Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design Archives - Page 5 of 7

19 Apr, 2019

Try This: Put the Pieces Together

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:31:30-04:00April 19th, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Capacity Building, program design, Try This|0 Comments

Get clear on your program’s purpose and everyone’s role.

During one of my first major evaluations, I asked the client if I could view the program’s curriculum. As I looked through it, I asked how often the curriculum is revised based on participant feedback.

The program had been around for some time, and while the client was consistent with evaluating the program and drawing out the positive feedback to share with funders, they hadn’t used the feedback to revise the actual program.

During another site visit for this program, I noticed that staff were familiar with certain aspects of the program, but not the program in its entirety, or who was responsible for what. Understandable when you’re dealing with newer versus more seasoned staff. Also, some staff were confused about the purpose of some activities and when each activity was supposed to take place.

I’ve always been of the mindset that, in order to create or revise data collection and analysis tools and processes, you need to have a general sense of program goals and how the program is supposed to function. This is important as staff will come and go. Also, there should be a process built in for revising the program so that it’s meeting the emerging needs of participants.

Similar to putting together a puzzle, it can be daunting to look at the multiple components of a program. Instead of working on the entire puzzle at once, focus on one section at a time so that it all comes together.

This activity is ideal for:

Staff responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of programs, services, and strategies

Here’s what you need:

Your program’s logic model
Your program curriculum
Bonus: Your most recent program data that gives you insight about the program (compiled and synthesized data)

The process:

Typically with my Try This exercises, I lay out all the steps. For this exercise, I’m going to leave that up to you.

To frame it, there are three parts to this process. First, review your program’s goals and objectives. Second, look at your staff roles to assess 1) whether everyone currently connected to the program is being utilized in ways that align with the programs and objectives, 2) if those involved are utilizing their expertise, and 3) who is responsible for what. Third, review the program’s activities to assess if these activities currently align with the goals and objectives.

(Also, it should go without saying that “program” can also mean service, workshop, training, initiative, strategy, and so forth).

Here are some guiding questions (and feel free to add more):

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22 Mar, 2019

Try This: I Like, I Wish, I Wonder

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:27:39-04:00March 22nd, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Facilitation, Try This, Workshops|0 Comments

This this activity out and let me know how it goes for you.

I’ve used “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” as a way to get quick feedback from my program and workshop participants.

Adapted from the Stanford Design School’s “I Like, I Wish, How to” process, I first used “I Like, I Wish, I Wonder” during an evaluation project with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s sexual and reproductive justice campaign. The campaign’s Community Engagement Group facilitated local gatherings in the five boroughs to gather insights into how various demographics were advancing Reproductive Justice in their communities.

Due to the gatherings being large in scope and attendance, we 1) needed something quick for the participants to fill out before leaving, and 2) wanted to develop an easy-to-understand evaluation process that was easy for DOHMH staff to volunteers to administer onsite (as I was not able to be at all gatherings) and for participants to not have much of a problem completing. Also, it was a lesson learned in developing an evaluation tool that generates honest constructive feedback AND helping staff and volunteers learn how to look for generated themes by a variety of participants.

This activity is ideal for:

Staff responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of programs, services, and strategies
Gathering quick feedback in a time-crunch
Breaking out of the standard survey construction model
Staff interested in building their skills and confidence in qualitative data collection and analysis

Here’s what you need:

There are two ways to implement this process:

Option 1: Sheets of paper, writing utensils
Option 2: Butcher paper or a white board, a marker, writing utensils, post-its

The process:

For option 1: Have participants divide their sheets into four quadrants labeled “I Like”, “I Wish”, “I Wonder”. (You can also have sheets that already have the labels typed out. You’ll have an empty quadrant, and I’ll explain what to do with it later.

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13 Feb, 2019

How Nonprofits Can Build a Bias for Action

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:24:45-04:00February 13th, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Design Thinking, Human Centered Design|0 Comments

One thing that’s fascinated me about the design thinking process is how nonprofits can use it to listen to the needs of their communities and think outside the box when taking action, despite design thinking being primarily known as a business strategy.

Another reason I like design thinking is that it uses the stories of individuals and communities for meaningful impact, storytelling and engagement that advanced an organization’s mission.

And connecting the evaluation process to design thinking seems like a no-brainer.

We’ve discussed the first three steps in the design thinking process- empathize, define, and ideate. Let’s finish out this series with the final two steps in the process- prototyping and testing.

With design thinking, testing and evaluating feedback helps nonprofits observe and uncover additional wants and needs from the communities they serve.

But I’ll admit that I initially wasn’t sold on the last two steps.

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30 Jan, 2019

We Have the Right Problem. Let’s Find the Right Solution

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:23:57-04:00January 30th, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Design Thinking, Human Centered Design|0 Comments

In 2017, I introduced to my blog readers the design thinking process (aka human-centered design), a process many nonprofits and community groups use to generate engagement with communities.

The first step in the design thinking process is to Empathize: Learn about your audience or community through interviews and observations to answer the question “What do they need?”. This creates our User Persona.

The second step is to Define: Identify the problem you want to solve, based on your User Persona.

When we fall into the habit of thinking we know what the problem is, we end up creating unsuccessful programs, services, and strategies because the voices of the people we want to reach aren’t involved in the process. This is why the first two steps in the design thinking process are crucial. In order to create the right solution, we need to identify the right problem is from our User Persona’s perspective.

Now that we’ve done steps one and two, let’s move on to the third step in the design thinking process: Ideate.

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23 Jan, 2019

Try This: The Identity Wheel

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2021-08-19T20:23:16-04:00January 23rd, 2019|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Try This|0 Comments

What is identity? More importantly, how do our various identities impact how we view the world, and how the world views us?

For people in the social work field and other helping professions, self awareness aids us in how to prepare for encounters with clients whose thoughts, attitudes, and lived experiences are different from ours. With my own consulting clients, we’ve had conversations about how our identities impact how we gain access to the communities we work with. The conclusion is this:

Just because we share similar identities doesn’t mean we share the same lived experiences.

Here’s an activity, adapted from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts’ Inclusive Teaching Initiative called The Identity Wheel.

This activity is ideal for:

Encouraging reflection on the ways we identify personally and socially, and how we perceive the world and how the world perceives us
Identify settings and situations in which our identities are felt the most
Identify ways in which our identities afford us privilege

Here’s what you need:

White sheets of paper
Markers, pens, or pencils
Rulers, if needed
Round color-coding labels in four colors (like these)

The steps:

Pass out the sheets of paper and writing utensils to participants. On the sheets, draw a circle and divided into 8 sections (using rulers, if needed), like this:

2. Have participants label each section with an identity they closely identify with. Here’s an example of my identities:

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Try This: Put the Pieces Together

Try This: I Like, I Wish, I Wonder

How Nonprofits Can Build a Bias for Action

We Have the Right Problem. Let’s Find the Right Solution

Try This: The Identity Wheel

This Is A Custom Widget