Celebrating and Learning from June Conferences Across the State
In early July 2012, nine Training Coordinators agreed to participate in one of two conference calls to share the successes of their June conferences, reflect on lessons learned, and identify areas for support from the Education Services Division.
Please keep in mind that the Education Services Division is available to Training Coordinators and Field Trainers for educational consulting and support like agenda development, curriculum and/or faculty suggestions, event planning, evaluation, and in some cases even A/V assistance. Our division is here and ready to serve as a direct resource for learning opportunities and events. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss ideas, needs or challenges. We’re here to help!
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Have You Nominated an Excellent Educator Lately?
With the June conferences fresh in many minds, now is the perfect time to send out a reminder about the COJET Excellence in Education Awards. This new award, established by the Committee on Judicial Education and Training, annually recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to providing outstanding education to the judicial branch. Any judicial branch employee or committee member can nominate an individual or team demonstrating excellence in the development of curriculum and/or the delivery of training, during the course of a calendar year.
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JCCE and NACE Join Forces for Education
In May 2012, the Joint Council on Court Education (JCCE) and the Northern Arizona Committee on Education (NACE) voted to merge together as one statewide continuing education group. Beginning January 2013, JCCE membership will be comprised of court training and education professionals from courts across the entire state of Arizona and will continue to work closely with the Education Services Division and the Judicial Staff Education Committee to share training resources and meet the varied educational needs of our courts.
Guidelines for Using Films in Training for Court Staff
Full movies and clips can be a great resource for reinforcing concepts, generating discussion, and engaging participants in both facilitated and non-facilitated learning opportunities. However, without clear and relevant learning objectives connected to job-related professional competence and skills, a movie can end up just being a movie. The following guidelines can assist you in this process:
· Choose and accredit movies or clips that relate to specific job duties, the judiciary and/or the legal system.
· Develop a detailed lesson plan with clear learning objectives, specific points of relevance, and methods to evaluate learning like an activity, discussion questions, reflection exercises, and/or quizzes.
· Create a course title and description that communicates the relevance of and purpose for using the movie.
In addition to a structured plan for using movies in training, it is also important to ensure that no copyright laws are being violated. The Education Services Division purchases an annual umbrella license from the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation (MPLC) which grants permission to courts to show legally obtained videocassettes and DVDs without the need to report titles, dates or times of exhibitions. To view the most current list of approved producers and distributors covered under this license, visit http://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/2/EDSERV/TC/Producer_List.pdf and follow the instructions to find titles that you can show in conjunction with the MPLC Producer List
1. Go to www.IMDB.com and type the title of the movie in the search box at the top and select the movie you wish to use.
2. In the Quick Links menu on the right, choose “Company Credits” to display the producers and distributors.
3. Look for the U.S. distributor(s). If the U.S. distributor is included on our producer list, the title is covered by our license. If it is not listed within the "produced by" or "distributed by" lists, you will need to contact that producer or distributor directly to obtain the necessary rights to show that title.
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To Accredit or Not to Accredit - June TC Webinar recording now available
During the June TC Webinar, Julie Binter from the Education Services Division reviewed the code on accrediting, discussed strategies for effectively translating it into practice, and provided an opportunity for participants to test themselves on a few examples. If you missed this webinar, the recording is available for viewing at your convenience.
To access the recording:
· Type azcourts.webex.com into your browser
· On the left side, under “Attend a Session” click “Recorded Sessions”
· Look for “TC WEBINAR SERIES: To Accredit or Not To Accredit on 6/28 and click “View” or “Download”
· Enter password: TCW12 and then complete the registration form.
· After you complete the registration form you will be able to view or download the webinar.
· Once you have finished viewing it, another webpage will open with the Zoomerang evaluation which contains the COJET certificate of attendance.
If you have questions about accessing the recording or the handouts, please email [email protected].
