How effective is your training?
Psychiatry
Psychiatry residents were receiving minimal training in psychological trauma. We worked with psychiatrists to develop curriculum and training materials for a series of sessions covering types of trauma, the impacts of trauma and the methods for supporting patients in trauma recovery. With our help, the psychiatrists made their implicit knowledge from decades of practice and research explicit. We supported them in developing their learning materials. The result was an engaging and effective series of sessions that helped trainees achieve basic trauma training.
Nursing
We redeveloped existing training and shifted it from passive lecture based learning to engaging activity-based learning that provided context for the traumatic impacts of violence, recognizing the phases of the stress response and effective interpersonal communication skills." with "We redeveloped existing training and shifted it from passive lecture based learning to engaging activity-based learning. The new training provided context for workplace psychological injuries and productivity impairment. It helped participants recognizing the phases of the stress response and practice effective interpersonal communication skills.
Front Line Staff
The courses supported staff in understanding their own relationship to psychological trauma, the human stress response and the far reaching and compounding impacts of trauma." with "The courses supported staff in understanding their own relationship to workplace psychological trauma, the human stress response and the related psychological injuries.
Surgery
Upon observation of the learning environment, we noticed:
- learning expectations were uncommunicated
- curriculum was undefined
- there was no common process for evaluating competencies
- trainees were disinterested in the training sessions
- the learning environment was chaotic (no show, late and early arrivals, socializing, ignoring instructors)
The outdated teaching model was over 100 years old; it assumed adult learners should just know things without being taught. We defined the curriculum, learning expectations, developed a blended approach and used learning science to teaching knowledge, skills and attitudes. The result was the instructors and learners had shared expectations for teaching and learning. The environment became engaing, effective, orderly and punctual attendance increased.
Cultural Diversity & Human Rights
There was a request to develop elearning resources about cultural diversity and human rights. We worked with culturally diverse stakeholders. The Indigenous stakeholders required we follow cultural protocols for the project. We undertook learning and implementing the appropriate protocols. Through this project we became aware of Canada’s unspoken genocide of Indigenous people through residential schools and other systemic tactics. Other stakeholders were survivors of recent genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda. This required immense sensitivity and capacity to navigate trauma behaviours arising from stakeholder participation in the curriculum development process. The result was a series of online social studies resources for K-12 teachers.
Implementing E-learning for 90,000+ members
The organization had members across a broad geographical area that made it difficult for members in rural areas to attend events in distant urban centres. The organization wanted an elearning program to decrease time and distance participation barriers for its members. We undertook the development of the strategic plan for e-learning. We executed a stakeholder engagement for 800 members to understand needs related to technology access, skill level, and overall learning needs. We supported technology procurement and implementation, change management, staff and member training, course development and delivery. The result was an elearning program that served members across a large geographical area free of time and distance barriers.