How to plan a whole GIS Training#
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If you are running a QGIS training course for the first time, there are several practical considerations that you need to keep in mind. In this article, we would like to share our practical experience from many trainings to provide a guide for training sessions. It complements the training material that you can find on the QGIS training platform, with practical advice on how to plan a training session.
Before you start planning the training schedule, there are three things to consider:
First, it is important to consider the audience you’re targeting: Consider the professional backgrounds of the participants in your training, what practical experience they have, and what they intend to do with the knowledge they have acquired. Try to design the training content - especially the exercises - according to the participants’ background.
Secondly, it is essential to communicate as clearly as possible to avoid any misunderstandings. The more heterogeneous the audience, the more important it is to communicate unambiguously. If you are not sure whether to add information, it is always better to state the obvious than to omit important information.
And third, you should prepare the training in a detailed way, especially if it is your first training. With detailed planning, it is easier to keep track of things, to discuss possible alternatives and to evaluate your training after you have completed it.
To facilitate the planning, you can use the following list as a guide:
1. Preparation#
Before you plan your training, you need to make some basic decisions about the setting:
Check your audience: What is the skill level and the background of your participants? Are they flexible about training times? How long can they stay away from their job? You should plan your training according to the (practical) needs of your participants to avoid that interested people cannot participate.
Think about the size of the group: experience shows that 10 to 15 participants are ideal. If more people are interested in the training, consider organizing more than one training. If possible, have two trainers, so that one can present the content and the other can support the participants.
Set the setting: Are you planning an online or face-to-face course? Do you plan your training in half-day or full-day sessions? Will the training take place on consecutive days or spread over several weeks with days off in between? Of course, these questions should be answered depending on the background and needs of the participants.
2. Planning#
You can use the platform’s modular structure (link) and the skill levels as a guide when planning your training schedule. On a practical level, you should consider the following:
Define the learning objectives in detail and communicate them at the beginning of the training. It is easier to organize the material if you know what you want to achieve. The participants need to know what they are supposed to learn and where they are during the training.
When planning the structure of your training, you can use the sample structure (link) as a guide, but you can also adapt it to the specific needs of your participants. If possible, use material and exercises that are related to the participant’s background.
Allow time for questions and answers, as well as for spontaneous topics. Participants usually benefit most from trainer support for acute problems.
Consider the practical setting: If you are organizing face-to-face training, do you have a suitable room? Are there toilets? Will you provide food and drink?
Finally, how do you promote your training? Can you promote it within your institution? How will you organize the enrolment process? What information do you need from your participants (background, interests, previous skills)? How do you select participants?
3. Follow-up#
During and after the training, you can support the process by encouraging and facilitating further exchanges between participants and by evaluating the training.
Encourage participants to communicate and stay in touch, to exchange ideas and experiences after the training. In this way, participants can support and motivate each other by sharing their experiences and successes.
You should plan to evaluate your training in one way or another. This can help you to improve your training and at the same time, it is important to take the participants seriously by considering their perspective.
To assess the success of the training and the learning progress of the trainees it makes sense to conduct an assessment before and after a training. One option to do that is to use the surveys on this platform.
Available Material#
Basic course#
The following table shows the content of the modules, their skill-level, as well the available exercises for these competences and the corresponding wiki articles on the platform. You can design your course by choosing the competences you want to teach. Once you have chosen the competences, take a look at the module chapters, the wiki, and the exercises. Go through each exercise by yourself, so you know the steps of the exercise and get a feeling how long the exercise takes.
Tip
Keep in mind that you don’t need to follow the module structure. It is there to help you create an outline for your training. You can choose the exercises however you wish. Take a look at the relevant competences and skill levels for each exercise.
Module |
Competences |
Exercises |
Wiki articles |
|---|---|---|---|
Module 1: Introduction to QGIS |
Introduction to GIS |
||
Module 2: Working with Geodata |
Introduction to geodata (vector and raster data) |
||
Module 3: Basic GIS operations |
Digitization |
Exercise 1: Access to financial institutions |
Digitization |
Module 4: Representation |
Graphic semiology |
||
Module 5: Intermediate GIS operations |
Spatial and non-spatial geoprocessing |
Spatial Geoprocessing: |
Spatial and non-spatial queries |