Supporting English Campus users – the MEC training department

Implementing a blended-learning programme can sometimes seem intimidating, due to the gaps in teachers' knowledge as to how technology can be used. To address this, new institutions using MEC are provided with comprehensive training and support. We are also on hand to provide advice and training further down the line.

We caught up with Steph Earnshaw and Sarah Milligan from the MEC training department and asked them about their role and the support they provide for teachers and students using MEC.

Steph and Sarah are both former English teachers, which makes them ideally suited to address the issues that teachers face. Asked about their favourite parts of the job, both agree that it is very satisfying giving teachers the tools that they need to use MEC effectively.

As Steph puts it, ‘It's great to see how, at the end of the training, teachers are excited and full of ideas of how to use MEC with their students.' Sarah adds, ‘It's very rewarding being able to ease the concerns of those teachers who may not be so used to using technology and to show them how straightforward MEC is to use.'

Online resources
One of the ways in which Steph and Sarah provide support after initial training sessions is in the provision of many different online resources. Asked to summarise what is available, Steph lists the guide to MEC, lesson plans, MEC basics material and dictionary skills worksheets. These are all available on the English Campus support site. Sarah highlights the MEC blog – www.connect2mec.com, which she describes as ‘a repository of tips and informal ideas and applications for using MEC, as well as updates on new content and case studies about how different schools use MEC.'

Clinics
Steph and Sarah have also been using the blog to organise online training sessions, referred to as ‘clinics', which are available free of charge to all users of the English Campus, whether new or established. This forms part of the ongoing support provided by the MEC team.

Feedback
If you're a current MEC user, you may have seen that the training team are currently carrying out a survey of all existing customers. Please do join in and return feedback forms to Sarah Milligan (s.milligan@macmillan.com) or contact her for more information.

If you'd like to know more about any aspect of the English Campus, please contact:

Jane Petrie
Macmillan English Campus
The Macmillan Building
4, Crinan Street
London, N1 9XW
United Kingdom

+44 (0)20 7014 4003
englishcampus@macmillan.com