Programme Design

One of the other opportunity points for learning in the evaluation process comes at the programme design stage. A key decision for the lead developer at this point is who to involve in the project. The bigger the project the greater the opportunity for involving more people and hence more learning. However, teams are often put together based upon individuals’ prior experience of working on similar learning programmes..

However, if at the design stage we put our diversity and/or knowledge management hats on this could bring a different result, creating an opportunity for injecting new energy and/or approaches into the design.

I have a well-respected colleague who, although she doesn’t do much actual delivery these days, is regularly invited to design meetings. Her ability to challenge some of the underpinning assumptions upon which learning programmes are developed, as well as her ability to encourage others to come up with creative design solutions, is invaluable. Her involvement, albeit for a limited time, increases the learning opportunities for other team members.

Where a knowledge management perspective is adopted at the programme design stage this could help focus on the lessons learnt from other relevant learning programmes, for example, what were the key successes, sticking points and turning points? This approach has two benefits, one being an improved product, and another being the enhanced knowledge of the developers in the design team. One generic evaluation criterion that could be adopted is ensuring that the way of working adopted by the design team maximises the opportunities for the transfer of knowledge.