SETAC Europe 35th Annual Meeting

Training Course Procedure Overview

The following information provides guidance to instructors interested in organising a professional training course at SETAC Europe annual meetings.

The development and presentation of a training course at a SETAC Europe annual meeting begin with the submission of a course proposal to the SETAC Europe Education Committee. The proposal should describe:

• Content and approach of the proposed course
• Intended audience (backgrounds, level of experience)
• Instructors and their qualifications
• Any needs required to present the course content

For detailed information, view the incentives, requirements and timeline for Training Course Proposals on the submission page.

Instructors

Instructors must have demonstrable expertise in the discipline, and qualifications must be included in the proposal. Each course should have two to four instructors with varied backgrounds. Instructor composition should reflect at least two of the following sectors: government, business and academia. Full-day courses may require one or two additional instructors to cover the materials. Maintenance of balance and diversity in this manner will help ensure that the course materials cover a diversity of views and interests. Each instructor’s role in the course should be clearly defined.

Lead Instructor

Submitters of proposals should pay particular attention to the role of the lead instructor. Lead instructors are responsible for all communications between SETAC and all other instructors involved with the course.

Review and Coordination Procedure

After the receipt of proposals, the Education Committee reviews proposals and communicates with the lead instructors to address any questions or necessary modifications to the proposal. The decision on which course proposals to accept for the meeting programme will be made by the SETAC Europe Education Committee. The SETAC staff will notify the lead instructors of the decision in early December.

Once a course has been accepted for inclusion in the annual meeting programme, SETAC staff will communicate regularly with the lead instructor about the development of the course and the course registrations. Experience has shown that interaction between the SETAC office and lead instructors has helped to ensure high-quality courses.

Enrollment Limits

SETAC encourages high enrolment limits to allow maximum opportunity for members and guests to attend training courses. Instructional approach or equipment needs may impose limits on the number of participants in order to maintain the quality of the course, and the instructor needs to carefully consider this issue. Once a limit has been set and published in the preliminary programme, any change must be approved by the SETAC Europe Executive Director. SETAC reserves the right to cancel any course that does not have sufficient pre-registration enrolment. You will be notified after the early bird registration deadline in March whether your course has met the minimum number of participants.

Training Course Formats

Training courses are either half- or full-day courses. Half-day courses are 4 hours in length and are presented either in the morning (08:30-12:30) or afternoon (13:00-17:00), with 15-minute coffee breaks midmorning and mid-afternoon.

Full-day courses include 4-hour sessions in both the morning and afternoon, with coffee breaks and a one-hour lunch break at noon. Distribution of course contents and teaching responsibilities are left up to the instructors. Typical formats for training courses are as follows:

Half-day course

(8:30–12:30 or 13:30—17:30)    
Introduction and overview – 15 min.
First half of material – 90 min.
Coffee break – 15 min.
Second half of material – 90 min.
Review, questions and course evaluation – 30 min.

Full-day course

Morning session (8:30–12:30)    
Introduction and overview – 15 min.
Course material – 90 min.
Coffee break – 15 min.
Course material – 90 min.
Review, student questions – 30 min.

Afternoon session (13:30-17:30)
Course material – 90 min.
Coffee break – 15 min.
Course material – 90 min.
Final review and questions – 30 min.
Course evaluation – 15 min.

These are general format strategies that fit lecture courses well. Courses involving hands-on activities or interactive work may require varied formats. It is very important to refer to the type of course in the course description so that we can evaluate each course in the context of the entire program.

Handouts and Teaching Aids

As much as possible, SETAC will provide instructors with all necessary instructional equipment, including audio-visual equipment such as screens and projectors. Requirements for any special equipment, e.g., computers, and microscopes, must be conveyed in the proposal. If necessary, instructors may be requested to provide special equipment. SETAC encourages instructors to use PowerPoint to bring their own computers to ensure programme compatibility.

For courses that require participants to bring their own laptop, it is also highly recommended that the instructor has direct contact with the participants well in advance, to ensure that the participants have installed all the required software and time is left to solve any technical problems. The SETAC office will provide the list of participants and their contact details in April.

Each course should be accompanied by an agenda presenting the course outline. Presentations should closely follow the outline for the course. The cohesiveness of the outline is an important criterion for the success of the course and should be reviewed by all instructors and the committee.

Course participants view the course manual as an important deliverable. This should be well thought out and of high quality. The manual should include all visuals and references used in the course; in addition, materials that summarise and supplement the course prove to be most useful to the participants.

Course instructors are responsible for the preparation and reproduction of these materials. We encourage electronic materials to save paper and shipping costs. SETAC can provide USB sticks or cloud storage space. Where photocopies are necessary, the SETAC office can assist with printing and shipping. Please contact staff well in advance, the latest 4 weeks before the meeting.

Conflict of Interest

The subject matter of training courses should be based on applications and not on proprietary operations or technology, software, etc. If a specific instrument or technology is emphasised, all similar products must be mentioned. There may be no endorsement of specific techniques, instruments, software, etc. as part of the course material or in subsequent literature relating to the presentation of the course. A SETAC endorsement disclaimer will be included for all courses that refer to specific instruments or technologies. SETAC appeals to the instructors’ good judgment in presenting balanced, unbiased information. The purpose of SETAC training courses is to educate and promote good science, not to sell products or services.