Launch of the SciLifeLab Training Portal – a one-stop-shop to find training opportunities and support for training
On February 5 2024, SciLifeLab Training Hub introduced the new national training portal for the life science community.
The aim of the Training Hub is to provide the life science community ways to access SciLifeLab knowledge, skills, and expertise. The Training Portal gives users a platform which can house and host resources to use in training design, development and delivery.
“There are almost 3000 trainees being reached each year by SciLifeLab training delivered by the platforms, and we want to help FAIR-ify the training and to make the training openly accessible so that everyone who wishes to be professionally developed has access to high quality, sustainable training”, says Jessica Lindvall, Head of Training.
“We like to call this a soft launch, because this is not the final version of the Portal. It is the first version, and many more things will end up here”, adds Nina Norgren, Training Manager.
The Training Portal has two target groups; the trainees coming to SciLifeLab to search for training to upskill themselves and look for courses, and the trainers, the SciLifeLab community of experts that gives the training and comes to the Portal to find resources to upskill themselves and their training.
“For people developing training, we are starting to offer pedagogic support as well as tools and technical support. Some of our initial support exists as content guides on how to create good webinars and recordings for individual lectures, and we recently released the Video Training Production guidelines which help with making good training online”, says Nina Norgren.
Future work for the Portal includes adding a section for materials. For now, the Portal is a registry that points towards courses. A section that points toward materials will also be available in the future so that everyone can, at any time, go in and take a look at the material and explore the training themselves.
“If you have material you think would fit on the portal, start thinking about it! When we launch the materials section we are interested in collecting that material, ensuring that its openly accessible and FAIR, and help you put it up here on the portal so everyone can find it”, says Nina Norgren.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Are the courses and training only available for those working at SciLifeLab?
A: No, it is like a library, and openly accessible to all. And with persistent identifiers on training materials, by making the training FAIR and Open, everyone will be able to consume the knowledge. Added value with persistent identifiers is the person that builds the materials knows and can report the impact of their training, how many people it has reached.
Q: Who are the trainers that the Portal can help — can anyone have training put on the Portal?
A: In our first step we are focusing on getting the SciLifeLab-arranged courses up on the Portal, but there’s nothing stopping us from extending to healthcare, industry, or other stakeholders in the life science community
Visit SciLifeLab Training Portal
More information on SciLifeLab Training Hub here: https://www.scilifelab.se/training/
Photo: Jill Jaworski
