A Note About Online Training

We’ve uploaded a few new videos and assessment forms to the Online Training page of this blog.

Coaches can earn 2 hours this semester toward their Professional Development requirement and $100 Allstate Professional Development Incentive by watching online training videos we’ve selected for their accessibility and quality and filling out and sending the assessment forms for each to David for review.

You’ll find a number of topics, including new videos on Topicality, ethos in debate (one that’s particularly entertaining to watch), negative strategy for this year’s military deployment topic, and a very in-depth look at teaching evidence comparison. All are presented by top national debate coaches, former champion debaters, or experts in the field (in the case of the Hegemony lecture by the Dartmouth professor) and could be of value to both newer coaches and even our most experienced coaches in the league – there are now several videos to choose from by topic, all ready to watch from the comfort of your couch at home or your desk at school.

In the first semester, seven coaches earned 13 hours of Professional Development online. This is an underutilized, convenient, engaging way to earn your PD hours. Coaches gave us clear feedback in previous years that they were interested in more online resources and videos that would offer additional training opportunities – we encourage more of our coaches to take advantage of this opportunity and use these videos to continue to grow as coaches in their knowledge of debate arguments and the principles of good debate coaching. The coaches who have used the online training so far this year have reported they’ve found the videos helpful and even enjoyable to watch – please contact David with any additional feedback or questions you have about online Professional Development.