I Feared my First Online Training… But This is How Things Changed
By: Samya Ayish
Tags: Online Training, Journalism, Training, Covid 19

It was the night of March 30, 2020. By then, I have delivered tens of training sessions to about 1600 journalists, in their newsrooms, over the course of nearly a year. But that night, I was stressed, scared, anxious, afraid to make a mistake or a flaw in my first online training.

I remember that training very well. It was with ARIJ, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism Network. The topic was Fact Checking and Verification. It was delivered through Zoom, which I had no idea at that time how to use. I remember wearing a black jacket, because I always thought I looked better in black. I remember my number one struggle was finding the perfect background for that training; should it be in front of a big book shelf, so that I could look as intellectual as possible? But of course, my small bookshelf did not fit the screen, so it was not a great idea. Should be it be a wall? the salon? a hallway? I failed to find any spot that looked perfect to me. I ended up setting my computer in front of my old Palestinian dishes cupboard (they still did not show), but at the time it was the best I could put on display.

My first online training with ARIJ

The minute you start training, you forget about everything. The fear and anxiety wears away. It’s all about the focus on the tools and the questions from the audience. However, your eyes will always check the time at the right top corner of the screen, praying that those minutes will run by quickly, and that nightmare will be over!

Time passes, and we fast forward to another session at ARIJ conference, which is also held online. I delivered 2 sessions; one was about Collaborative Journalism, and the other one was about YouTube for Newsrooms. This time it was different. The experience was more joyful and fun. It was about the on-screen energy more than the background and whats behind me. It was about engaging users through the chat, more than just talking to them about a tool or a case study. Above all, it was about adapting your joyful and interesting approach of training in real life to the online environment.

Looks like I was super excited! Again, in ARIJ

While I still miss the times I used to meet journalists and train them face to face, I learned that online training is not bad after all. You have to be close to your online trainees through chat, quizzes, Q&As, opinion stating.. etc.. Many of them might find it hard to show their faces, and turn on their cameras, but that should not be the issue. While it is still important to see their face expressions when they learn something new, you have to work on the other senses as well.

Here are some tips on how to make your online training enjoyable and useful at the same time:

Start 5 minutes after the assigned time: not all people are tech savvy, so many trainees would face some challenges logging into your Zoom or Google Meet link. Give them that space and don’t stress them out. First slide = A suggested reading or a challenge or a question to think of + some music: I find music to be both entertaining and a stress reliever for so many trainees. Many people appreciate the idea, and start writing in the chat box how much they love the music. I also take advantage and try to introduce some Arab independent musicians. Makes me feel good! Jamboard from Google.. What a Tool! In my face to face training sessions, I usually go around the room asking journalists to introduce themselves, their role in the newsroom, and their favorite fruit. This is such a great ice breaker, besides, it makes me learn more about the different names and types of fruits in the Arab world. Now, with online training, I cannot ask each and everyone to open their mics and state that information.. it would take ages. Instead, I paste a link of Jamboard, and ask them to grab a sticky note and write all that information. It also keeps a memory for me in my own drive. Hacks and “special tools”: My training involves alot of tools, and that could get very technical and boring. So I try to cool that boredom off with some hacks and special tools that has nothing to do with the topic. My favorite is the voice typing tool in Google Docs, which journalists can use to transcribe their interviews. The second one is a hack on YouTube that I recently learned, which is creating a gif from any video you want through adding gif before the word youtube in the URL. That Major Question: pick a question that has to do with your tools, and the main challenges facing journalists with it. Ask that question, and let trainees answer in the chat. You will get great feedback. In which city are you watching this training? This is one of my favorite questions, especially when I am doing a webinar for a big group. It also comes handy because my audience usually come from many countries in the Middle East and North Africa. To Kahoot or not to Kahoot? Of course you should Kahoot! My favorite edutainment app. I usually create quizzes around the topic of training, and at the end, we play together by checking who will get all the answers right in the shortest amount of time. It is very exciting to see the three winners at the podium towards the end. Be funny! How can I explain that 🤷🏻‍♀️ Just be funny! I am not sure about you, but I could get distracted very easily. Make sure no one enters the room you are training in, no sounds disturb you, all your apps on your computer should be closed (except for the ones you are using obviously). Its also worth reminding your kids a few minutes before you start to keep it down when they play Among Us of Fortnite with their friends. Finally, don’t be like Samya and have fear or anxiety… remember, there is no one who can judge you. You are doing your job brilliantly, and it’s been a learning curve for everyone this year.

This year has been hard on everyone. No one saw that one day we will all be sitting in front of our computers, teaching, training, learning, reading, studying.. etc. However, I learned so much this year, so much about training and reaching to those I was not able to reach before. Its a year of challenges, but its also a year of resilience and self empowerment.