Designing a Learning Experience

This Education and Training Guide has been developed with maximum flexibility in mind - recognizing that not all audiences or intended outcomes are the same. While the objective is to equip participants to promote and advance equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities through effective legislation, the means by which this will be accomplished will vary. The Guide is based on the following three principles:

• To affect positive equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities individuals who are in key positions of influence must be equipped with certain knowledge, skills, and strategies to accomplish that goal.
• To provide information to these individuals based on their specific and unique needs. The information a parent advocate, as opposed to a policy maker, may need to affect a similar change, might differ depending on their respective perspectives. A parent advocate may need an explanation about how policies are actually developed, whereas a policy maker may have in-depth knowledge in this area already, but may not have a basic understanding of the experience of disability.
• To maximize the impact for the course participant, supplemental country-specific and locally-relevant examples and information will be needed.

Each module presents an array of methods in support of these principles. A basic core training outline is provided for each module. The entire core training outline requires approximately 30 to 40 hours to complete and may be conducted in a continuing education format covering either four to five straight days of training, or a series of multi-hour events over a period of time – depending on the audience and intended outcome. Each core training outline provides purpose; learning objectives; duration; key concepts; a glossary of frequently used terms and concepts; and is followed by trainers’ notes and accompanying visual aids (Attachment A). To enhance the learning experience, optional exercises are also provided throughout the training outline to expand instruction to illustrate and allow practice of important concepts. This expanded learning option provides additional exercises, practice experiences, and lecture material. Finally, each module provides sample feedback/evaluation tools; online resources; as well as references and suggested readings. The icon key below provides the lay-out of each module and demonstrates picture icons that are used for easy referencing while training.