Running a Course Without the Headache
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Dont forget to refer to the resources in the right hand column which may help you.
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You are given permission to cut and paste anything out of Paddy McEvoy's book.
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Remember to see permision for any material that does not belong to you or Paddy. A permission request form can be found in the left hand column.
Pages: 10 sides of A4 (or less)
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Overall aim of this chapter: to make the reader be aware of the organisational, process and content aspects of running a course right from the beginning (eg determining purpose, venue etc) to the end (course content, facilitators, evaluation). And also a discussion about the importance of having an administrator and what sorts of things you might delegate to make the process enjoyable rather than a headache. Give practical tips eg like using presentation plans
- Who is your intended audience
- Developing the agenda - defining your aims and objectives, what will the audience want to know (and how to figure this out)
- Defining the methods - ensure several methods for differing learning styles within the group; match method to content eg skills based practical session much better than a lecture on consulting skills
- Recruiting and PROPERLY BRIEFING speakers/facilitators (latter is often overlooked)
- Expert lecturer vs Expert facilitator - what is an expert anyway
- How to select a venue
- How to select dates - careful that there are no major clashes with other major events (educational - eg exams, other courses; personal - term time, public holidays, residential weekend vs weekdays - pros and cons
- Harden's 10 questions when planning a course
- Costings - venue, accomodation, meals, facilitator fees, your fee, how to determine the course fee (and something about paying adequately including preparation time, for facilitators)
- Developing handouts/course material/course handbook
- Developing an application form
- Determining a catchy title to recruit your audience
- Marketing the course - raising its awareness
- Evaluation - how to ask for evaluation (eg rather than handing out an evaluation form, asking the audience to be very specific and descriptive in the feedback with suggestons - give examples so they are completely clear). Provide some sample evaluation forms (?for appendix)
- Making it better the next time around: learning from the evaluation
- Getting your administrator to do most of the organisation aspects