Project planning: Project outcomes
In the project plan, list the outcomes you envisage, the changes your project will stimulate or enable, and their likely impact on the teaching, learning, and research communities.
Project outputs, whether tangible deliverables or the more intangible knowledge and experience gained along the way, will lead to changeOutcomes are quite distinct from the deliverables you will create. Think of what people will be able to do better, faster, or more efficiently, or things they could never do before. Then think of the impact that this will have on users, their institutions, and on the education and research communities generally. A MLE will change how teachers teach or how students learn. A portal will change how students and researchers access information. Content that’s digitised and made available to a wide audience will empower them with knowledge they may not have been able to access previously. You may not be inventing the PC or the mobile phone, but you will be initiating change.
Review as you Go
Throughout the project, reflect on the outcomes you envisage and how they will happen. Some things happen as a matter of course, but others need help. Dissemination will be important for take-up. Getting a buy-in from stakeholders could be as well. Don’t wait until the end of the project and say that nothing has happened. Think about how you can be proactive and make it happen. |