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Movies That Teach
Movies are used frequently across many disciplines to capture the attention of learners and teach important topics. If you don’t see a movie you would like to use in this newsletter, we encourage you to visit a great website that contains even more ideas: www.teachwithmovies.org. The website offers learning guides and lesson plans for over 350 movies and clips, at a nominal fee of $11.99/year. If funding is not available, you can subscribe to their e-newsletter for free. Thank you to Katrina Castillo from Pinal County who brought this resource to our attention!
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Improve Your Facilitation and Training Skills with Leadership Strategies Webinars
Leadership Strategies has provided Fortune 500 companies, non-profit, government and other businesses with facilitation and leadership training since 1992. They believe that facilitation is a powerful tool for helping people reach better decisions, often faster, with much higher levels of buy-in and commitment. They offer free 1.5 hour monthly webinars on topics like facilitating meetings and groups, strategic planning, facilitation skills for trainers and more. All of the webinars are incredibly fast-paced, interesting, and packed with a ton of valuable information and resources. They offer great examples of how to effectively engage learners in an online forum so if you are thinking about offering webinars in the future, this would be a good resource to check out. You can visit the website http://www.leadstrat.com/ to learn more and you have the option of subscribing to the free weekly e-newsletter so you don’t miss out on the free webinars.
For staff who may be interested in a glimpse into strategic planning, they happen to be offering “Strategic Planning for Government” on Thursday, August 9th at 11:00 am Arizona time. Visit http://www.leadstrat.com/what-we-do/webinars to learn more and register. If you are unable to attend in person, you can still register and they will send you a link to the recording.
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August TC Webinar: Wheel of Ethics with Heidi Lofgren
Still looking for ways to make ethics training more fun and exciting? Don't miss the next TC Webinar on Tuesday, August 28 from 1:30 – 2:30 pm when Heidi Lofgren, Court Training Specialist for Coconino County, will guide participants through her interactive Wheel of Ethics workshop which provides great information on harassment, ethics, and the Code of Conduct. Heidi received the 2012 Excellence in Education Award for this curriculum so you know it will be good! Please note: TC Webinars are limited to Training Coordinators, Field Trainers and other court staff who provide training.
To register:
· Type azcourts.webex.com into your browser
· Click the “Upcoming” tab
· Look for “TC WEBINAR SERIES” on 8/28 and click on “Register”
· Enter registration password: ethics
· After you complete the registration form you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for attending the course. If the course is full, you will be put on the waiting list.
Please send an email to [email protected] if you experience any technical challenges or have questions.
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Need New Movies for Training? Look No Further!
The Education Services Division is frequently asked about movies that are useful for training court staff. There are of course many tried and true movies to pick from in our Education Resource Library, but we knew it was time to update our list so we pulled ideas from the recent court conferences and contacted several Training Coordinators to find out what’s playing in their courts. Many thanks to the TCs who graciously shared their ideas and resources!
If you are looking for some new ideas, check out the table below. Please feel free to contact the individuals listed below for more information.
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MOVIE TITLE
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WHO HAS USED IT
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HOW THE MOVIE WAS USED
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American History X
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Heidi Long – Pinal
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Cultural Diversity; Used in conjunction with How to Train Your Dragon
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Avatar
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Dyh Anderson – Yavapai
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Ethics
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Dave
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Katrina Castillo – Pinal
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Ethics, Employee Code of Conduct/Canons
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Dolphin Tale
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Lori Linn – Mohave
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Ethics, How to Handle Adversity with Grace, Employee Code of Conduct
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For the Birds
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Heidi Long – Pinal
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Workplace Violence and Bullying; Used in conjunction with Partly Cloudy
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Freedom Writers
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Dyh Anderson – Yavapai
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Ethics – Stereotyping and Prejudice
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Heaven’s Rain
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Katrina Castillo – Pinal
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Ethics - Domestic Violence
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High Noon
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Suzette Williams – Pima
Heidi Long – Pinal
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Diversity and Ethics
Ethical decisions, morals and values
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How to Train Your Dragon
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Dyh Anderson – Yavapai
Heidi Long - Pinal
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Ethics - Discrimination
Cultural Diversity; Used in conjunction with American History X
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Jurassic Park
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Heidi Long – Pinal
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Ethical decisions and Code of Conduct; Used in conjunction with Schindler’s List
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Les Miserables
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Gabe Goltz – ESD
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Ethical decisions, honesty, Code of Conduct
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Partly Cloudy
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Heidi Long – Pinal
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Workplace Violence and Bullying; Used in conjunction with For the Birds
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Quiz Show
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Gabe Goltz – ESD
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Ethical decisions, honesty, Code of Conduct
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Remember the Titans
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Katrina Castillo – Pinal
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Ethical decisions and the 6 Pillars of Character
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Schindler’s List
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Heidi Long – Pinal
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Ethical decisions and Code of Conduct; Used in conjunction with Jurassic Park
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Thank You For Smoking
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Katrina Castillo – Pinal
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Communication
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The Conspirator
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Dyh Anderson – Yavapai
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Ethics, Moral Obligations and Constitutional & Civil Rights
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We Bought A Zoo
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Dyh Anderson – Yavapai
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Ethics
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If you have successfully used a movie in training that you don’t see listed please let us know by emailing [email protected].
