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| Our first course of 2005 was
commissioned by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas (ICARDA) and brought together 15 participants from seven different Arabian
Peninsula countries. Participants ranged from the director of a government research
agency to junior research staff. | | |
| Dr Jim Weale and Dr Sandy Williams
flew to Dubai to give the course to key members of ICARDA's Arabian Peninsula
Regional Program (APRP). | | Over
the following week, they worked hard to give the participants a thorough grounding
in the basics of writing journal articles, funding proposals, and reports to donors.
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| An exercise during a formal teaching session. |
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Theory
was taught to the group as a whole in the morning during short sessions, to ensure
that people didn't lose concentration. These formal sessions also included short
exercises, during which
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both trainers moved around the room, answering participants' questions as they
arose. This ensured that everyone understood what was being taught and remained
actively involved. | | |
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| Participants working in small groups to drive home the
lessons learned in a formal teaching session. | | | |
| Moving
straight from theory into group exercises (above), allowed participants to practice
what they'd just learned. | | Small
groups containing a mix of senior and junior staff meant participants learned
from each other, as well as from their trainers. | |
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| Game-based revision exercises: making courses fun means
that people work harder and learn more. | | | |
| Team-building
was one aim of the course. To ensure that the participants got to know colleagues
from other countries, we put people into teams and played short |
| games
after longer, more formal sessions. These were designed to revise course modules
and highlight any subjects that needed further revision. | |
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| Participants planning a new newsletter which
they designed during the course and which APRP plans to publish regularly. |
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In breakout sessions participants applied what they'd learned to their own articles
and reports (below), ensuring that the course produced solid outputs. |
| Participants
also worked together to design a monthly newsletter (above), to keep colleagues
in different countries up-to-date with different project activities. |
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| Breakout groups: participants learn to apply what they've
learned about report writing. | | | | |
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| | | | Back
to Top | |
| Participant
Feedback | | |
|
Below are samples of feedback provided anonymously by participants. |
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| I
found [the course] very useful, serving the purposes of ICARDA - APRP's Human
Resources Development. The trainees have learned and gained experience. |
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| Trainers:
| | (1)
Expressed ideas very helpfully. | | (2)
Used very clear language. | | (3)
Were very sure about the knowledge they have. | | (4)
Were fast to build a relationship with the group. | | |
| [Group
exercises] pushed everyone to talk and participate. | | |
| [Trainers]
were all very active and they used different ways to introduce and express the
subject of the training. | | |
| The
course was very useful. We have learned many new things about errors we used to
make in writing. | | |
| The
trainers are excellent. They worked hard to make us understand and lead us to
the target of the course. | | |
| [The
trainers are] very dedicated to the job, friendly and pleasant to work with. |
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| [Group
exercises were] excellent ... everyone participated. | | |
| Trainers
were prepared - useful and encouraged the participants to engage. |
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| The
style of the course is very good and clear. | | |
| [Group
exercises] gave everyone the chance to share ideas. | | |
| Very
useful. They covered important points about how to write different articles. |
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| All
trainers were engaging and serious to their duty. | | |
| Repeat
this course. | | |
|
