Facilitating learning and development during IM4DC short courses

During Nov - Dec 2012, the Accelerated Learning Laboratory @UWA worked closely with IM4DC to design and deliver a 4-week intensive training course in Organisational Health and Safety for a group of 18 participants. The participants came from 10 developing countries that are of strategic priority to IM4DC. Results from these multiple forms of data collections suggested that participants were highly engaged in the program right from the outset. Participants' voice, or their active speaking-up during classes, started and continued at a high level throughout the course. Meantime, levels of silence (defined as withholding ideas, views or questions) decreased as the course progressed. Participants' perceptions of training effectiveness was rated as high for the majority of sessions, with the lowest rated sessions being those that appeared to have less opportunity for interaction. An important predictor of perceived training effectiveness was participants' emotional responses to the sessions. Some types of personality, as well as English competence, predicted voice, lack of silence, and training effectiveness.