With the feedback and support of the MTOT trainers (Jane Pritchard, Paul Schuster, Lynda and Wu Jie) the delivery has been preceded by in person support as well as distance support by e-mail and phone. The Practicum follows a step-by-step team-oriented process to make sure the final training objectives reflect and meet the real training needs. The whole process was carried out over a 2 month duration.

This training practicum is part of an over-arching objective of the LHESP. It has familiarized the pilot county MTOT team with knowledge in delivery methods through coaching and mentoring by the Training Team while carrying out a training delivery activity.

It is most important to build the project-supported training system into existing Chinese institutionalized daily work to make sure that sustainability is incorporated from the very beginning. Capacity Development work starts from Consensus Building, Implementation, Follow-up and Support building towards Institutionalization.

• Oct. 23, 2008: Design Workshop, Training Needs Assessment and Training Plan Development. Lynda and Wu Jie hold an informal meeting with MTOT extension members at Rongchang Animal Husbandry Bureau. The Training Plan was finalized on Oct 30 with distance communication.

• Nov. 1-21, 2008: Individually compiling slides according to the Plan: Paul and CTA Zeng Zheng hold an informal meeting with MTOT extension members at Rongchang Animal Husbandry Bureau on Dec 3rd.

• Design participatory teaching activities: Nov. 28 ~ Dec. 5, 2008.

• Mini-teaching: Dec. 23, 2008. Jane Pritchard, Zeng Zeng, Wang Xiaosha and Wu Jie worked over two long days coaching presentation skills and technical material face-to-face with each pair of presenters individually. During the meeting, technical corrections, typos, group activities, questions, inappropriate teaching setups were discussed and modified till everyone felt comfortable. Project GE advisor Prof. Zhang Xuemei also introduced 3 GE classroom assessment tools to MTOT members for them to apply into the teaching.

• Formal training: Dec. 25~26, 2008.

• Evaluation and modification: Jan 25, 2009.

From 20 townships 30 township level veterinarians attended 2 days training. Six are female, 16 are township Vet station directors among them. Five MTOT members from Wu Long County also observed the 2 day long training. Wu Long MTOT team learned a great amount of information for them to apply. They have submitted an action plan for the 3rd Practicum in Feb of 2009. The same coaching processes will be in place for that activity according to the agreed upon schedule.

An opening ceremony was presided over by Deputy Director Mr. Liang, Dr. Jane Pritchard, LTTA for the LHESP in Chongqing, Mr. Sun Peiyuan, senior technical adviser and coordinator of LHESP, Prof Zhang Xuemei and Wu Jie gave brief remarks. A local television camera crew also covered the opening ceremonies. It is important to mention that Rongchang AHB continues to strongly support the MTOT establishment and all the project activities in Rongchang county. Bureau Director Mr. Li Xinkui attended the first eMTOT workshop; Deputy Director Ms. Chen Jing attended the 1st eMTOT practicum. The whole Bureau leadership team gave the MTOT team strong silent support.

At the beginning of the training, blank observation sheets were prepared for 8 MTOT members to fill in. The observation sheets were used in 1st Practicum and everyone realized it is as a helpful informative evaluation amongst their teaching peers. The observation sheet requires each MTOT individual to record what they thought about the ‘Good Actions’ & ‘Need Improvement Actions’ during their observation of the other trainers.

Comparing the satisfaction levels of the two practicums, the 2nd Practicum improved 1.5% from Level 3 to Level 4. But interestingly one participant gave low ‘level 1’ and ‘Level 2’ responses to the questions like:

• Presenters provided ample opportunity for participants to ask questions.

• Presenters demonstrated a high level of expertise.

These two answers dropped 0.6% satisfaction from Level 3 to 1 and 2. The 2nd Practicum was much better prepared than September’s 1st Practicum in terms of lesson planning, logistic preparation, materials photocopying and many details in preparation. A couple of ‘Lessons Learned’ short video clips were shown by Wu Jie to remind the team what is correct, what causes problems and what needs more preparation. Grouping instructions, flip charts, markers, portable training box were placed in the right place at right time with the right purpose. Mr. Zhang Chengchong improved his training preparation skills. Team members also supported him by giving their PPT to him in advance so that Mr. Zhang could delegate the photocopy work. TEAM BUILDING IS WORKING!

The Practicum delivery format changed from individual teaching to pair teaching. Each pair became very fluent and comfortable in leading the key presentation or as the supportive facilitator. At each of the participants tables, there was a MTOT member to act as a silent facilitator guiding the discussions and group work. All 4 technical presentations were designed with an ‘introductory activity’ to bridge what participants have learned into what the trainer will present. Flipchart discussions were used in most teaching steps, and various participants acted as Writer, Reporter, and Facilitator.

The most satisfactory achievements from this Practicum were that most MTOT members used a ‘Reflection Wrap-up slide’ to stimulate thinking on transferring classroom learning into their jobs. Some of the good reflection questions are:

• What do you feel you have learned today?

• Are there areas where you feel you need more work for a stronger understanding?

• What needs to happen for you to continue developing your understanding of today’s topic?

• How do you think your work practices might change as a result of today’s activities? What do you feel you have learned today?

• Let’s recall what are the key problems in PCV diagnosis, prevention and control? Could we use what we learned today to help you deal with them? How could we do that?

• In what areas do we need to learn more or have deeper knowledge? What do we need to change or improve to prevent/control HPAI?

GE was integrated into the training for the first time. The MTOT members’ GE awareness has been built. They also learned some skills to improve GE in their training. From the MTOT members’ self-evaluation sheets however, it was apparent that their understanding of the skills will need further improvement. Due to a lack of deep understanding of the skills, they cannot fully, effectively and innovatively use the skills yet.

When discussions were shared at the evaluation session with participants, two good points were suggested by learners:

• Don’t handout the reading materials or answers related to the Activity. If learners know they can find the answers in the paper they will not think as hard. This is true and a very good suggestion.

• Give training announcement earlier so participants know what to expect to learn and to prepare them for classroom discussion.