Cochrane has started rolling out a refreshed toolkit of author training materials. The toolkit provides ready-to-use materials for trainers to deliver or adapt for their own face-to-face and online training.

This is the first phase of improvements to the materials and involves restructuring the existing toolkit into enhanced teaching sessions and short courses (a new feature). This release adds five updated teaching sessions and the first of several short courses.

The goal is to make planning and delivering high-quality training on systematic reviews of interventions quicker and easier for trainers and Cochrane Groups. In turn this will help authors produce useful and trusted evidence.

Each teaching session focuses on a key aspect of systematic reviewing and takes between 1 and 3 hours. Sessions include a variety of resources such as lectures, videos, activities, reading, and opportunities for learners to test their knowledge.

Newly updated sessions feature: 

• the latest Cochrane methods and process
• clear learning outcomes 
• easy combination into courses 
• new practical activities and guides to delivering each session 
• enhanced presentations with more visuals and interactivity 
• quicker access – materials can be downloaded as one pack

We also know that many trainers run multi-day workshops. To support longer training formats, we are introducing short courses that will range from one to five days.

Courses include:

• selected teaching sessions 
• course opening and closing sessions 
• suggestions for icebreakers and structured feedback 
• templates to organise and evaluate the course

Ruth Turley, Cochrane’s Learning Lead, said: “We know that planning high-quality training takes significant time and expertise. We want to make that process easier by providing accurate up-to-date materials for trainers to use, adapt and combine.

But effective training is more than content alone. We need to engage participants and help them build, share and apply knowledge. The enhanced materials are designed to support trainers in creating meaningful learning experiences and delivering Cochrane training with confidence”.

We have also redesigned the Trainer’s Hub, making it easier to navigate and download the author training materials. Here, you can apply to join the Trainer’s Network, which provides access to the toolkit. There is also a freely available good practice guide for trainers and information on using Classmate with students. 

We plan to add new courses and update further teaching sessions throughout the year. We are keen to hear from the community to help shape future development and will be reaching out to our Trainers Network for feedback on priority topics, experiences using the refreshed materials, and how we can better meet the different needs of trainers.

We hope that the improvements will support not only our trainers, but also help review authors produce high-quality evidence and strengthen the consistency of our outputs.

Discover our author training materials