UNESCO and UQ “training the trainers”

UNESCO has joined forces with UQ’s Centre for Communication for Social Change to produce a “training of trainers” CD-ROM aimed at media professionals in developing countries.

The three-month project, entitled “My Media Trainer”, received US$42,000 from UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters and was completed at the end of September.

Overseeing production was the Centre’s director, and former UNESCO employee, Associate Professor Martin Hadlow.

“UNESCO approached me with the idea at the end of last year,” Mr Hadlow said.

“What you tend to see, particularly in developing countries, is mid-career professionals being put into a training position, even though they may have no teaching experience.

“This product is intended to teach people how to teach.

“It will include information on different teaching aspects such as how to set up a training course and how to evaluate students.”

Mr Hadlow said it was common for people without teaching backgrounds to adopt a school-like approach to adult training.

“The CD-ROM provides a guide to adult learning which is interactive and user friendly,” he said.

The need for an appropriate media training package was something Mr Hadlow recognised during his career with UNESCO.

“If you have better training courses you have higher quality employees,” he said.

“Increasing the potential of the individual increases the professionalism of the entire organisation.”

Mr Hadlow left UNESCO in 2005 after a career which saw him serve in both senior roles at the organisation’s Paris Headquarters and various field postings.

He established UNESCO’s first field offices in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, in Afghanistan, and a temporary office in Iraq.

In 2006 he joined UQ’s School of Journalism and Communication as an Associate Professor and Director of its Centre for Communication for Social Change.

Mr Hadlow produced the interactive CD-ROM with the help of colleagues from the School of Journalism and Communication and three external writers.

UQ's Teaching and Educational Development Institute, TEDI, handled the technical aspects of designing and packaging the CD-ROM

UNESCO will now distribute copies of "My Media Trainer" to countries in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.

Mr Hadlow and his colleagues will receive feedback and may produce an updated version next year.

Media: Further information, Associate Professor Martin Hadlow (m.hadlow@uq.edu.au) or Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au).