Working on reciprocity and customisation in Continuing Education

Whereas in a Bachelor or Master course, the initiative to create a course comes from the curriculum of a programme, in Continuing Education it can also arise from contact with field of practice or at the request of contacts in the field of practice. The initiative to create a course can then be taken in a programme or department or adressed in conjunction with the field of practice (see this figure (in Dutch) to see what this looks like). 

Reciprocity

• When discussing relevant developments in practice and science with contacts in the field, you can raise the question whether and how you can work together to find a form in which you can learn from each other.

In initial education, the content of a course is guided by the fact that it must fit in the curriculum of the programme as a whole. With a Continuing Education course that is not part of an accredited programme and does not have to comply with final attainment levels agreed with a professional association, there are no such frameworks. This gives room to shape the programme design in co-creation with participants. (Bovill & Bully, 2011). A fully pre-determined curriculum does not fit the needs of professionals (Merriam, 2002; Knowles et al., 2005) and does not allow for reciprocity, but a fully open curriculum in which participants are fully in control is also difficult to work with. It gives, especially with open offerings, too little guidance for participants to make a decision for participation and raises the question of what they are paying for. 

If the initiative to create offerings is a joint endeavour, alignment with the needs in the field of practice arises in the process of co-creation. If the initiative for developing offerings lies with a programme, you can create alignment with the field of practice on goals, work forms, and design to match prior knowledge and needs (Spedding, 2020). You can define your offer based on what you have to offer the field of practice, the impact you want to achieve, and the prior knowedge and needs in the field of practice. How do you gain insight into the latter, and how do customisation and reciprocity take shape?

Reciprocity

• Design the programme in co-creation with (representatives of) the target group.
• Agree on what different parties can contribute in a process of co-creation.
• Preferably, form a diverse group (e.g. in terms of field of practice) in which participants can learn from each other.
• Check what input participants may have that could be of interest to the group in the intake process.
• Plan ample time for the different components of the programme so that interesting and relevant input or questions from the participants can be discussed.
• Plan breaks so that exchange between participants and lecturers is possible. For example, plan a lunch or dinner so that participants sit down together and do not use the time to check their mail.

Customisation

• If the target group comes from one specific organisation: check prior knowledge and needs of the potential participants with the client as well as with the participants themselves (the perspective of a company and employee may differ). Adjust the design accordingly from your professional knowledge of the content and educational design as well as from the impact you want to have in the field of practice.
• When it comes to a course with open registration, check the programme design with contacts in the field of practice. Consider: a professional association, alumni, contacts from (research) projects, posting a question in a LinkedIn group, a pre-intake meeting in which they can share their questions.
• Be clear in your information to participants about the course, so that (potential) participants know what to expect.
• Ask about expectations, personal learning goals, and prior knowledge in an intake procedure. For longer courses a personal interview is a good option. An intake form can work well for shorter courses, but be clear about what can and cannot be covered within the course. 
• Make use of the information collected in the intake in the programme design. For example, in a longer course, plan a learning contract to create an individual learning pathway for a participant. Or create elective modules, space to fill in part of the programme based on the information collected in the intake, or leave open space that is only filled in during the course of the programme.
• Design a programme that takes diversity of learning goals, prior knowledge and experience into account, but has a clear focus.

Choose working methods and learning activities, both inside and outside of meetings, in which reciprocity and customisation can be shaped. In doing so, focus on working methods in which active participation is possible (Jarasova et al., 2017) and participants can test their approach against others (Transformative learning, Mezirow in Merriam, 2017). 

Customisation does not  mean that only individual learning activities are possible. Individual learning goals can also be achieved in group work. The art of education is to know the individual learning goals and sometimes address them in plenary discussions (see also 4. Supervision).

Reciprocity

• Use working methods and learning activities that allow for input by and exchange between participants. For example, through discussion and dialogue formats, discussions of cases from participants' practice, or sections in which participants themselves present.
• Create assignments in which participants bring in practical material and can immediately apply what they develop in practice, which can also provide insight into the applicability of the learning material within the course.
• Vary group composition so participants get to know more participants.
• Create a working method in which participants have contact with the field of practice outside of their own organisation. For instance by involving alumni of a course as peer supervisors of the current course, or by giving assignments in which they have to look into an other organisation.
• Create a living lab* in which participants from the field of practice and researchers work together on a societal issue. 

Customisation

• Use working methods and learning activities that take into account diversity in learning goals, prior knowledge, and experience.
• Plan working methods in which small group exchanges can take place so that participants can bring in their own practice and learning questions.
• In non-accredited education, the completion of Continuing Education with a formal test is not so relevant for participants. Rather, they want to know whether they have achieved their learning goals and can apply what they have learned in practice. Products that make the personal learning gains visible are, for example: a policy document, or an activity plan for the future.

* A living lab is a defined location where different parties work together to develop an innovative solution to a in a real-life setting. The real-life setting is needed to develop a innovative solutions that can survive the complexities of real life and daily practice.

Supervising adult learners requires flexibility and sensitivity on the part of the supervisor. It requires a lot of knowledge on the topic and some insight into practice to respond to questions participants come up with.

Reciprocity

• Combine an mutual exchange of knowledge and experience with confronting what is discussed with models/theories.
• Give space to what happens in the group (discussion, questions, cases brought in) while steering for efficiency and the achievement of learning goals.
• Register if questions deviate too much from the course objectives. Bring the group back to the topic.
• Get participants (some of whom may be very experienced and have a high status) to look critically at their routines and take them out of their comfort zones if need be, while protecting them from losing face in the group.
• Pay attention to all participants in the group.
• Choose between the many desires of the participants.
• In (plenary) sessions, ask participants to contribute with their experience from their practice.

Customisation

• In plenary sessions, include what you know about individual participants: where possible, address participants' individual learning goals by indicating input for their learning questions, refer to the context of participants' work, etc.
• Be sensitive to the needs in the group. Be flexible in what happens, depending on participants' needs and knowledge. Be able to deviate from your programme without losing sight of the learning goals.
• Be an expert on the subject so that you can give input to the participants even if you deviate from the programme.
• Be clear about where you are in the programme and what choices you make along the way, so that participants maintain confidence that the programme will deliver for them.

There is space in the conclusion of a course to reshape reciprocity and customisation.

Reciprocity

• Organise the transfer of competences from the course environment to practice. For example, by having participants formulate what they want to do in the next 6 months with what they have learned.
• Organise the continuation of the network by, for example, suggesting a joint LinkedIn group or the formation of a peer feedback group.
• Organise a follow-up meeting during which programs and results of the course can be discussed, e.g. in the form of peer feedback. This will also give you insight into the applicability of the course content in practice.
• Evaluate the impact of what the participants have learned by asking the participants for the yield in their practice after a few months.
• Ask participants whether you can re-use material they have shared (for instance in initial education).

Customisation

• Evaluate whether participants achieved the learning goals they had set for themselves. What new questions have arisen that might prompt subsequent continuing education design? For example, is there a need for induvidual counseling?