[MUSIC] Today we're going to talk about how we monitor our training programs to make sure that everything is running smoothly. We'll first discuss questions with what is monitoring and why should we monitor. While a training event should be certainly planned well and structured in advance, it's also necessarily to be continuously responsive to the unanticipated needs of the individual trainees. And unanticipated circumstances, or simply put, surprises that may come our way. Things we didn't intend to happen. disappointments, opportunities. Speakers may not show up, the trainees may need a session repeated because they didn't understand Or didn't have time to practice thoroughly, a training resource may be discovered. A particular trainee may have certain skills or experience in the area, and we want to share that person to share their experiences with the group. We need to be responsive. And so monitoring gives us this opportunity. If, as we mentioned before, there is a member of the training committee who is taking notes, is observing the process. hopefully he or she can recognize when there are difficulties and bring it to the attention of the training group. So that they can make some accommodation to the trainees' expectations. This may be something there may, come up something as we're talking initially about the goals and learning goals of the trainees. What they are expecting from the training and there may be some things that have been inadvertently left out. Or some new ideas that have come along since the training plan was drawn up. So we want to make sure that from the beginning we discover those things and try to adapt. And as we go along, if questions arise that require some additional input. In addition to responding to the content of the training, we also want to respond to the comfort level of the trainees. And comfort level can refer to two things. One, obviously, are they comfortable carrying out the exercises? Did they feel confident or embarrassed doing role plays? Maybe if that's the case, we should change the role play into a case study. Do they feel comfortable trying out practical exercises or do they need more instruction. So we need to be more aware of that. We also need to be aware of whether they're comfortable in the physical training setting. What about the temperature? What about the lighting? what about the, the seating arrangements? Monitoring has also been called process evaluation. And in process evaluation we try to find out whether the intervention, whether it's a training intervention, whether it's a community education, behavior change intervention. Whatever the intervention is, whether it's going according to our plan. And some of the things we look for when we're monitoring the process are the adequacy of materials and supplies and logistical arrangements. Are there enough chairs? Are there enough handouts? We want to document whether the activities we planned were actually implemented. If we had to cancel a session and we went ahead and did a post-test and the trainees didn't do well on that we would wonder, you know, what was wrong with the session. But, in fact, it may have been cancelled. So we need to make sure that that happens. We may implement an activity with practical sessions involved. And yet there may not be enough materials for everyone to practice. And so we need to make sure that we document the things went, how they went, and whether they went according to our plans or not. We need to consider the appropriateness of activities to the trainee's background. One time I walked in on a training session of village health workers, that the local health department was organizing in Nigeria. And found that half the trainees seemed to be asleep. what was happening was that the trainer that they brought from the State Ministry of Health was giving lectures and posting things on Flip Chart paper around the room. And half the trainees could not read or write and so they had lost interest. So this was not an appropriate activity. And what ideally they should have done if they were professional trainers is have observer who would catch this and then reorganize the training so it would be more interactive and more lively. We need to constantly monitor levels of interest and participation therefore. And the, the trainee will respond to the technical inputs. How are they responding? Do they seem to understand? Do they look curious? Do they look bored? And, therefore, that gives us a clue in terms of whether they're understanding the material. And we can make corrections before the end of the training. And that's the whole idea, making corrections and using the process evaluation and monitoring results. If we're having a residential training or a training that goes over more than several days, even if it's a training that happens once or twice a week over a period of several weeks, we need to have regular meetings of the trainers or the training committee. However it's organized, to discuss what's happening, how things are going. These meetings should take place at a time when decisions could have good effect. We could do this either in the evening after a session or in the morning before a new session starts. But clearly such meetings should happen before the next round of training starts. And we need to schedule these on a regular basis so the trainers can get their day organized and know what to expect. And this is a time when the trainers will report on what they've seen, particularly the person who's observing will report back whether there are problems of logistics, whether there are problems of attention level, whether there are problems of comprehension. Worse