“Help! What do I do Now?” Improving Decision-Making Skills for Interpreters Using Demand-Control Schema

Demand-Control Schema, as developed by Robyn Dean and Robert Pollard, is an effective structure for interpreters to use when making decisions about their interpretation. These decisions may involve logistical, linguistic, interpersonal and ethical issues. In this webinar, participants will be provided with an overview of D-CS, and will learn how this approach can be used to train interpreters in a wide variety of settings. 

Learners will: 

• Review the principles of Demand-Control Schema 

• Practice identifying demands and controls 

• Apply D-CS to identify consequences of decisions, and resulting demands 

• Discuss the types of decisions that interpreters face, which could be addressed using D-CS

• Consider the different methods to use to include D-CS in workshops, seminars and courses

 Some of the comments received from participants follow:

• Excellent webinar by Karen Malcom [sic].  Great concepts explained in a down-to-earth manner with very good practical examples and great suggestions for Trainers.  Thank you!
• Great presentation and the moderator was interactive with a great humanistic approach! excellent work. I will recommend this training to all our teachers.
• I found this webinar very useful. Presentation was good, speed, and slides also. Examples are what we see in everyday practice. I'd also like to thank Karen for indicating pertinent material to be reviewed before the webinar and for providing links. This is a webinar that is worthwhile.
• Presenter was extremely eloquent in her delivery and made for a highly accessible 1.5 hours of mind-stretching experience. Thank you!
• I appreciate her experience and the information provided was very helpful. Thank you!
• I loved the discussion through live voting!!
• Wonderful! Thank you
• It was great to see that what I am learning in my ITP is actually being utilized "in the real world" of interpreting.  Thank you for a very informative workshop.
• Although I am not a trainer, I have learned a lot with this session.  What I have learned will be very useful with my daily work as a healthcare interpreter.  It also gives a formal frame and structuring to what I have already being doing, but now I know how it is classified and called, and it gives me more resources to continue learning about ethical decisions.

About the presenter:

Karen Malcolm is an American Sign Language/English interpreter and interpreter educator based in Vancouver, BC who has been interpreting for 32 years, specializing in mental health and medical settings for the last 20 years.  She has been teaching interpreting to both novice and experienced interpreters for 21 years, in both Canada and the US. Along with workshops on medical and mental health interpreting, Karen also teaches workshops on ethical decision-making, which she has taught to both signed and spoken language interpreters. She holds a Master of Science in Education (Teaching Interpreting) from Western Maryland College and is certified as an interpreter by AVLIC.