Planning a local project
Planning can make all the difference between a project being a drag and being really effective
SO you’ve got a burning idea…you’ve noticed that there is a gaping hole in your local service for teaching X. You think you’ve got a brilliant idea to plug that gap. But hang on a minute, have you thought about:
- what will happen when you leave?
- who’s going to do all that boring admin?
- How will we know if it’s all worth it?
Asking ourselves these questions will help ensure we set up a project so it won’t drain our own resources and it’s not just a “flash” in the pan.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with doing a project for a defined period of time, the success you and your team will get from that will be immeasurable, but do make sure you know what you are setting out to do.
The WBYHT team have created a starting guide to thinking about your project here.
Be a compassionate leader
Planning for success is all about being compassionate to ourselves and our communities. It’s about recognising what is achievable and not pushing ourselves into stress or difficulty.
Get it together
Plan your beginning, middle and end.
Beginning- what’s your vision?, who, what, when, where, why?
Middle – HOW – resources? people? what are your objectives.
End- what have we learnt? what will we share? will this continue? how?
Define your vision
Understand the need
know your destination
Get support
Whatever you are planning make sure you talk to as many people as you can about it. Get a variety of perspectives and an understanding of what you want to achieve
look around
Look around at what’s been done before, either in the literature or locally.
Understanding the methods of what you are trying to achieve can be key to setting up a robust programme.
learn from it
Evaluating our teaching has many uses. We can understand our learners better, ourselves and our practice as well as share learning more broadly with stakeholders and the wider educational team.
There are many elements of a programme that you can choose to evaluate and each one will have its own approach and things to think about. An example of a varied menu of project evaluation is given below:
learner experience
20%
learner outcomes
40%
your reflection
60%
peer review
100%
