Learn to be a trainer: it’s everyone’s business!

When archival issues are unknown, misunderstood, or not taken into sufficient account in administrations, archivists and records managers must become trainers to get their point across. To help them, ICA is developing tools.

“Train the trainers in Records Management” is a project launched by EURBICA and developed by ICA. It uses the “Train the trainers” resources pack and the Moodle platform, a free web application to create effective online learning sites.

It aims to provide a handbook for creating training curriculum that would help trainers identify needs, develop a program, deliver lessons, assess results and adapt subsequent programs.

The point of the program is to be practical and efficient: to start from the learner’s perspective, using a problem solving approach based on case studies. The platform brings together existing resources: standards, the IRMT method for “How to write a case study,” existing case studies, etc.

So where does the project stand? The project is advancing well and the resource pack has been used in interesting ways, for example in Netherlands National Archives. The handbook has yet to be finalized, and when it is, it will be made accessible on-line at the ICA web site. The next step will be to use the methodology to develop resources for other archival themes where training is needed.