Section outline

  • Welcome

    • Welcome
      The purpose of this site is to inspire you to think differently about your capacity strengthening activities.

      You can navigate the content by clicking in the menu to the left or by using the arrows.

      The site was created as part of the Build Capacity Smarter project, supported by Globalt Fokus.

  • Evidence of Learning

    • Before we get started on learning design, let’s take a moment to think about assessment and evaluation. How will you know that your learners have actually learned something from the learning experience that you are designing and that their learning has had an impact? What is the evidence you can look for?

      If you focus on the evidence of learning from the beginning it helps you think strategically about learning, for example making sure that the a training you’re designing is aligned with your organisation's strategic focus.

    • Resources

      This Praxis Paper from INTRAC (2015) gives tools and recommendations for monitoring and evaluation learning initiatives. It also provides a checklist to help guide you in your planning.

      From the paper's conclusion: "There are steps we can follow to ensure that planning, monitoring and evaluation processes contribute to the engagement and empowerment of learners – but these are the steps which are too often skipped over as we work under time pressure. In this way, we miss vital opportunities to learn, adapt and increase the likelihood of making the desired change happen. The M&E process – when done well – helps to deepen communication, trust and understanding between stakeholders on bringing about and sustaining change."

    • Download INTRAC's paper on Monitoring and Evaluating Training URL
    • Read a summary of the workshop on Evaluating Learning Initiatives, May 2019 File


    • Action Learning

      Action learning is a systematized way of investigating your own practice to find out how to improve it. It is an iterative process of:

      1. describing a challenge
      2. planning an intervention
      3. doing the intervention
      4. observing changes
      5. reflecting
      6. planning a new intervention and starting again from step 1

      In that sense, action learning is a way of incorporating monitoring and evaluation into a learning process. Learning is not just an abstract thing, but something that directly influences and changes your practice. 

      Action learning takes place in teams (sometimes called "professional communities" or "communities of practice"). More on this in the section about Networked Learning.

      The best time to introduce a new training, will often be between step 5 and 6 in the list above. At this point, you have a clearly described challenge, and you have gathered the first experiences in trying to solve this challenge.

    • Read a summary of the workshop on Action Learning in August 2019 File

    • Reflection icon

      Reflection

      Ask yourself these questions:

      • What does success look like for my learning intervention?
      • How does the learning experience that I am designing play into the strategy of my organisation/unit/team?
      • Where (and when) can I look for evidence that learning has taken place and has made an impact?

  • Digital Learning Design

    • Resources

      5 tips for designing effective learning experiences 

      You want to create a learning design that engages your learner and supports her in learning the content and putting the learning to use in her context. The video below takes you through 5 important elements to remember when you get started with your learning design. 

      This video is made on an Android phone with the KineMaster app, which is available for free in Google Play and App Store.

      To recap, here are the 5 tips:

      • Put your learning design in context
      • Begin with the end in mind
      • Use variation
      • Engage your learners in active learning
      • Let your learner be your guide

    • Metaphors for Learning Design

      A learning experience design is a description of the process of learning that you envision for your learner. You can think of your learning design as a journey - a path that takes your learner trough different learning activities. You can also think of it as a map of different activities that your learner can use to guide them in their learning process.

    • tools

    • design process

      Learning design is a process of making deliberate choices about content and pedagogical strategies for timing, learning activities, assessment/certification, media, and delivery style. It is a way of planning a learning experience that is based on both an understanding of how humans learn and on design principles and methods from human centered design.

      Human centered design and design thinking are methods to design solutions (products, processes or services) that solves problems for people and will be adopted and used.  

      double diamond design process

      The first diamond shape is where you make sure that you solve the right problem, by being curious about the learners, the context and the theme. The second diamond shape is where you set yourself up to solve the problem right, by developing prototypes and testing them in an iterative process.

    • Click to view the Double Diamond model in full size File

    •  

      Design methods

      The non-profit design studio IDEO.org have created a design kit that describes design methods for human centered design. Here you can get inspiration on how to gather information, ideate, and prototype your learning design.

    • Go to the IDEO.org design kit URL

    •  

      Learning Experience Canvas

      When designing learning experiences, a very common mistake is to put too much focus on the WHAT, i.e. the content that you want to teach, too early in the process. Doing so, we risk forgetting the learner's perspective, his or her prior knowledge, motivation, and learning conditions, and the purpose or objectives of the learning for the learner and his or her organisation.

      A Learning Experience Design (LXD) canvas is a great tool to frame your thoughts and make sure you don't leave out important considerations in the design process. The canvas you see below is the one that is currently being used by DCA Learning Lab.

