ABSTRACT
How many times have you attended training and come away from the session/day with a handout? We suspect that your answer is either ‘Most of the time!’ or ‘Every time!’ We know this because Wayne State University (n.d.: 1) asserts that handouts have become an ‘integral component’ when educating others to the point they are now just an expectation of training participants. Bligh offers a number of reasons as to why you should use handouts in your training (2000: 148–162); these have been adapted and are presented in Table 7.4, offering useful ideas about their possible content and how they might be used in training sessions: Reasons for using handouts and their possible content/usage as part of training sessions (adapted from <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7a_1">Bligh, 2000</xref>)
Reason
Possible content/usage
Purpose
Handouts can be used to convey training aims, intentions/objectives and goals to participants.
Information
Handouts can help to ensure you:
share with participants the same basic knowledge on which you will build new, related or more complex content
save time by providing participants with valuable content that you are unable to present
relieve some of the tension that participants often feel when they are presented with large amounts of new information.
Guide
Handouts can serve as a supportive guide to help participants navigate their way through difficult training material (think comprehensive charts, diagrams and images).
Sparing note-making
Some situations (think group activities) make it difficult for participants to take notes. Handouts may be created or distributed ‘after-the-event’, e.g. notes made by you that summarise a group discussion from the morning session.
Stimulate thought
Handouts that contain questions, quizzes or theoretical issues are useful to stimulate thought and fuel discussions/debates between participants.
Promote reading
Handouts can contain extracts from professional and academic sources (think articles, research papers and case studies) to nourish participants’ subject knowledge and work-based practices. A recommended reading list could also be offered.
