MNCPD Trainer Support
The Minnesota Center for Professional Development (MNCPD) provides a full menu of supports to help you in your work as a trainer:
- Trainer Support Activities
- Your Trainer Profile on the MNCPD Registry
- Relational and Reflective Practices
- Questions and concerns providers might be asking
- Resources related to designing and delivering training to adult learners
- Training Approval
- Trainer Toolkit
- Some Books Worth Reading
- 2011 MNCPD/CAEL Strategy Forum
Trainer Support Activities
MNCPD actively supports trainers with direct service as well as with regularly updated resources.
MNCPD Trainer Support Office: MNCPD Registry Specialists are available to answer your questions by phone or email. In addition, they will contact you with any questions that may arise in processing and maintaining your records.
PLATs: The Practitioner Learning and Assessment Tool (PLAT) is a trainer and training support offered by the Minnesota Center for Professional Development to all who train through the CCR&R system. Each trainer and training event scheduled through MNStreams is given the PLAT survey for all participants to complete. A report is then made available so that trainers can assess their training materials and delivery methods to better serve practitioners.
PLAT Aggregate Data Results for Trainers 2010-2011
Train the Trainer (TOTs): MNCPD maintains and updates all state-initiated curricula and ensures that there is trainer capacity to meet the needs of CCR&R and Parent Aware. MNCPD conducts a needs assessment to determine where the training is needed, prescreens trainers who meet the specific qualifications, and invites them to attend the TOTs. MNCPD provides virtual learning resources that provide access to information pertaining to the TOT attended. The virtual learning center also has a platform for discussions and networking with other state initiated curricula trainers.
Learning and Career Pathways Guidance: As trainers, you know that professional development is one of the most important activities in an individual's career. MNCPD has learning, career guidance and resources for trainers. Resources include: professional development tools; funding and scholarship information; and qualifications, credentials and pathway information including ways to move to another Trainer Type, credit for prior learning and college degrees.
Webinars and Trainer Call Ins: MNCPD conducts Webinars and call-ins on a wide variety of topics from orientations to the Registry to training updates. We will be rolling out Webinars related to submitting training to the Registry this winter. Please check the Registry Events for dates, topics, and registration information.
Online Modules: MNCPD has developed and will be mounting online modules on the website related to the training approval process. Current plans are to integrate the training approval request functions into the Registry; the modules will provide a walk through of the new procedures when they are up and running. We are also planning to develop modules related to adult development and lifelong learning.
Conferences and Networking Opportunities: Building relationships with peers and colleagues who can share information, insights and inspiration can be a vital help to your training and career. MNCPD offers conferences, symposia and informal networking opportunities where trainers can learn, share information and network with other trainers and leaders in the early childhood and school-age community. Please visit the Registry for information on the Sharing the Wisdom conference and our annual Early Childhood and School-Age Symposium.
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Your Trainer Profile on the MNCPD Registry
When you logged on to the Registry, you created your trainer Profile, which lists your Trainer Type, indicates your desire to have your name listed on the Trainer Search feature, verifies education, experience and areas of expertise; and tracks your own professional development on your Learning Record. The Trainer Search feature is one of the functions of the Registry, which allows any interested in your expertise to access your contact information. Practitioners wanting to take training through the CCR&R can also use this function to find a specific trainer. It is important that you update your Profile whenever there are changes.
Relational and Reflective Practices
Minnesota has been one of the leaders in including relational and reflective practices in our Registry. Trainers who have demonstrated expertise in coaching, consulting, mentoring, and technical assistance can list their competencies in their Trainer Profile and anyone seeking those services can locate you through the Trainer Search function. More information can be found in the Relationship Based Professional Development section.
Questions and Concerns Providers Might be Asking
We know that in the course of your training, participants will ask you questions ranging anywhere from what do I do about this child or that family to what is the Registry and what does it have to offer me?
Registry Resources for Practitioners: All approved training practitioners take shows up on their Learning Record and counts toward their progress on the Career Lattice. Practitioners can go on the Registry and take an informal Individual Training Needs Assessment (ITNA) to get a sense of where their strengths and opportunities for improvement are. They can then use this information to develop their Professional Development Plan, which they could share with their CCR&R Professional Development Coordinator. You may get questions on the new Minnesota Child Care Credential/MNCCC which will be available starting January in selected sites around the state through the CCR&Rs as well as online through Eager-to-Learn. You can find complete information on the MNCCC dropdown on the Credentials Tab.