      LXD canvas

      Inspired by experience design, the canvas describes:

      1) Entry: How the learner enters into the designed context of the learning experience.

      2) Engagement: The learning activities that immerse the participant in the experience.

      3) Exit: The clear end of the designed experience.

      4) Extension (spaced learning): A physical or digital object that the participant can take with them - or that you can provide later - to 'extend' the experience.

    • View/download Learning Lab's Learning Design Canvas File
    • View/download a Learning Design Canvas from LDframe.com File

      Developed by Jan Foelsing, LDframe.com

    • Reflection icon

      Reflection

      Ask yourself these questions:

      • Is the learner front and center of my learning design?
      • Do the learning activities engage the learners in active learning?
      • Are the learning objectives aligned with the learning activities and assessment?
      • Am I involving the right people in the learning design process?

  • Networked Learning and Communities of Practice

    • What is a community? Today, we often think about social media or other types of digital communities when we hear the word. Or you might think of local communities that you engage in or work with. 

      The Learning theorist Etienne Wenger defines Communities of Practice (CoPs) as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”

      In that sense, there is not necessarily a technology component to a community. However, in our organisations today, it often makes sense to use learning and information technologies to enhance and support communities of practice.

      Resources

    • Interview with Severin Matusek from Co-Matter

      This interview was recorded at the Learning Tech for Change event in November 2019.


    • How to grow a community of practice

      The learning theorist Étienne Wenger is known for his work on situated learning and communities of practice. The article below sums up 7 design principles for cultivating communities of practice.

    • Read the article: Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice URL
    • Read as summary of the workshop on social learning, May 2019 File

    • Reflection icon

      Reflection

      Ask yourself these questions:

      • What is the purpose of my community? 
      • Is it clearly communicated to the community members how they can engage?
      • What kind of activities will inspire the community members to take active part in the community?

  • Theme 1: Online Facilitation in Real-time

    • Webinars or online workshops are often a practical way to train or connect with staff
      • When in-person meetings are not possible
      • To save on travel (expenses, scheduling, time, CO2 emission)
      • To be more inclusive (finances, geography, mobility)
      • To connect people who might otherwise not meet

    • tools

      This document is a compilation of suggested planning actions related to preparation, delivery, and follow-up for online facilitations.

      The list is made up of contributions from participants in the online workshop “How to Facilitate Online Training Processes in Real Time” as part of the Build Capacity Smarter project and delivered by DCA’s Learning Lab. The workshop took place on October 9, 2019 with participants from several CSOs.

    • Download the Online Facilitation Planning Checklist File

    • Resources

      Read about key learning from the workshop or download the presentation below.

    • Read a summary of the webinar on online facilitation in real-time File
    • Download the Powerpoint presentation from the webinar File

    •  

      Reflection icon

      Reflection

      Ask yourself these questions:

      • Do I need a co-facilitator?
      • Which activities can I set up for the participants to come prepared to the session?
      • What functionality is available in my virtual meeting tool to support collaboration or group work?
      • What activities can I do to follow up on the learning that took place in the session?

  • Theme 2: Chatbots

    • Case

      Didi the chatbot

      The chatbot Didi was designed and built by Ida Hrönn from ActionAid Denmark as an experiment on how to use the chatbot technology for learning retention and follow-up with participants at the Global Platforms. 

      In its current version Didi is an MVP (minimum viable product) that is tested with training participants in mainly Bangladesh. The main functions of Didi are to help the users make an action plan after training, give the users inspiration and follow up with them on their activities.

      The chatbot identity was created with input from the target audience. It was developed in collaboration with a software development team in Bangladesh. They created a chatbot development platform from the ground up which has some advantages, but it is generally advised to use one of the easy to use platforms for creating bots that are available for free online. This way, you can quickly test out your idea and find out if you need a customised tool.

      The chatbot is very well received by training participants as a means to follow up and create their action plan. They report that it is fun to work with and that they get a lot out of the cases that the chatbot presents.

    • Resources

    • Read a summary of the workshop How (not) to build a chatbot, October 2019 File

  • About this site

    • The toolbox site was created as part of the project Build Capacity Smarter, funded by Globalt Fokus. The project was done by ActionAid Denmark, DanChurchAid and Danish Red Cross Youth. You can read about the project here.

      Community iconOne of the most important outcomes of the project was the knowledge sharing that took place within digital didactics, networked learning, and evidence of learning between our three organisations. We want to share that knowledge with you too!

      The resources on this site are a mix of curated resources that we've found useful in the project and resources that were created during the project.

      We hope that the site will be useful when you design your next learning experience!