See what it takes to be a media trainer

Keith Jackson

For the last couple of months, a small group of people has been working with the University of Queensland to develop a self-instruction program to build the skills of media trainers in developing countries. The program addresses that well-known problem where professionals, although highly competent, encounter great difficulties passing on their skills to others.

Associate Professor Martin Hadlow, Director of the University’s Centre for Communication for Development, was commissioned by UNESCO to develop a self-instructional CD ROM to meet this challenge. He put together a team, including me, to produce My Media Trainer. If you want to see what it takes to be a media trainer, you can access the program here.

The basic edition includes content on identifying learning needs, setting the climate for learning, developing media training courses, and module design and evaluation. The kit also includes competency indicators for the five core media areas of radio, television, Internet, print and public relations.

My Media Trainer guides users in how to teach media skills to others, whether through formal classroom activities, on-the-job or in specialist workshops. Being a self-instructional tool, users can learn at their own pace and in their own location. By the end of the program, users are be able to identify the needs of adult learners, plan courses and implement successful, outcomes-based media training experiences.

Prof Hadlow recently presented the program at the UNESCO General Conference in Paris. “I’ve already had people asking for copies,” he says. “We feel we have produced a competent, professional and useful teaching resource.”

Comments

[Aloysius Laukai, Buka Island]

I visited your website and am very interested in using the CD ROM as a training manual. I am still working on the project and talked with the Radio Australia Tok Pisin people, to whom I send reports for their daily programs. They are willing to get us a satellite dish to download some of their programs. They are also happy to assist us.