The Training Program for Biomethane Production in Ukraine — summaries of online trainings
From January 17 to February 14, the USAID Energy Security Project (ESP), in cooperation with the Civic Union Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABio), held a comprehensive Training Program for Biomethane Production in Ukraine.
In this material, we detail the organizational details of the course, the selection and evaluation of participants, as well as our team’s findings.
The training program on the basics of biomethane production in Ukraine was developed by experts of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABIO) supporting the USAID’s Energy Security Project (ESP).
Download presentations of the Program
During the first period of project implementation (September-December 2023) the experts of UABio have developed education course materials including presentation slides, case studies, visual materials, practical exercises, test questions, and lists of the relevant information sources including overview reports, technical specifications and research papers. All together 20 lectures were prepared including final Q&A sessionю
Registration and diagnostic assessment were organized and conducted with utilization of Google Forms. Diagnostic (pre-survey) assessment was started in December 20, 2023. It was combined with registration procedures. That helps to identify participants’ level of subject understanding, their skill sets and capabilities, and to clarify misconceptionsbefore teaching takes place.
In general 557 (unique persons) successful registrations were collected. The training program gathered a highly educated and professional audience, the absolute majority of participants had a higher education, and about a quarter had a scientific degree.
Most of the listeners represented business, there were many students and teachers among the participants, but, unfortunately, there were not many representatives of the authorities among the participants.
Main conclusions from the results of registration and assessment
- Totally 557 unique persons were registered within December 2023 – February 2024.
- In general, potential participants have high level of education, 68% had completed higher education, 20% have PhD and approx. 6% have doctorate degree.
- The main part of the participants are representatives of business (36%), high school teachers (18%), and students (8.9%). The presence of representatives of central and local authorities was limited to 5%.
- The percentage of participants who rated their knowledge highly (score 4 and 5) was 29% for anaerobic digestion technologies, 17% for biogas upgrading to biomethane and 28% for the digestate concept.
- However, test questions showed that 95% of participants believe that biogas is a renewable energy source, 78% understand that biomethane can substitute natural gas, 84% believe that biomethane can serve as a tool for climate change mitigation, and only 60% knew before training that biomethane can be liquefied.
- Participants were asked to rate their level of interest in 10 separate topics related to the production and use of biogas and biomethane. They demonstrated high and uniform interest (70-80%) across all topics.
- During the registration process, participants were asked to formulate additional wishes and questions. In total, about 130 comments, questions and suggestions were collected. Most of the comments and questions were used and answered during the final Q&A session in February 14.
After course materials development five training sessions with 20 lectures were executed within five consecutive weeks from January 17 till February 14 (four lectures during the day). Training materials were delivered by subject matter experts covering the topics related to biomethane production identified in the training plan. Training materials were developed both in English and Ukrainian versions. Training process was done in Ukrainian language with parallel translation in English in ZOOM media. In total, more than 350 trainees took part in the trainings.
In addition, UABIO experts prepared control homework, which was an important additional tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the course. In general, after each lecture day, the participants received homework in the form of a test for practice. From 170 to 183 answers were received for each test. The number of participants who took part in at least one test is 235. In general, the participants demonstrated a high level of mastery of the material – in the range of 70-80 percent.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the training program was realized by summative assessment. This assessment is final measures after completing a course defining what the student has learned during the course. The final assessment was conducted using Google Forms as well. All of the questions related to the topics covered during the program and did not included generalized questions as are used for estimating level of involvement.
The list of 40 final questions was developed in parallel with lecture materials preparation . The results of final test is shown in the Fig below.
The total number of the participants was 209. The average obtained score is 53.85 (80.4%). The criterion for obtaining the certificate of completion is an average grade on the Final Test over 2/3 (66.7% of the maximal possible grade or 45 points). All together 146 registered participants obtained above 45 score (66.7%) and qualified to get certificate of the successful completion of the course.
After final test completion, all participants were asked to evaluate the quality of the education program and provide specific comments. The results of the evaluation are shown in the Fig. 9 for each particular module and for course in total. It can be seen that maximal 5 points were provided by 83.7% of participants (77.5% ─ 86.1% for individual modules), 4 points by 13.9% (11.5% ─ 19.6% for individual modules) and 3 points by only 2.4% of participants.
The USAID Energy Security Project and the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABIO) team thank the program participants for their fruitful work and interesting discussions!
Source of the photo: AB Holding S.p.a.
