Hello @kiaragalicinao
All the other workshops and your materials have been great, but I have some critical feedback regarding the PA workshop on July 20th.
Unfortunately, that workshop was not useful. Not only did I and several other attendees that I talked with them feel that we didn’t learn anything, but the types of questions asked and the coach’s explanations were very poor, leaving us SO confused.
Does Blackspace management review the workshop content and coach explanations? If future workshops are similar, we won’t be able to utilize them.
Hi @sh.khodabakhshi,
Thank you for writing in and I am sorry to hear about your experience with the recent PA Virtual Workshop. I appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention here, as well as in the Workshop Replay Feedback Survey.
I personally review workshop recordings each week and provide feedback to the coaches. Coaches are evaluated to ensure that they are meeting our standards for workshop delivery and providing an effective learning environment for our members. Each week, I distribute my feedback notes as well as anonymous member survey comments to each coach so that they are aware of what went well and where they could improve. Any critical feedback is discussed and subsequent performance is monitored appropriately.
The Virtual Workshops are intended to dive deeper into the most difficult ARE topics, while giving you the opportunity to collaborate with peers and gain insights from a registered architect coach. While 2 hours may seem like a long time, the sessions go by quickly because we pack in a lot of content and rich discussions take place (often varying from live session to live session). Attendees are encouraged to post follow-up questions on the ARE Community if they are still confused about a topic or need further explanations - as is often the case with complex concepts. Our coaches are more than happy to provide further support beyond the session to ensure that members are understanding the topics fully, because we do understand that sometimes 2 hours is not enough to cover all the details about a topic.
It is also important to note that while the workshop replays are made available to provide flexibility in studying, they do not replace the live session experience. There are many discussions and further elaborations (notably during the breakout room sessions) that are unfortunately not captured in the recordings. Our coaches do their best to bring crucial discussions into the main room, but sometimes it is note feasible with time constraints. This is why we emphasize the value of the live sessions over the previously-recorded versions.
If you have specific examples of coach explanations that could use improvement or other thoughts/suggestion for enhancing the workshops, please send those to me directly at kiaragalicinao@blackspectacles.com. I am happy to discuss these further with you and have further discussions with the coach about them as well.
Best,
Kiara Galicinao, AIA, NCARB
Product Coordinator
Black Spectacles