What a relief trainer needs in the first ten minutes
A relief trainer often has very little notice. Before they walk into the room, they need to know:
- which course and unit the class is doing, and which session today is
- where the group is up to, and what was covered last time
- the lesson plan for today, with timings
- every resource the session uses, including slides, handouts, links and videos
- which assessments are due or in progress, and who to ask about them
- anything else they should be aware of for the group, shared in line with your privacy procedures
If any of this is only in the regular trainer's head, cover will go badly no matter how good the relief trainer is.
Write lesson plans someone else can teach from
The best handover is a lesson plan that doesn't need a handover. A plan someone else can teach from includes:
- the learning outcomes for the session
- a running order with rough timings
- each activity, with the resources it uses linked or named exactly
- what to do if the group is ahead or behind
It takes a little longer to write the first time, and it saves time every time someone else teaches the session.
A handover checklist
When a trainer knows they'll be away, or a class is changing hands, a short handover covers the gaps a lesson plan can't:
- Where the group is up to, in one or two sentences
- Anything that didn't go to plan last session
- Assessments due, submitted or being reassessed
- Where today's resources are, if they're not with the lesson plan
- Who to contact with questions
Keep the handover with the course's resources rather than in an email, so the next person can find it too.
Onboarding a new trainer: the first week
New trainers learn your RTO's way of doing things fastest when the first week has a shape. A simple plan:
- Day 1: set up their accounts, show them around the resource library and the courses they'll deliver, and introduce them to a buddy.
- Days 2 and 3: read through the units, lesson plans and assessment tools for their first course, and sit in on a class.
- Days 4 and 5: co-deliver a session with their buddy, and go through how assessments are conducted and recorded with an experienced assessor.
- After the first week: regular check-ins with their buddy until they're comfortable on their own.
Let the library do the onboarding
A well-organised library answers most of a new trainer's questions before they ask them. Organise it by course, unit and resource type, give every resource a short note on what it's for and how to use it, and keep only the current version in front of trainers. Our guide on how to organise your RTO's training resources walks through it.
Where Xeltom fits
Xeltom was built for exactly this situation. One EQC Institute trainer said it simply: "It's saved me in a pinch a few times."
- Each course has an overview page listing its subjects, with a link to all its resources sorted by type.
- Every resource has its own page with an overview, recommended usage, screenshots and embedded videos, so a relief trainer can pick up a lesson plan they didn't write.
- Every user has a dashboard showing their saved items and recently added resources.
- Roles and workspaces mean a new trainer sees the right courses and material from their first login. See RTO trainer management for how that works.