What do Learning Designers (soft skills trainers) really do?
You: Who are Learning Designers?
Glorija: They are (soft skills) trainers who create learning experiences from scratch based on the personal needs of the participants.
You: What do Learning Designers do exactly?
Glorija: They love teaching others new skills. And they give 200% of them when they do it. They start by choosing the theme their participants would be interested in, they talk with their (future) participants about what they want to learn in that training session. When Learning Designers create training sessions they are totally oriented by the personal needs of their participants. They will adapt their exercises to the personal needs of the participants. And they do it so good that they can create the training session where someone who is a beginner in that field and an expert can be at the same level – and not be bored! Can you believe that?
You: No, I have never experienced that, to be honest.
Glorija: Well, you need to experience this kind of learning to know what I am talking about.
You: What is the greatest benefit from this kind of learning?
Glorija: For me, it is the fact that there are no mistakes – and really, no mistakes at all. There are no grades. There are only lessons and ways of how to do (or how not to do) something. The trainer creates a safe space for learning so that their participants can explore, try different things and learn about themselves – and that is how you grow. You could say that it is totally the opposite of formal education.
You: Where did you learn how to do this?
Glorija: Irena Šoljić and I are the first graduates (2011) from Youth Trainers Academy (organised by Zero Generation) in Croatia. I have fallen in love with this kind of learning back in 2009 while I was a student in Zagreb and a member of Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) in their local group BEST Zagreb for 4 years.
You: What is BEST?
Glorija: BEST stands for Board of European Students of Technology, a non-profit and non-political student organisation that exists since 1989 and is located in 93 local BEST groups (Universities) in 34 countries across Europe.
You: What would you say that is the main difference between you (Be skilled) and other educational businesses in Croatia?
Glorija: The biggest difference is, in my opinion, the way we (Learning Designers) create each and every training session (or training event). As mentioned above, we do it on the personal needs analysis of our participants because the goal of each and every one of our training session is to provide the participant with such exercises (and skills) which they can use as soon as they leave our training session and not to give them “knowledge” which they might use someday. We create our training sessions in such a way that those who are experienced and those who are not can both enjoy, have fun, grow and learn in the same training session – and not to be bored!
You: Wait, how do you know who to choose from your Learning Designers for a certain training session?
Glorija: Our Learning Designer’s portfolio is huge and contains trainers from various backgrounds. We hire those Learning Designers who have become a Learning Designer (soft skills trainer) from Youth Trainers Academy or other Train the Trainer event organised by student NGOs in Europe (such as AEGEE, EESTEC, BEST, IAAS, EPSA, EFPSA, etc.) because they go that extra mile when investing in their education (and their participants). So for us, we will not hire someone just because they are good in their professional field if they have not finished some of those Train the Trainer events mentioned above. Our community is so big that we exist in many cities throughout Europe. That is why we can come to you even if you live in, let’s say, Paris or Ljubljana or Barcelona. We have Learning Designers in those (and many more) cities.
You: Wow, that is really different and thoughtful.
Glorija: Thank you. We hope to change the way people are used to learning new things. We hope we can change the world to a better place. That is why our slogan is “Knowledge is important, but skills are essential.“. Subscribe to our (free) newsletter and stay in touch with the news from Be skilled world.