Leading Changes: Online Facilitator Training Program

Phase I: Vital Information in the Facilitator Training

Program Description
Create a training program for distance learning facilitator trainees. The training manual
will be posted on the Puerto Rico Police Department SharePoint portal and used by a
trainer in a 3-day, synchronous learning environment.
Key Information
Training Program Audience
The three day training will be focused on the use of Prezi at the Puerto Rico Police
Academy. The police officers assigned as faculty members that will be trained over the
three day course will have a facilitator assigned according to the content matter the police
officers teach so they may have access to ideas that meet their needs in a collaborative
environment. Training will be provided to 3-5 instructor certified police officers assigned
to the Puerto Rico Police Academy, Gurabo, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Police
Academy does not conduct any online training and has not made a final decision on a
specific Learning Management System (LMS). Program will include training in
online/distance learning for future police officers who must spend the majority of their
duty time on the road engaged in crime prevention and fighting criminal activities. The
traditional face-to-face learning environment will not allow the Puerto Rico Police
Department to fulfill the training requirements mandated in the Agreement for the
Sustainable Reform of the Puerto Rico Police Department to professionalize the
workforce.
Current skill sets include curriculum and implementation skills for traditional classroom
settings. Assessment development to collect data to measure student success. Small
group (maximum of 30 cadets) intervention skills. Additionally, they have advanced
communication skills such as writing and reading only in Spanish; skilled at retrieving
data, information and knowledge from MicroJuris and EBSCOhost. Certified instructors
are at the Novice level because they have never taught online and may or may have not
taken an online course as a student; however, police officers at the Puerto Rico Police
Academy that are candidates for this program will have minimum of two years teaching
experience with a minimum of a Masters degree and completion of 80 hours of Adult
Education Instructor Skills. Instructor certified police officers have had success using
Microsoft 365, posting to the cloud integrating technology to the everyday inner
workings of the Dean of Academics to review within the deanship Microsoft Power Point
presentations without using electronic email.
Candidates have no experience using Prezi, unless they have explored on their own
outside the Puerto Rico Police Academy traditional learning environment. The Puerto

Rico Police Academy has not had any official distance or online teaching; everything to
aid in student learning has been done face-to-face.
Training Program Goals

Understand the difference between the traditional classrooms versus the distancelearning environment.

Clear knowledge of the needs of the distance-learning cadets in the Puerto Rico
Police Academy.

Strategies and skills to serve as a change agent for other police officers who teach
at the Puerto Rico Police Academy part-time that will be transitioning to the
online/distance-learning environment.

Technology skills and knowledge of at least one program and how it can be used
to facilitate online learning.

What key training elements will be focused on?

Traditional versus Distance Learning Classroom

Identifying transferrable skills

Anticipating and preparing for challenges in the transition
Understanding the expectations of an online trainer

Training Program Objectives

Trainees will learn to design an online learning environment and curriculum that meets
the needs of cadets distance learners that is engaging and in line with the generally
accepted policing practices with respect to quality and content, and that reflects the
requirements of the Agreement for the Sustainable Reform of the Puerto Rico Police
Department.

Day 1 Objective: Evaluate three skills or strategies that are currently applied in
the traditional classroom that may be transferrable to an online learning
environment. Analyze changes that may be needed to properly adapt the strategies
or skills for distance learners.

Day 2 Objective: Create a mock online class using Prezi, create an online lesson,
including delivery on concept or skill, assignment(s), and formative assessment of
student learning.

Day 3 Objective: Propose two different support plans that trainees will have in
place for distance learners who need additional assistance.

Training Program Assessment

The facilitator will join the mock classrooms and examine the delivery method,
assignment and assessment and evaluate them with a rubric that specifies the level of
quality that has gone into the planning and delivery of each class. The summative
assessment for trainees will be project-based.
The programs success will be determined continuously through bi-monthly reports on
trainee progress. Trainees will fill out survey at the end of the three-day program to rate
their preparedness for the online learning environment. Based on the data of the areas
they still feel they may need support in the design and technology team will work with
the certified police officer instructors for continuous year-round support, which will be
evaluated at the end of the six months school year.