. It is vital that you do not miss the start of the training session, so before confirming your availability please do make sure you can make the start time of the training. We are able to cover travel and accommodation, including if you need to travel on Friday - an advance notice will be appreciated.

The event is open to Wikimedia UK volunteers who can make a credible commitment to support training in future: it will be a strong advantage to have already been involved in training events. If your interest is in training people to contribute to a sister project such as Commons or Wikinews, rather than to Wikipedia, that's no disadvantage.

Aims

We know that some of our members are already delivering professional-quality training. They may think they don't need this weekend event, but it's especially important for them to sign up. It's a chance to:

• Get accredited and receive detailed feedback about your presenting and training skills
• Get general trainer skills which you can then apply when e.g. delivering specific Wikipedia workshops
• Share your skills with others.
• Help design a training programme that serves WMUK in the long term.

The places are limited to make sure that each participant gets individual attention and feedback, so please sign up below to express your interest.

Hear from previous attendees

Doug training a participant in a November 2012 Girl Geeks event

Doug Taylor, Chair of WMUK Education Committee

Being a teacher who has also spent many years working with FE colleges and businesses to offer IT and related training, I already felt comfortable teaching people something new. I have always been keen for Wikimedia UK to offer formal training for editors to build a team of people who could help engage a new generation of editors, getting them past that important first edit. I attended the first event run by our professional training partners and it was highly enjoyable, both as a way to meet other people passionate about Wikipedia and share the benefits of our experience to learn something new. Since then I have attended around a dozen training events, and supported new editors and new trainers. I went to the Manchester Girl Geeks event in November 2012 and was able to offer support to two of our newer trainers who led the session, as well as the new editors. Its a great way to help the Wikimedia mission progress, and to get around the country meeting new people.

Katie helping to train a new editor at the WMUK Ada Lovelace Day event

Katie Chan, WMUK Volunteer

Attending Training the Trainers is a great way to spend a weekend. What I enjoyed the most was learning about the different learning style each of us have, how that affects the way we deliver training, and the effect it has on receptiveness of an audience. This has helped me immensely when planning for and running a training event, to ensure that everyone who attends can get the most out of what I'm doing. A secondary benefit is that it has also improved the way I learn. Last but certainly not least, you get to meet some great people during the event!

Course details

The course focuses on enabling the participants to develop and deliver high quality training which draws on their own skills and expertise. You can then apply these skills whenever you run a training session. Note that this is about training, not presenting, so we will not be focusing on developing content of presentations on e.g. Wikipedia.

By the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Set training objectives and structure a session with appropriate material to meet those objectives
• Present information clearly to different audiences and use visual aids effectively
• Identify ways to make the sessions interactive and participative and deal with questions

As a part of the course you will also be receiving an hour long 1-1 telephone feedback. This provides the opportunity to discuss your performance and reactions to the course privately. It promotes intense reflection and rounded learning.

The participants will also be able to:

• Recognise the importance of diversity in the training context
• Respond appropriately to the needs of volunteer trainers
• Understand the impact of different learning and communication styles when designing and delivering training
• Use active listening to guide their interaction with participants
• Give effective and appropriate feedback to other participants

Sign up here

Please tell us about your training background (inside or outside Wikimedia) and give an email address or username through which you can be contacted. We will be contacting you closer to the date of the event to confirm your place (please note: This training represents an investment by Wikimedia in its future, so the decision will be made on the basis of how credibly each individual can commit to delivering future events. This is not a first-come, first-served list: the order in which people add themselves is of no significance.)

Please also let us know if the date does not suit you; we will be running future sessions.

1. I would be interested. I work as an ambassador on en.wikipedia, helping students and their tutors figure out how to edit wikipedia as part of their courses. Off-wiki, I work in a specialist field of IT and have had various coaching & training work here & there, but I haven't yet made it a full-time job - would like to put more emphasis on training in future. Northwest would be easier for me than Northeast, but I can travel... Bobrayner (talk) 15:54, 10 November 2012 (UTC)
2. Would be very interested in helping out in any events up north, happy to travel a fair distance to help out too. I've been a trainer at university for a student helpline society and provided training whilst working in a customer service role a few years ago. I've been on similar courses twice, but about 10 years ago, so could certainly do with a refresher. Worm^TT(talk) 10:57, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
3. Yes please - I'd be interested in going to improve my own editing skills and to be able to offer more staff support to training sessions as needed next year. I'll probably be heading to Leeds before/after, but can help with taking training materials to/from London and the venue as needed. Obviously, I think volunteers receiving the training is a higher priority, so if numbers grow larger nearer the time I'm happy for someone from the community to have a place instead of me. Katherine Bavage (WMUK) (talk) 14:38, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
4. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 17:16, 23 November 2012 (UTC)
5. I'm interested in this. I'd also prefer closer to Manchester; but it's no big deal. :-) Mark M (Talk) 15:51, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
6. I'm also interested in this. I have run training courses at work before, but I've never had any formal training in what to do. Newcastle is not an ideal place to get to — I too would prefer the North West — but it's a great city, and the Saturday night would make a good opportunity for the 1st Newcastle Wikimeet. Bazonka (talk) 20:21, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I've added a comment on the Talk page about the location. Bazonka (talk) 20:45, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Interested but February 2013 date doesn't suit

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