1. Tips for Training
(module 6.2)

2. Objectives
Know what user training resources are available to you for HINARI
Consider your institution’s training resources and how HINARI’s materials might be modified
Review tips for successful training

3. Group exercises (end of presentation)
When should you hold the training sessions?
Who should attend the training?
Where is it best to have the training?
What resources will you require to hold a successful training session?

4. HINARI Training Materials
Material from the course workbook or CD
Numerous modules and tools at at
Material is updated regularly
Includes a HINARI Training Material Overview Presentation

5. Recently developed ‘teaching tools’
Module 7: Additional Resources – Evidence-based Resources, E-book Resources, WHO Resources, Information Literacy, etc.
HINARI ‘Short Course’ (3-4 hour course)
also available as a distance learning course
HINARI – The Basics (2 page document)
HINARI DOs and DON’T’s
Access Problems and Solutions Overview
Authorship Skills training material
How to Write a Scientific Paper
Authorship Skills Web-bibliography
Copyright and Plagiarism
Tips for Effective Writing

6. Your Resources When planning for training consider the following:
What facilities do you have for training?
What equipment? Projector? How many computers? With Internet connection?
Enough for hands-on work? If not, how can you make training interactive?
What level of Internet and computer skills do your users have?

7. Tips for Successful Training
Prepare beforehand
Check the venue
Facilitate learning
Introduce training and participants
Handle questions and discussion
Troubleshoot
Keep participants focused
Ask open questions
Summarize and evaluate
Make improvements for future training

8. Preparation Do background reading and get hands-on experience
Read presentation notes and annotate for yourself
Don’t have to be expert; OK to say “I don’t know” and research/ask HINARI
Remember your own workshop experiences - What did and didn’t work?

9. Preparation continued
Do the computer exercises and identify any problems
Get list of attendees and information on their skill levels if possible
Get contact details for venue and organizers if off-site
Print out handouts and workbooks or put material on a CD
Send material electronically in advance – such as the HINARI Sort Course

10. Check the Venue Arrive early
Know support staff and their contact information and learn the layout if new venue
Set up and check computers and other equipment
Practice exercises again
Get computer log ins and bookmark web resources; possibly put exercises on Desktop
Organize materials

11. Facilitator’s Role
To ‘create conditions in which learning can naturally take place’
Encourage ‘active learning’ - student discussion and cooperative, hands-on activities
Minimize passive listening and note taking
Be responsive to needs and interests of group

12. Facilitator’s Role continued
Don’t talk to/read from screen
Make eye contact and try for conversational style
Encourage, listen and positively respond to participants’ comments, questions and feedback
Listen to discussions but don’t interrupt; remember comments and questions for group discussion

13. Getting Started Introduce yourself
Tell participants what will be covered and what they will gain
Explain the timetable and the activities
Point out the location of facilities (food, bathrooms, etc.)
Find out what people already know and what they are interested in learning
Make them feel at ease

14. Questions and Discussions
Use people’s names when addressing them
Tell people when you want them to ask questions (during or at end of presentation)
Explain that questions increase learning for whole group
Be enthusiastic and encouraging to all responses

15. Keeping Focus Listen to groups
Clarify questions for individuals or group
If unrelated discussion or web browsing, ask how participant’s doing and what conclusions they’ve reached
If questions are off-topic, save for breaks or after workshop
Assistant facilitators can help

16. When Things Go Wrong Overtime – keep your eye on the clock
Broken projector – call technician and give the group an activity
Slow/no web connection – call technician, continue lectures or review activities in workbook as a group
Difficult participants – if the questions are distracting, deal with them during a break
Time: Keep your eye on the clock. If you’re running late tell the participants. Ask them if they would like to continue for a little longer on the current activity, or if they would like to move on. If the workshop is going too fast, pause and allow discussion on the subject in greater depth, or have some interesting fallback topics available.
Broken projector: Give the group a short discussion activity, or move on to a prepared task while you send for a technician. If it can’t be fixed, do the presentation asking participants to look at your prepared handouts.
Slow/no web connection: Call for a technician. Point out that the workbooks are self-explanatory and that the exercises can still be completed when students leave the workshop (if they have a Web connection). Ask participants how they might handle this problem if it happened with their own students. If you have participants who have experience of the Web sites you are covering, get them to describe the content and their experience. If not you will have to describe it yourself. Keep a sense of humour!
Difficult participants: Act calmly. If the person has concerns then raise them head-on “Would you like to share your thoughts with the group?” Sometimes people are difficult because they feel their views aren’t being acknowledged. If the person is asking too many questions, check to see if the rest of the group are interested in the subject. If the group seems annoyed, because time is being wasted, ask if the group would prefer moving on, with the questioner being answered during a break.

17. Changes for Next Time Reflect on problems and successes
Look for trends in feedback
Make notes on changes to be made to slides, exercises, handouts
Share notes with other facilitators and HINARI
Make changes immediately before you forget or run out of time
Ask about what you did not understand

18. Closure and Evaluation
Conclude activities with summary
Provide overall picture
Ask open-ended questions instead of “Do you understand?’
Ask participants to reflect on their learning
Be positive about achievements
Hand out feedback forms

19. Tips for Successful Training (review)
Prepare beforehand
Check the venue
Facilitate learning
Introduce training and participants
Handle questions and discussion
Troubleshoot
Keep participants focused
Summarize and evaluate
Make improvements for future training

20. Group Exercise When should you hold the training sessions?
Who should attend the training?
Where is it best to have the training?
What resources will you require to hold a successful training session?

21. This is the end of Module 6.2
This module initially was developed by Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA). (
The original source is the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) ‘Introduction to the Internet’ training material. (
These materials, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are copyright INASP but can be replicated for educational use.
Updated