Aha Moments, Lightbulb Reports, and Everyday Practice

Throughout the 2019-2020 Home Visitor Wrap-Around Training schedule, participants are being asked to complete a Lightbulb Report at the end of each training session. Why?

We select training topics connected to the competencies home visitors need to do their jobs well. We think our presenters with expertise in those competency areas will create some aha moments for the audience—you know, those moments when you learn something new that is important to you or something makes sense in a new way or you see a connection to something you’ve been trying to figure out. Some people describe this as a moment when a lightbulb goes off!

The Lightbulb Report is meant to capture the aha moments you experience during a training session, along with an idea or two on how you might use what you learned when you’re on the job with the families you serve.

The intent is that when you leave the training session, you will put into practice the knowledge you gained in your aha moments. We know it’s easy to lose track of this, so about three months after each training session, we send you a copy of the Lightbulb Report you completed and ask you to tell us how things worked out when you tried putting into practice what you learned in the training session.

It’s exciting to report that 70% of the home visitors who completed the first follow-up Lightbulb Report rated themselves at least one competency level higher than their self-rating on the day of the training. We think that means a lot of learning is happening during the process of putting knowledge into practice. It’s OK if you aren’t completely successful in the attempts you make to apply what you learned. Keep in mind what Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, supposedly said: “I haven’t failed. I just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.” No need to aspire to Edison’s level of persistence! The important thing is to keep trying, making adaptations as you learn more about what works for you, translating your aha moments into everyday practice.

Submitted by:

Janet Umble
Home Visitor Wrap-Around Training