COVID continues to throw up hurdles not only in our own personal lives outside of Allambi, but within the organisation too. For this reason, the Learning and Development team has taken on the US Marines motto:
“Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.”
In order to deliver the training support we promised our Diploma students, (as well as regular induction training) the team has learned to adapt in the present climate. Online virtual learning has been embraced by the team and the majority of Support Workers, as it was rolled out across August and September. Feedback the team received was positive, with many students understanding why training had to go online: “Considering it was on Zoom it was well run and all questions handled,” said one Diploma student.
Ben Jones agrees with the feedback about face-to-face being a better way to deliver Allambi training needs, “yet, we have to understand these are trying times. The feedback has been excellent, and it shows our students are still keen to learn and complete their Diplomas. The team have been really positive with the changeover, which was only decided at the last minute.”
Ben said there was a lot of work going on in the background, to ensure the team met the standards of classroom teaching. Plans were put into place, discussions held over how to deliver the subject matter successfully and which platform was best, Teams or Zoom.
“A few of the team had never used Zoom Breakout rooms before, so we were googling videos, literally hours before a class.
“Also, huge hats off to the Intensive Diploma trainers: Julee, Kristy, Melinda and Emma who have worked tirelessly around the clock to provide training on virtual platforms, to avoid cancellations,” Ben said.
The saviour of the online training world has, without doubt, been Zoom. In 18-months the platform has hosted 300 million daily meeting participants, with over 3.5 trillion annual meeting minutes in the bag.
Neil Richardson said he has had to overcome a lack of knowledge on Zoom, “I basically went down the Zoom rabbit hole on YouTube and came out hours later with what I thought was the knowledge to run an induction class with many students.
“First breakout rooms I opened for the trainees put everyone in various virtual rooms, some in pairs, some with multiple students and some on their own. And I somehow managed to kick myself out of the entire training! That was a bit awkward.”
The Learning and Development team appreciate how well their Support Worker students have adapted too, helping to make the whole process more streamlined and manageable.
“We’ve taken on the feedback we received from last month’s workshops. Don’t forget, we are learning too! We’ve added in more breaks, we’ve downsized the classes, we’ve tried to make interaction fun, rather than using Zoom as a one-way communication tool,” Ben said.
As we move towards the magic 80% figure of double jabbed Australians and as more doors open on the roadmap to some kind of normality, class training will recommence. Yet, if lockdowns occur along the way, you know the Learning and Development team have the online teaching covered.
“I’ve missed the chats, the laughs you can have in a face-to-face setting, breaking down the anxiety of a subject you may not be familiar with. I love getting to know my students, so I get the whole ‘Zoom is tough’ argument. I’d much rather be in class with the crew,” Neil said.