come to worst, if there are emergencies, we can have informal meetings over lunch or during breaks. During the trainers' meeting or the training committee meetings, we can review information that's gathered by the designated observer. We can discuss the end of session review activities. For example, every session should have a wrap-up as we mentioned in our training guide lecture. And during this wrap-up, questions are asked. people are on both sides. The trainers can ask questions to the trainees to see if they understood. The trainees can ask questions to the trainers. So this type of end of session review can give us a clue as to how things are going and whether people are grasping the content At the trainers' meeting then with all of this information on the table, we can determine how to respond to the suggestions from the trainees. Do we need to repeat a session? Do we need to provide them additional handouts or resource materials? Therefore, these are the kind of decisions that we need to make. And we need to assign responsibility. If there are additional materials, who is going to find them? Who is going to get them photocopied? if there's need for an additional speaker, who's going to identify the person? We need to figure out how it's going to fit into the schedule. Do we have flexible time? And again, this was one thing we emphasized too in scheduling Is that it doesn't hurt to give a little extra time for different sessions because of the need to add in things to make corrections along the way. And then, at our next trainers meeting, we need to review whether decisions were implemented properly and what happened. Monitoring is a way of giving us timely feedback When we plan and structure activities, we need to allow for monitoring while the training is going on. We need to know what to expect. That's why we have our training grids or matrices. We have schedules, etc. So by observing that we can see whether things go as planned or not. So we need to keep track, this is why we need proper scheduling, in advance. Again, when we obtain information about the sessions, whether the resources were adequate, whether the content was accessible and understandable, we need to make some decisions and decide whether we should go ahead with what we've planned. Repeat. Reorganize. Possibly present material in a different format that may be more acceptable to the trainees. Provide more materials. Change the speaker if someone is difficult to hear. If we don't have a PA system that we can use. That we may need to get someone who can talk louder or rearrange the chairs so that people are closer. These are simple decisions but they facilitate the learning process. We also need to be aware of the immediate results of what's happening as the training progresses. This can help us reinforce our decisions, to go ahead and provide information, can reinforce the trainees' decision making about what they need in terms of the training program. We really want to have a clear, ongoing, flow of information to the trainers, what is happening what are the response of trainees how can we make the session better. And we can't do this unless the feedback is relatively immediate. We shouldn't wait till the end of the day to figure out what to do if we hear that a speaker is not going to show up. If you don't have adequate materials. if there are not enough rooms for small group activities. We need to be checking on these things and have a way of responding. One thing that helps of, course again, is to have a secretariat. where the trainers can, can gather, can post information, can have quick meetings where at least somebody will be posted who can make decisions. And one thing we wanted to determine is ways that the trainees themselves can be involved in the monitoring process. can they lead discussion sessions at the end? Can they gather information and report back to the trainers their own impressions of what is happening? We've said this before but the best way to achieve immediate feedback is to be sure that at least 1 member of the training team is designated as the observer And of course, these can rotate session by session because there may be trainers that are speaking, trainers that are going out in the field and arranging field trip, etc. So people would rotate. But the importance of having one person there is, cannot be overemphasized. This person should take good notes of what happens. Not notes of what the speakers are saying but notes of audience response. notes about the conditions in the room. Whether the equipment worked properly whether there was adequate lighting. Even though there's one person designated as the observer, the other trainers still should keep their eye open. If somebody, for example, is doing the demonstration he or she should keep an eye and ear out for problems. Are people raising their hand? Are they performing the return demonstration? Are they paying attention? So, even the people who are speaking and doing the training need to be good observers. Some examples of things on an observer's checklist that we should keep track of Include keeping to the time limits. If a speaker is given a 20 minute time slot, we need to make sure one that we've reviewed with that person in advance the limitations has gone over the material. Make sure that they don't have too much. if they do, work with the person to figure out the key points. And then as the time goes, we need somebody to be a timekeeper to make sure that the session does not go over. And therefore crowd out subsequent activities. Again, the things to observe for include whether the resources, everything from chalk or markers or Flip Chart