In early January, while everyone was starting class, I had the opportunity to travel to Whitehorse, Yukon to take part in the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students Trainer Certification Course running in parallel with CFES Congress. 2012 Congress was the first year CFES has offered this course which can be simply described as training for trainers. The course originated from the idea that students would be more receptive to training given by other students, who are of a similar age and have similar experiences. To prepare students to be able to deliver effective training, the course covered topics from training design models and learning methods to presentation and facilitation skills.
The training got off to a rocky start with most of the participants expecting leadership training and getting the bare bones of how to design a training sessions. This left many of us lacking the confidence to actually carry out a session on topics we had little to no knowledge on. After a mid-week feedback session, the course trainers spent their night revising some of the sessions to focus more on the building our facilitation skills. We learnt methods to provoke and manage discussions, as well as how to control our body language to engage our audience. Time was given to exercise each of these skills individually before our full length practice sessions. Then our big test was presenting to other delegates attending congress. As it was my first time training more than two people and anyone outside of the training course, it was nerve-racking. Our sessions ran with some success and plenty of constructive feedback to note for future sessions.
Overall, the CFES Trainer Certification Course may not have been what all the delegates expected but offered benefit in the end. After taking this course, I feel more comfortable presenting and have greatly improved my communication skills. The course has taught me to understand how to develop a training course that assists all types of learners and engages the audience. All that is needed now is a little more practice, and the VP External and I are currently investigating ways to use these teachings to better the Engineering Society.
Leave a Reply