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Nancy Carter of Tucson City Court Scores a 10 for Diving Into a New Pool of Faculty
When Nancy Carter became the Training Coordinator for Tucson City Court in December 2011, she was tasked with expanding the type and amount of internal trainings available, which had been limited in years past. For many years, staff had been able to meet their COJET requirements through external trainings at the Pima County Superior Court Training Center, the police department and other offsite locations, but opportunities were usually on a space available basis, resulted in lost work time due to travel back and forth, and the content did not always relate to the specific needs of Tucson City Court employees.
In January, Nancy’s court administrator set an ambitious goal of providing 18 new in-house, court-specific trainings for staff by the end of 2012. The court administrator supported Nancy in this exciting challenge by emphasizing several mandatory topics like ethics, language access and customer service, and together they identified the other classes after several discussions about meeting the needs of employees.
Because these topics were so diverse, Nancy suggested enlisting the eight department supervisors who were the experts to help develop and deliver the training. Many of the supervisors had never presented before so she knew she needed to set them up for success right from the start.
In February, she scheduled her first meeting and provided a basic overview of how to develop a class and effectively teach adults. Her presentation, called “Let’s Train”, covered learning styles, delivery methods, learning objectives, obstacles to learning, presentation skills, organization, preparation, and resource sites.
Once the group was up to speed on the basics, Nancy assigned a topic to each supervisor based on their areas of expertise and department managed. She then established an initial deadline for everyone to submit their outline, lesson plan, PowerPoint and handouts. The deadline needed to be extended a few times because the supervisors did not have a lot of extra time to work on the training, but everyone eventually submitted their curriculum. Nancy and the court administrator reviewed all curriculum and recommended changes, the faculty made revisions, and then piloted the class.
Nancy made every effort to ensure that the supervisors felt prepared to teach, including those that were not comfortable with public speaking. She paired up the inexperienced presenters with stronger speakers to assist in their development and also relied on the pilot evaluations to determine if any additional learning was necessary. She realized during this time that a few supervisors preferred to contribute in other ways like organizing and providing tours and adapted accordingly.
Nancy is happy to share that her employee training calendar has been filling up and with the help of every department she is well on her way to meeting her goal by the end of the year. She publishes a quarterly “Let’s Train” newsletter (posted on Supreme22) for staff so they are aware of ongoing opportunities and recently proposed having a quarterly “Guest Corner” to which she invites outside agencies to the courthouse to present.
Current offerings include:
· Tours of Administration, Public Services and Court Services
· Probation at Tucson City Court
· Motion Work Flow
· Court Interpreter’s department class
· Monthly ethics movies with popcorn
Classes in development include:
· DDS, TIPS and FARE – what do all those TIC’s mean?
· Judicial Services Tour
· Harmony in the Workplace
· What did you Say? (Legal advice vs. Legal information)
· File Interpretation – Reading and Understanding the Register of Actions
If you want to learn more about Nancy Carter’s approach and how it might be useful in your court, you can reach her at [email protected] or (520) 837-3033 or contact the Education Services Division at [email protected].
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