First reflections on the impact of calendar training

Today I gave some training on using Google Calendars.

The training had two useful outcomes:

1. It showed how useful online Calendars are and everybody grasped the basics of how to add events.
2. It got everyone together in the same room to sort out some important rotas for the year.

I began planning the training back on August 25th when I wrote this blog post about my ideas for this training. Soon after I hit a snag with my decision making, when I'd been trying to kill too many ICT birds with one stone - I had ended up taking one step forward for every two steps back. I then decided to use videos as my main vehicle for the instruction. I even included a second video to really go over how to create repeated events, in case staff didn't quite get it. I used Google Sites as the repository for the training:

• A resource page
• A task page
• A feedback page
• An impact page

What was really interesting was the the whole 'I'm not going to talk approach'. I'm so used to presenting with

• a little preamble,
• a spot of humour,
• some theory,
• practical application,
that it was really weird just letting my video do the talking - we didn't even watch the video as a group (which would have been a bit embarrassing).

Rather each teacher had headphones and watched it individually - there was an eerie silence around the place. Then, as people started to get it there was a slow murmur as people sitting near to each other explained or clarified their thinking about the task in hand or the instructions. Then the volume grew as the first events started appearing on the calendar and some people started to realise that they may miss all the best slots. This point was perhaps the most tense - a slight tone of anxiety creeping into the odd voice here and there. But finally everyone realised that we're all colleagues still and began talking constructively about what slots to fill in. Within half an hour the training was finished, the calendars were done and staff were on there way to do stuff elsewhere.

What's good for the staff now is that they all have a common framework and understanding of how Google Calendars work, with an expectation of being able to use them productively in the future. What's good for me is that I've got the bulk of the rotas sorted without having to traipse around the school.