Training materials are written or audio-visual teaching aids that are developed in support of a specific training activity and a well-defined target audience. Good training materials facilitate communication and support teaching and learning. They provide guidance to teachers and learners and will serve as a future reference or to facilitate self-learning.
There are many types of training materials. Written materials can be textbooks, manuals, lecture notes, etc. Audio-visual materials are static graphics, (posters, maps, charts, photos…) or active graphics, (chalkboard, magnet board, flip chart, flannel & Velcro board) or projected graphics, (slides, film, video, transparencies…) or objects and models. Advances in computing and information technology nowadays also allow the development of electronic teaching and learning resources that can combine text and audio-visuals for use in self- and distance learning.
Training materials are not developed in a vacuum, but form an integral and important part of the PCD cycle. Once course organizers have developed the aims, objectives and curriculum for a training event, it will be necessary to identify what materials are going to be needed in support of the various topics that will be taught. In a number of cases, such materials may already exist in one format or another. Agroforestry, even though an age-old practice, is a rather recently researched approach to land use. Therefore, there may be less available teaching materials that can readily be used, even though their number is growing rapidly.
The first step for any resource person who will be teaching an agroforestry related subject will be to identify what, if any, materials exist that adequately support the subject at an appropriate level for the audience. Selecting such materials will require some knowledge about evaluating teaching and learning materials using various criteria. Most often, existing materials may serve as a reference and need to be adapted before they can be used for a specific training event, topic and audience.
If no appropriate materials exist, resource persons will be required to develop their own. To do this seriously is a time-consuming effort that will require the services of several people. The overall production process will consist of several steps, including content development, value adding services (editing, desktop publishing, translation, graphics…), review, evaluation, field-testing, reproduction and distribution.
This section highlights the experiences and approaches of the World Agroforestry Centre to deal with agroforestry teaching and learning materials in the context of its training and education activities.