When all educational institutions in Germany had to close their doors on 17 March 2020, mediation training institutes were at a crossroads: Should they postpone their courses until traditional face-to-face teaching would be possible again? Or should they take the plunge and convert their curricula to digital formats? Those who chose the latter path in the spring can now draw on valuable experience with a form of teaching that was an exotic feature of the mediator training landscape only a year ago. At that time, it was considered the innovative icing on the cake of mediation training to serve the participants a pinch of expert knowledge on the future topic of online mediation. Only a few training institutes even addressed this supposedly niche topic as part of the basic training to become a certified mediator. Today, the graduates of these spring courses have already experienced the digital future of mediation first-hand over many hours.
But how did they experience the overnight digital learning environment? Was it even possible to learn the practice method of mediation in the virtual classroom? Did the participants find it a deficit to mediate in a role play between two conflict parties visible only as tiles on the screen? Or were they perhaps even able to concentrate better and, incidentally, became competent online mediators?
The evaluation of questionnaires answered by the graduates of two training courses of the CONSENSUS Campus Institute makes an instructive contribution to the discussion on the comparability between virtual and physical presence in mediation training. A total of 15 people took part in the survey. The questionnaires, which were identical for both groups, contained six simple questions where participants could move a slider on a scale from 0 to 100 %. In addition, individually formulated comments could be given for each question, as well as a concluding comment “General comments on the question online or offline teaching/advantages and disadvantages”.
1) General Online- Experience
What was your personal experience with the online module) (Scale: slider 0= not valuable; 100= very valuable)
Average result: 92.5
2) Details on Online- Experience
2.1 How do you rate the knowledge transfer online? (Scale: slider 0= not good; 100= very good)
Average result: 98,5
Comments on knowledge transfer online:
2.2 How well did group discussions work online? (Scale: slide control 0= not good; 100= very good)
Average result: 99.0
Comments on group discussion online
2.3 How well have mediation simulations from your perspective worked online? (Scale: slide control 0= not good; 100= very good)
Average result: 94.7
Comments on mediation simulations online
3) Self-assessment
3.1 How much do you agree with this statement: I feel able to do mediation independently.
(Scale: slider 0= absolutely not; 100= I feel fully capable)
Average result: 96.7
3.2 How much do you agree with this statement: I feel able to conduct ONLINE mediations independently.
(Scale: slider 0= absolutely not; 100= I feel fully capable)
Average result: 97.5
Comments:
4) Comparison
Which experience was more valuable for you? (slider towards two pools: online training vs. face-to-face training)
Average result: 51
General comments
The limitations of the Corona pandemic represented both a major challenge and a historic opportunity for the training institutes. Overnight, the “everything stays as it was” option was off the table. When this happens in a mediation session, it can initially put the conflict parties into a kind of shock paralysis, from which a storm of creative, innovative ideas can be unleashed through successful empowerment. This is how a number of mediation training institutes unleashed their creative potential in the Corona crisis and converted their curricula to live online teaching in a real tour de force in a very short time. The survey of participants shows very impressively how well this has succeeded, mind you despite the lack of experience and uncertainty among both teachers and learners about the possibilities of the virtual classroom. The high percentages speak for themselves, but can nevertheless hardly reflect how much joy and inspiration the participants as “online pioneers” were at work and what close cohesion developed in both groups. It remains to be said: The present results are a strong indication that the essential competences of a mediation training can also be imparted by way of live online teaching; in addition, the competence for online mediation is imparted, which conversely is left out in a traditional face-to-face teaching. In the autumn courses, which have now started and are also marked by the pandemic, the digital transformation has already come a long way: The trainers are much more digitally savvy and have a whole range of interactive tools at their disposal to create exciting, action-oriented lessons in the virtual space. The participants bring more digital competence from their professional practice and explicitly attach importance to acquiring not only classical mediation competence but also the increasingly demanded competence of live online mediation, which has long since ceased to be left to a small circle of experts. Live online formats open up completely new possibilities for making both mediation training and mediation as a process more sustainable, cost-effective and international. People can meet in a virtual circle who would never have met in a physical space. Therefore, mediation training in the virtual classroom is by no means just an emergency solution due to the pandemic. Rather, it is an important supplement to analogue face-to-face teaching, which is crucial for the future viability of mediation and should not be missing from any contemporary training concept.