When not writing or speaking, life is filled with the pocket of life called training. This has been adults more an teens and kids for a while now, and it’s really interesting when I look back at my use of mobile tech when teaching, compared to expectations and results.

For example, when doing classes in the corporate arena, managers want a lot of materials. If you will, the training never feels right unless there is some paper handed out. And this is true even in the hands-on classes with mobile devices. Non-profits (and schools even) seem to better deal with training materials that are online, or at least viewable on device alongside the hands-on lessons.

There is the matter of setting up classrooms – a task that I wish I didn’t have. There are the majors like wireless access, intranets, wikis, and comfortable seats. But, then there other things like planning for breaks, adjusting the time after lunch to get everyone comfortable again, or making sure that activities are repeatable on the hosted hardware or even in a personal context.

When done teaching, there’s always an evaluation. I prefer to use survey tools as a means of capturing thoughts – though have gotten used to the fact that in tech classes that some prefer to write on paper their thoughts. Survey Monkey and SharePoint’s Survey Library are great for these – though the former (or even Google) gives a better dashboard of results.

And the other part of the feedback loop, the questions that come days or weeks later. I don’t know that you can really prepare for those, but you kind of do. With all of that setup time, you are leaving hooks for people to either have questions and self-investigate further or have questions and more easily get in touch with you later. Unfortunately, if you have information-heavy classes (mine usually are) it will probably be another party that gets the bulk of questions about use or a product.

It really is all in the prep-time though. I spend a lot of time reading, writing, and interacting so that I spend less time coming up with curriculum or practice exercises (the latter I always have to change based on the context of those whom are being taught). Coming up with the right curriculum is as simple then as identifying the goals, noting the issues, and then being realistic about the available resources to fix things. From there, it’s all fun and lessons.

Many if you might be leading small groups, or looking to build curriculums for your missional, outreach, or in-reach efforts. Does any of this sound familiar? What steps have you taken to ensure that your pockets are ready and able to teach when needed?