Manufacturing Relevance
Relevance is a key ingredient in any learning plan
How do you increase relevance in a learning plan?
Discover skills needed in the world of work - Some educational programs aim to broaden a learner's mind; others prepare a learner with specific skills for specific employment opportunities. When we talk about a learning program aimed at specific career paths, relevance is the degree to which skills learned match up with skills needed on the job. We are talking about quite specific skills. To start "manufacturing relevance" into a program of learning, curriculum designers need to tap into the needs of employers on a regular basis, discover what is need. It is not good enough to speculate, or go with what instructors consider important. Ask the employers!
Define and redefine Performance Objectives - Performance Objectives go by many names, like Vocational Learning Outcomes, Competencies, Objectives and Key Results. Whatever your terminology, the idea is that you want to clearly articulate measurable performance goals. Many learning programs are still based on the "nouns" of learning - subjects that learners study. Performance objectives are the "verbs" of learning, and speak to what a learner is capable of doing once they have developed their abilities. Design your standards around Performance Objectives that matter to the world of work. Performance objectives are the high-level goals. Enabling Objectives are the more detailed and specific bits of knowledge and skill that learners develop in order to reach their Performance Objectives
Use Feedback loops - Establish regular feedback pathways. Invite employers to regularly review and comment on program performance objectives and enabling objectives, and even on assessment methods. Use advisory committees, workshops, or whatever connects curriculum designers with employers to review performance objectives.
Engage in ongoing curriculum management across teams - Establish more workflows where you are communicating employers' input to curriculum designers and to instructors, and back again. Facilitating incremental and manageable change is not easy; it requires opportunities to assess proposed changes, consider impacts on learning materials and learning programs, and the time and skill available to continually upgrade programs. Collaborate to choose changes that maximize relevance without too much confusion.
Build and Share Competency Ladders - A competency ladder is a way of showing the relationships between basic foundational knowledge and skills, and more advanced performance objectives. Competency ladders help in a few ways:
- They inform curriculum designers and instructors on the more effective order in which to help learners learn.
- They inform learners! about how the foundational skills help get them to their capstone performance objectives. Nothing turns off learning more than having no idea why you are learning what you are told to learn. Provide a window into the relevance of every enabling objective, show how it gets learners closer to their goals.
Audit Learning Programs - So you have clearly defined set of Performance Objectives and Competency Ladders, but if the actual learning program is wandering off course, learners start questioning the relevance of lessons. Be sure the syllabus for a learning module stays focused on those performance objectives desired by employers! Teach and assess what the employers have said matters.
Be seen to be relevant - Publish regular updates or a view into your curriculum that clearly spell out the current performance objectives and enabling objectives in your standards and delivery programs. Be open to showing the world what you are offering. Prospective learners are calculating thier own return on investment before engaging in a learning program, so show them the value of your program.