Takoda Institute and adult education program REVIEW

The video: https://youtu.be/Uxcfu9c28YM

this is a review of The takoda Institute adult education on Franklin avenue in Minneapolis Minnesota!

Availability - they have reasonable daytime hours, 8 - 3 and 4.

Accessibility - as someone who admittedly isn't disabled, I would say that the building is easy to navigate with wide hallways and a lot of movable furniture. The doorways do seem kind of narrow to me, so I don't know how someone with wheelchair would get into some of the rooms. But if someone who isn't wheelchair-bound I don't know what the necessary with is. But they feel narrow to me is an able-bodied person.

Location - the main office in a lot of the adult education programs in a right on cedar and Franklin. These are bus routes blue Line, 22, 2, 67, and a 9 mainly. I would say that's a great location with high Public transportation traffic. cedar avenue and Franklin avenue are not so great during rush hour for personal vehicles. they do have their own parking, but as someone who doesn't have a car I can't be inaccurate judge on the desirable availability.

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My experience:

my very first experience with Dakota was about two or three years ago. They were suggested to me by a different agency and I called them at least three times at different points of the day and they never picked up the phone. I decided not to go because that was a bad sign to me.

Much later, too late last year, a different agency suggested them to me and I express that they have an issue because they don't pick up the phone. The person knew that was an issue but told me to go over there anyway. I looked at their website and tried to call them again, and they didn't answer the phone.

 I left a Facebook review saying that they don't pick up their phone but they're highly suggested so I was going to go over and see what they were talking about. Someone replied to that Facebook review, and I don't remember what it said, but if the review is still up you can see it for yourself. After that, they answered the phone.

My first set of classes for equipment operations went swimmingly well! The only hiccup was an offsetting mixed impression by the employment and training developer. The person got us donuts and juice, but then went on some kind of weird Rant about coffee, that involved a devalue of tea. Nothing serious, but still didn't really have a value for first impressions.

The instructor (as of December 2019) for the compact excavator and toolcat where excellent! Gave everyone the right amount of time and patience, and was extra careful with me when I was straightforward about not knowing how to drive.

with things going that well I was very excited for my next training of Warehouse logistics. But that's when things started to teeter off right then. 

Between those two classes, I gave my resume to the career Navigator. when I got my resume back the person referred to me by my dead name, which is on my resume. I don't see any excuse for this because I've always use the same email to contact them, they already knew my name and I've already known them for days, and the name that I go by is next to my legal name on the resume. 

I also told the career navigator that I'm particular about who I seek employment from because I'm also LGBTQ. and they also know that I have a gender thing going on because I have my pronouns in my signatures of my emails. and I was regularly misgendered when I was upfront about my pronouns. I did eventually stop correcting people, because I knew I wasn't going to see them for too much longer anyway.

also, I missed a class because I never got the schedule for the warehouse logistics session. I ended up not attending a class because I assumed that the schedule would be the same as equipment operations, even though the durations were different. It's fortunate that I didn't miss any sort of test, because these classes are only available to a person once per lifetime. However, the employment and training developer made it into a much bigger deal than it was and wanted me to come back the next day by myself. I went, not understanding that I was supposed to leave because I wasn't told to leave, and it turned out all I missed was a video. There was no need for me to come back the next day, and waste the trip I had already taken.

and the way the employment and training developer addressed it was all so abrasive and unprofessional. When I tried to explain why I missed the class I was blown off like I was trying to start an argument. I wasn't trying to start an argument. I was just trying to explain, and they weren't interested in hearing me out. and they couldn't even give me my certificates like congratulations first. They just jumped right into telling me that I missed a class, while handing my certificates.

after missing the class, I email for people telling them that I need to speak to someone who runs the program. From there on out, I addressed my concerns and complaints with the assistant director of the program. I initially contacted this person by phone, and even though I feel like the conversation with mostly productive I did get some of the throwaway excuses of "we're understaffed" and all that, and my response was "I understand where you're coming from but, that's not my problem. my problem is how I'm being treated and communicated with."

and Warehouse logistics, the first person that we had for the skid steer was the same person that we had for equipment operations. That training also went swimmingly.

the next instructor (as of January 2020) we had, was far from a student, so I wouldn't say it was well equipped to be a teacher. Criticism and picking up on things bounced off of this person. This is someone I could tell was way more into being a judge than a teacher.

while we were in class, some students vocalize issues of this person going too fast, and I'm not being able to get the information. They talked to him and had their questions answered while we had our break, and I suppose that resolved it. and we had one student that watched the videos on YouTube, without the instruction and only got one question wrong on the test. it's common knowledge that everyone absorbs information at a different pace in different styles, but I view it as disrespectful when the instructor ignores student feedback. And we had someone do very well without being there with the instructor! probably the best one out of all of us, because that person only got one question wrong. That still makes me question the effectiveness of the teaching Style.

instructor also didn't know how to instruct people that operate on different levels. I was clear about not knowing how to drive, and I was still given the same amount of instruction and space as the other students. Things weren't explain to me as meticulously as they should have been. on my part, I have to admit that I should have been insistent from the get-go about going outside and just being able to drive around instead of going along with taking the same space as the other students. 

I honestly knew that the instructor was still going to treat me the same as the other students even though I was not the same. But I did not assert myself and advocate myself enough, and I have learned my lesson from it. but, I went with the part of me that would go along with it and see what would happen. It's very fortunate that nothing traumatic happened. However, I didn't take the test, and I will not be getting the certificate/ certification for that course.

But after receiving some fast from both instructors, one of them did let me outside to just drive it around slowly. So I do know how to drive a forklift. And I know the safety precautions and all that on how to inspect a forklift. They still can't take away what I learned whether or not they give you the paperwork for it.

Speaking of paperwork, as of right now, I don't know if they will send me these certificates and certifications that I did earn. as they have decided to expel me from the program for complaining too much, it's their decision on whether or not they want to have any further contact with me, including but not limited to, mailing my certificates. I told them to put them in the mail for me because I don't want to get profile for trespassing if I were to go there in person, since the assistant director decided they no longer want me in the program.

It would be decent of them to tell me that they're going to send me the certificates, and mail them to me. I feel like if they were going to do that, they would have told me an email where they decided to expel me. That would just be the "proper communication" thing to do.

But I'm not going to expect anything or symphony thing. I would hope that even if they don't directly tell me, they would go ahead and passive-aggressively silently send the certificates their earned and wash their hands of me, as I will wash my hands of them.

For the record, both of the instructors are people that the developer new at different points in life. And I'm not sure if any of these people ever received feedback in their training positions. since they previously know the person in the position to pick them, I can't help but feel like there's some kind of favoritism going on, instead of actually selecting the proper people to do the training. at the same time, how can you know if someone's proper if they don't have a system in which they can receive feedback on their training abilities? I probably wouldn't have gone through these courses had I known that's how it was set up. 

Honestly, someone warned me not to go to those courses, because of their duration. Right now, part of me wishes I had listened, but most of me is happy I had the experience. with that being said, I cannot suggest the takoda institute for training because of: lack of accountability, lack of sensitivity, lack of attentiveness, and wildly severe lack of communication.

I asked around, and I don't think there's anyone I can submit this feedback to that would have some sort of effect on the program. I certainly don't want this shut down and removed from the community. They should certainly be striving to do better by their students.

but I trusted my gut before. Don't trust businesses that don't answer their phone. I went against it because the place was so critically acclaimed around the community, but now I know my gut was right. Don't trust businesses that don't answer their phone.

Thank you so much for reading! I can only hope that this review helps people make informed decisions on participating in this program. And I hope to see you again at the next review!