Handouts and Tip Sheets: Here are some helpful handouts and tip sheets that the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) has developed and made available on their website that address many of the concerns parents and caregivers raise.
- Questions About Kids on the topics of Social and Emotional Growth, Challenging Behaviors, and Mental Health
- Tip Sheets on the topics of Social and Emotional Growth, Challenging Behaviors, and Mental Health
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Resources Related to Designing and Delivering Training to Adult Learners
Effective training does not only rely on content expertise but also on knowing your audience. MNCPD requires that trainers complete training(s) related to training design, training delivery, and understanding the characteristics of adult learners. (See pages 16 and 17 in the Trainer and Training Approval Process Guide for more information.) We recommend that you devote 10 hours of your 30 hours required for trainer renewal to training this area. Here are some resources you might find helpful as you think about how you can hone your design and delivery skills.
- Characteristics of Adult Learners
- Designing Adult Learning for Results
- The Experiential Learning Cycle
- Blooms Taxonomy: Three Types of Learning
Training Approval
Beginning January 1, 2010 for training to count on a practitioner's career lattice, it must be approved by MNCPD and offered by an MNCPD approved trainer.
- Get all the information you need to submit your training approved on the Registry in the Trainer and Training Approval Process Guide, pages 18-26.
- Once you have developed your training, please submit the Training Approval Request Form to MNCPD. The training approval review process can take up to four weeks. MNCPD will let you know of any revisions that might need to be made to meet the approval criteria for the training.
- Remember, you can submit training at any time. However, if you are submitting training that will be offered through the CCR&R system, please submit it at least three months prior to the CCR&R Catalog deadlines for the CCR&R District where you train. Contract your CCR&R District for more information.
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Trainer Toolkit
The following are some key resources available to support you in your success as trainer in the Registry:
Submitting a Training for Approval
- Minnesota Core Competencies for Early Child Care
- Infant-Toddler Companion Guide to the MN Core Competencies
- Minnesota Core Competencies for School Age and Youth
- Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota's Early Learning Standards (2005)
- Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota's Early Learning Guidelines for Birth to 3
- School-age Indicators of Progress (2012)
- The 10 Essential Elements of Effective Early Care and Education Programs
- Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment
- Code of Ethical Conduct Supplement for Early Childhood Adult Educators
National Early Child Care Resources
Child Development-Current Research
- A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Edited by Lorin Anderson & David Krathwohl
- Best Practices for Training Early Childhood Professionals. Sharon Bergen.
- Critical Issues in Early Childhood Professional Development. Edited by Martha Zaslow, Ph.D., & Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, Ph.D.
- Diversity in Early Child Care and Education: Honoring Differences. Janet Gonzalez-Mena.
- Evidence-Based Practice in the Early Childhood Field. Virginia Bussey and Patricia Wesley.
- Gronlund's Writing Instructional Objectives (8th Edition). Norman Gronlund & Susan Brookhart.
- Informing our Practice, Useful Research on Young Children's Development. Edited by Eva Essa & Melissa Burnham.
- Teach with Style: A Comprehensive System for Teaching Adults. Jim Teeters.
- The Cultural Nature of Human Development. Barbara Rogoff.
2011 MNCPD/CAEL Strategy Forum
Resources and information about the 2011 MNCPD/CAEL Strategy forum.
Minnesota Early Childhood and School-Age Trainer Forum: Promoting Excellence in Professional Development.
Building relationships with peers and colleagues who can share information, insights and inspiration can be a vital help to your training and career. Trainers can also use the Trainer Forum hours toward their trainer renewal requirements. Resources and information.
Contact MNCPD
Minnesota Center for Professional Development
Metropolitan State University
1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 147
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108
Email: MNCPD.Registry@metrostate.edu
Phone: 651-999-5835
Fax: 651-999-5822
To contact the MNCPD Trainer Support Office, call 651-999-5838.