paper or handouts are adequate. Looking for attention level. Are the trainees alert or are the chatting among themselves? Maybe they're doing other work. Maybe they're snacking. Attendance level. Are people missing sessions? Are they coming late? Do they leave early? This not only makes it difficult for the individuals who are late or leaving to, to learn but it also is disruptive to the learning process for the rest of the trainees. Here, again, just to recall the earlier issues that we talked about in terms of setting the atmosphere of the, and the climate, learning climate in the group is that we need to stress the importance of the group. Establishing its norms for trainee and trainer behavior right from the beginning. And for everyone to take part in enforcing and encouraging people to keep to those norms, such as being on time. Additional items on the observer's checklist include the amount of participation. Is it just one or two people that are asking questions or answering questions? Or is everybody getting into the act? You may find that if you have a speaker and the person talks too long, there may not be enough time for many people to ask questions. Maybe we need more group activities where people can interact and discuss things. So this is something we need to look for if the participation is not adequate. Is it that the talk is not stimulating? Is it that we are not giving enough time for participation? What is going on and how can we correct that? As mentioned before, we need to look at comfort level. Are people comfortable with the activities and topics? what is the level of personal risk? If we ask people to tell personal stories about their sexual life when we're talking about HIV AIDS, it'll probably embarrass many of them. Do we need to go to that level of risk? How well do the people know each other? Are they going to say things that may embarrass themselves when they get back to work? if they're going to be working the same environment, etc. Are we asking them to do activities that they don't feel comfortable in practicing? So, we need to determine that and be able to adapt our activities and topics to make sure that people are comfortable. At the same time, we still have to challenge people because part of training is, is either improving on existing or introducing new performance behaviors on the job. obviously, people wouldn't need training if they were performing perfectly or were already aware of the new skills that are being introduced. So we do have to have some challenges but we want to make sure that we don't challenge people so much that they turn off or don't pay attention. One of the things that needs to be observed is the behavior of the trainers themselves. What is their delivery style, their clarity, inclusiveness? Are they being bossy and telling people what to do? Are they encouraging participation? Are they giving examples when they talk? Are they letting people ask questions along the way for clarity? So we need to be checking on that. We need to look at the trainees themselves. When their group activities during breaks. What are their relationships? Are they coming together as a group developing an identity cooperating and problem solving? Or are they arguing with each other and certain people are being avoided? We need to find out why because, again, these kinds of things disrupt the learning process and sour the learning climate. Obviously, one of the things we need to monitor is the physical space, where the training is taking place. Can people move around easily, or are the tables crammed up against the wall? Are there too many chairs, people can't get in and out? Can't go from group work to plenary sessions? Is the temperature comfortable? Is there enough light for groups to see what they're doing in terms of small group exercises, but can the light be reduced when it's time to show slides or power point? Clearly we must use this information as we've mentioned because there's no point watching what's going on if corrections aren't made to improve the learning process. Some of them, of course, some of the things we observe require quick intervention, cutting off a lengthy talk or discussion. If there are disputes that arise during the plenary session and people start arguing amongst themselves instead of discussing the topic that was presented. We need to find out why, what the problem is. If we can't resolve it right then, at least indicate that we need to move on, but that we will discuss this during the break and find out what the problems are. And simple things like adjusting the room temperature. Assuming you're not in this shed in the market giving your village health worker training where it's going to be difficult to adjust temperature. But if you're in a training room, you have an air conditioner, you have a heating system, you need to make sure that people it's not too hot, that people are falling asleep or too cold that they're not paying attention. Additional ways of using the information include sharing what's been seen at a daily trainer meeting. The trainers need to be honest with themselves. What could we have done better? How are we going to change things for tomorrow? The change could be simply a matter of delivery style or using more a participatory method. It could be change in terms of the content. maybe we introduce something that was confusing and we have to backtrack and provide some more background knowledge before people can proceed. So these are ways of looking at the overall running of the training. In our next section, we will be monitoring specifically the content and whether people are learning what is planned for in the training.
