Outcomes over output, the Blended Learning approach to online learning at We Are Movement
Teaching the best deep and transformational Agile/SAFe practitioner courses at We Are Movement is something that we take very seriously. And over the last nine months we have been testing multiple approaches for how to best deliver the SAFe Release Train Engineer and Implementing SAFe courses by running multiple courses and learning a lot about both the advantages and disadvantages with learning in an online course.
Overall the pedadogical approach will have to be tweaked somewhat to fit the online environment, some of the adjustments that we have found are:
- Overall more learning has to happen offline both before and in-between sessions
- Longer and more frequent breaks have to be allowed for to get away from the screen and rest
- Strong, flexible and reliable digital tools becomes critical (Zoom, Slack, Miro are the best we have found so far)
- Multiple trainers are needed so that there is more coaching support available when learning through exercises
- Training has to take place over more sessions to allow for both rest in between and offline learning in-between sessions
- Some exercises and learning models have to be tweaked to fit the online environment and tooling
Below you can see the We Are Movement schedule/flow for teaching the Implementing SAFe (SPC) and SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) courses online.
The learning outcomes and the contents of the course are the same as the in-person class but the setup, flow and pedagogical approach has been carefully adapted by us to fit the online format.
And we are of course using the same insights, approach and format for all other We Are Movement online courses today, not just SPC and RTE!
THE IMPLEMENTING SAFe ONLINE TRAINING EXPERIENCE
The online Implementing SAFe course will take a total of 40 hours online spread out over seven days. The setup for the course is a shorter session where we start the course and ending is also done is a separate half-day session, and the main learning takes place during one week over five days (Monday-Friday) divided into two sessions with one before a 1,5 hour lunch-break and one after lunch each day. We are also offering an optional “after course” online meetup and lean coffe for all attendees and instructors two weeks after the course to help anyone who is studying for the included SPC exam.
The course takes place in Zoom and we will use Slack for chat before, during and after the course, and for whiteboarding and exercises we will use the application Miro. All attendees need a fast internet connection and a laptop or stationary computer with a web camera and microphone/speakers to attend.
The timing and flow of the days are as follows in the UTC+1 timezone for an Implementing SAFe 5.0 course at We Are Movement
- Pre-course work: Instructions are sent over over email two weeks before the startup day, this is a few hours of work done offline by the attendee
- Startup Day: 08:30-12.00 – Setting up tooling, teamwork and teaching the first lesson in the course
- Training Day 1: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16:30 – Teaching day 1
- Training Day 2: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 2
- Training Day 3: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 3
- Training Day 4: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 4
- Training Day 5: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 5
- Ending Day: 08:30-12.00 – Teaching the last lesson in the course and preparing for the SPC exam
- Optional – after-course meetup: Online 1,5 hour lean-coffee with the attendees and the instructors, date is booked during the ending day
- Online Exam: Done by the attendee at home/online within 30 days
THE SAFe RTE ONLINE TRAINING EXPERIENCE
The online RTE course will take a total of 33 hours online spread out over six days. The setup for the course is two shorter sessions where we start the course and end the course, and the main learning takes place during one week over four days (Monday-Thursday) divided into two sessions with one before a 1,5 hour lunch-break and one after lunch each day. We are also offering an optional “after course” online meetup and lean coffe for all attendees and instructors 2 weeks after the course to help anyone who is studying for the exam.
The course takes place in Zoom and we will use Slack for chat before, during and after the course, and for whiteboarding and exercises we will use the application Miro. All attendees need a fast internet connection and a laptop or stationary computer with a web camera and microphone/speakers to attend.
The timing and flow of the days are as follows in the UTC+1 timezone for the SAFe Release Train Engineer 5.0 course at We Are Movement:
- Pre-course work: Instructions are sent over over email two weeks before the startup day, this is a few hours of work done offline by the attendee
- Startup Day: 08:30-11:30 – Setting up tooling, teamwork and teaching the first lesson in the course
- Training Day 1: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16:30 – Teaching day 1
- Training Day 2: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 2
- Training Day 3: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 3
- Training Day 4: 08:30-11:30 + 13:00-16.30 – Teaching day 4
- Ending Day: 08:30-11:30 – Teaching the last lesson in the course and preparing for the RTE exam and creating an “RTE action plan”
- Optional – after-course meetup: Online 1,5 hour lean-coffee with the attendees and the instructors, date is booked during the ending day
- Online Exam: Done by the attendee at home/online within 30 days
We have a similar setup as described here for all our online courses.
Find a few of them here below.
