Challenge, change and resilience
2020 turned out to be a year to test the resilience of all – and the Intervals programme was no exception. We started the year as any other with a full and exciting plan of all the learning and development events we were going to hold. January and February went according to plan and we were lucky to be able to host Eric May’s now classic events on Negotiation skills and Explaining science to anyone. Also in the bag were Effective team playing and one edition each of Say it so it stays and Técnicas actorales. And then the COVID tsunami hit.
Like so many of us, the Intervals team was initially stunned into inactivity as we hunkered down in lockdown and wondered what to do. We were unsure whether PRBB people would want to attend courses online and uncertain if our trainers felt their offerings were appropriate to that environment.
After careful thought we sifted through our programme and after consulting with trainers, chose the courses we felt were most easily translated to an online environment: namely writing courses and critical thinking. We tentatively offered these workshops and were happily surprised by how eagerly PRBB people took up the chance of learning something new in lockdown. In fact, we had fewer no-shows and better take-up than for many in-person events! Lockdown it seems, in spite of the trauma and stress, had the advantage of emptying diaries – so people were more able to focus on self-development.
Like so many of us, the Intervals team was initially stunned into inactivity as we hunkered down in lockdown and wondered what to do. We were unsure whether PRBB people would want to attend courses online and uncertain if our trainers felt their offerings were appropriate to that environment.
After careful thought we sifted through our programme and after consulting with trainers, chose the courses we felt were most easily translated to an online environment: namely writing courses and critical thinking. We tentatively offered these workshops and were happily surprised by how eagerly PRBB people took up the chance of learning something new in lockdown. In fact, we had fewer no-shows and better take-up than for many in-person events! Lockdown it seems, in spite of the trauma and stress, had the advantage of emptying diaries – so people were more able to focus on self-development.
Bold and innovative
As the year progressed, we became bolder and broadened the course topics offered. Our trainers proved to be highly adaptable and flexible and many found creative ways to convert their offerings into stimulating online events. By the end of the year, we had run 28 courses (18 online) in 18 different topics with a total of 396 attendances (287 individuals) . While the range of topics was narrower than usual 18 vs 28 in 2019, more editions were held of those courses suitable for online learning. Initially larger group sizes (20) seemed appropriate, but with feedback we soon reduced course numbers to 12, the same as for in-person events.
Feedback was excellent with little difference from other years. Most comments were highly positive and people really appreciated the opportunities they had. Less positive comments usually focused on the difficulties of the online setting.
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"I have participated in many Intervals courses and they are very well organised and very interesting" "Sometimes it is easier to attend these types of courses if online - so very positive" "I really appreciate the organization of Intervals, especially during this strange COVID time!" "Everything is excellent! Thank you for organizing it so careful" "Great job! Keep up with it! |
"The course can actually be taught completely online without losing quality, since all aspects of organization can be maintained" "The online format takes the magic away" "It is good they happen online now but as soon as the situation allows I think in-person is preferable" "I was surprised how an online course works well" "I think it's very well organised and it has adapted well to Covid19 times" |
We noted some small differences in the profile of attendees, including a shift towards higher take-up by more junior staff. Meanwhile there was a relative drop in post-doc attendance compared with the previous year (19% vs 28.5%). As a programme that is freely available to all staff in all PRBB Centres, the organisers aim to allocate places fairly according to the proportion of total staff in each Centre. This is not always possible if there is insufficient demand from some Centres while other Centres are more active. If there are still empty places close to the course start date, we accept registrations from any Centre with the result that some Centres take more than then allocated share and other Centres fewer. As in previous years, in 2020 IMIM staff did not take up their apportioned share, so these places were distributed between ISGlobal, CEXS-UPF and IBE.
Gender and learning opportunity
Gender imbalance has always been observed in uptake of Intervals courses and this continued in 2020. Women made up 71% of attendances to Intervals courses, even though they make up only 59% of the PRBB community. It is a concern that men still do not take up learning and development opportunities and we continue to explore the reasons for this and to work with the PRBB gender balance group to try and improve male uptake
New web-site
The focus afforded by lockdown enabled the Intervals team to work with the Consorci PRBB IT department to finalise the new web-site, which was launched in early January 2021. This new site has been a while in gestation, but the end result offers an exciting new experience to visitors. It also offers the Intervals team enhanced capacity to analyse our data which can inform how the programme is shaped in coming years.
Looking back, looking forward
In this difficult and challenging year, the readiness of our trainers and participants to step up, step in and make things work has been highly appreciated. The result has been an Intervals programme with a difference that has maintained its hallmark characteristics of high quality learning, combined with community building and networking opportunities throughout the PRBB.
The changes made to the programme in 2020 will undoubtedly remain for a large part of 2021. But the learning and innovation will not be lost and when we can safely meet again in the classroom we look forward to new and exciting ways of teaching and sharing learning in the future.
The changes made to the programme in 2020 will undoubtedly remain for a large part of 2021. But the learning and innovation will not be lost and when we can safely meet again in the classroom we look forward to new and exciting ways of teaching and sharing learning in the future.
Thanks
The Intervals team would like to offer special thanks to Ramon Safont for all his hard work and patience in developing the new web-site. And as always the programme has only been as strong as the energy and activity of all our participants and especially our trainers and collaborators:
José Antonio Aguilar, Arnau Busquets, Joaquim Calbó, Luca Cozzuto, Malte Engel, Jaume Fatjó, Susan Frekko, Fernando Gallego, Anna Janic, Gavin Lucas, Maria Lluch, Alicia Marín Muniesa, Andrés Martín, Eric May, Pau Millet, Alexandros Nikolaou, Roser Pinyol, Sonja Reiland, Pilar Rivera, Tobias Rodrigues, Louise Schubert, Roni Wright and Ruben Ventura.
José Antonio Aguilar, Arnau Busquets, Joaquim Calbó, Luca Cozzuto, Malte Engel, Jaume Fatjó, Susan Frekko, Fernando Gallego, Anna Janic, Gavin Lucas, Maria Lluch, Alicia Marín Muniesa, Andrés Martín, Eric May, Pau Millet, Alexandros Nikolaou, Roser Pinyol, Sonja Reiland, Pilar Rivera, Tobias Rodrigues, Louise Schubert, Roni Wright and Ruben Ventura.
Elinor Thompson and Eroteida Jiménez
The Intervals Programme, PRBB March 2021
The Intervals Programme, PRBB March 2021
The report in pdf format: Intervals programme 2020 annual report
