First, let's deal with the origin of the word. Translated from the Latin seminarium says a lot - it's a hotbed.
The workshop is a great example of a traditional teaching method that integrates seamlessly with modern learning formats. Seminars are perfectly modified for the specific needs of the students and the teacher. They may differ from each other to a large extent in duration, crowds, teaching methods, etc. But they have common features and fundamental features.
Features of classes in the seminar format
- Mandatory preliminary preparation on the part of not only the teacher, but also the students. The topic and range of issues for discussion are announced in advance. Messages and reports are being prepared, after listening to which a discussion is held.
- An interactive learning format that includes the active participation of students in a variety of forms.
- The most important feature of the classic seminar is “theory without practice”. It, for example,differs from training, in which there is a mandatory development of skills. Only theoretical "showdowns" take place in the seminar.
- The leader of the workshop is always the leader.
- Contrary to popular belief, the length of a workshop can vary from one hour to several days.
- The number of participants in seminars can also be very different, there are no limits.
Similarities and differences
The similarity of a seminar with a lecture lies in the serious informational component from the presenter. But the purpose of the seminar is not only to obtain new information. The main thing is to put it in order in the minds of the listeners. This process is often referred to as “sorting it out”, which is achieved using interactive class technologies.
The similarity of the seminar with the training is due to the interactive teaching methodology. As for the differences, there is no practical skills development in the seminars. Of course, such development is not always needed, but, for example, sales techniques or setting tasks for a subordinate require skills. In this case, training is more suitable. But seminars on history in their format will be just right.
Goals and objectives of the workshop
In short, the main goal (as well as the main feature) of the seminar is to teach listeners to operate with the information received. Analyze, clarify, disagree, correct, systematize, supplement, draw conclusions, ask questions and analyze again…
Seminar Objectivesclasses can be formulated as follows: if the audience is eventually ready for an intellectual conversation with experts in this topic, then your seminar has been a success, and all its tasks have been completed. Because this kind of conversation involves discussions, debates, arguments for and against, the search for new solutions, etc. And only people who are well versed in the issue under discussion are capable of this.
Seminar ambitions
You might object to a goal that is too ambitious: "It can't be done in one workshop." The answer will be unequivocal. This is not only possible, but absolutely necessary. Otherwise, don't call your session a seminar. Let it be a lecture, a colloquium, a forum, a master class, whatever. But not a seminar. Because the seminar is the most serious and extremely effective format of training. You cannot do without deep preparation and adherence to the main principles.
You need a well motivated and engaged audience of listeners at the entrance. As a result, this audience should turn into a group of experts with their well-reasoned points of view on the issues that were raised during the lesson.
Is it possible? Certainly. It's all up to you.
Principles for conducting seminars
Achievement of ambitious goals will be possible only if a few mandatory seminary principles are observed:
- Accessibility of presentation, which includes an adequate language without bureaucracy and outdated vocabulary. The teacher must have public speaking skillsskill, otherwise nothing will work.
- Thoughtful learning architecture is a new term for student comfort in everything from clear handouts to adequate room temperature.
- Punctuality and temporal accuracy of the lesson, observing the breaks and the duration of all components of the seminar. Violations of the rules, for example, monologues in the direction of increase are out of the question.
- Consistency and well-thought-out logic of presentation of information and discussions.
- Relevance of the topic and connection to today, even if you are leading a seminar on law in ancient Greece.
- Using all possible technical possibilities for the visualization of classes. Visual perception of information is several times more effective than auditory.
The six points above are reminiscent of effective presentation principles. So it is, if you want your practical seminars to be truly effective, you cannot do without modern presentation technologies and rhetoric skills.
The main thing is the beginning
Since the duration of the seminar can be very different, the structure of the lesson can be formed according to its specifics. Seminar plans for history, for example, may include historical video breaks, there is a huge space for creativity. If the lesson lasts more than one day, the training can be divided into modules, each of which will resemble a separate seminar in its structure.
Main– follow the general structural rules and steps that remain mandatory regardless of the duration and topic of the seminar.
Preparation for the seminar is the most important part on which the overall success depends. First of all, this is a qualitative informing of the audience about the topic and issues that will be presented in the lesson. This can be one-on-one work with participants to prepare their reports, messages, essays, etc. An excellent way is to conduct training online using any possible technology. The main thing is to make sure that the participants come to the lesson as prepared and interested as possible. Form a group of seminar listeners in some messenger, because it's not difficult. And the attitude towards you and your seminar will be completely different, you will see.
The main part and follow-up training
Main offline
Any activity (or its modules) should consist of classic episodes:
- administrative part (duration, breaks, discussion format, etc.);
- declaration of the topic, goal, plan and logic of the lesson (infographics work great here);
- main part (reports, discussion, assignments, games, etc.);
- conclusion with conclusions, surveys, analysis and thematic plans for the future;
Results and follow-up training online
This stage is best done a day or two after the main session. Here again, the online mode would be the best format. Email from a teacherto all listeners with conclusions and debriefing can be an excellent seminar finish. This can be arranged in the messenger. "Learning after" - that's how you can call a short repetition of the main ideas of the seminar in WhatsApp, for example. Compact and cement…
Evaluating the effectiveness of the seminar
Evaluating the effectiveness of a lesson is one of the most difficult issues in adult education, including student audiences. With regard to students, one can, of course, refer to future sessions with tests and examinations. But we are talking about the evaluation of a particular seminar session. And it should be connected only with the quality of the knowledge gained.
It is necessary to clearly understand the difference between the control of students' knowledge and the assessment of the effectiveness of the lesson, because these assessments have completely different tasks.
Knowledge control of a particular person is needed to assess his intellectual abilities, perseverance, memory, ability to concentrate, etc. In other words, these are personal learning characteristics that are formed using long-established knowledge assessment methods. All this is carried out with the name of the person, that is, it is personalized.
If we are talking about evaluating the effectiveness of a lesson, it is better to forget about the names of listeners in the questionnaires. The anonymity of surveys and tests will add a significant amount of objectivity to the final results.
How not to evaluate and how to evaluate
Sadly, most of the evaluations of the effectiveness of seminars (and trainings) are carried out in the most unfortunate way with a minimum of objectiveinformation. At the end of the session, participants receive questionnaires in which they are asked to indicate their name and answer questions from the category “did you like it” or “would you recommend the seminar to your friend”. The icing on the cake is the question “did the workshop meet your expectations?” Such surveys are the easiest to conduct. And the results are great: it was fun, had a great rest, we will advise everyone, cheers.
You need to work with group statistics of responses before and after the seminar. Questionnaires with questions on the topic of the lesson should be: a) anonymous, b) the same before and after. Only in this case it is possible to obtain reliable and objective information to analyze the dynamics of the group's knowledge as a result of the lesson.
A good help in a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the seminar can be observations of the activity of the participants, the results of their games, questions after class, etc. The main thing is to evaluate systematically and objectively. And of course, without asking “did you like the seminar?”
Summary of workshops
Many believe that a seminar is a routine and non-binding format of learning. There was an offensive devaluation of the concept: who just does not spend mediocre and inefficient hours of training, calling them seminars. Can this situation be corrected?
It would be very helpful to keep in mind the main purpose of this seminar. This is turning listeners into experts. Everything is very easy to understand. And very difficult to do. But ambitious goals neverare simple. But they are always extremely interesting. Good luck.
