A touch of nitty gritty
Mar 5th, 2007 by admin
10 days to A-day and a last minute flurry of writing is setting in out in VET land.
No, there aren’t any tricks to the application form. It really DOES call for some down to earth honest narrative. Before we look at the components of the application form I’d like to paint a scenario for your consideration….
Have you ever had to make an important decision based on a quick 4 minute scan of a 4 page document?
Is it IN or OUT?
Does it instill confidence? Does it inspire? Is it clear and succinct? Is it off the mark? Does it get the message across?
OK… times up …….
Now imagine doing that 120 times over.
LearnScope projects are selected on merit by a panel representing LearnScope, TAFE, ACE and Private Providers using a set of criteria based on the years Guidelines and priorities. Each criteria is scored and a mark out of 50 awarded by each panel member and an average calculated. Once all applications have been assessed funding is distributed from the top score down until all available team funding is exhausted.
We take time to validate our scores and discuss our understandings of what is sought/ expected. Our marks tend to be remarkably close and consistent.
Your job is to capture the panel’s confidence, to inspire, to excite; to paint a clear picture of how your project is going to move e-learning forward in your organisation to better meet the needs of your learners/clients.
The 2007 application form is designed around notions of a life-wide, lifebased capability building model (see Guidelines Appendix B). It seeks a strength-based evaluation of your staff who will form your team, and their skills and interests. It calls for narrative to describe your context and clarity around current issues and the types of solutions you seek.
Q #1 - Your focus
No more than half a page please. Use dot points. This is a summary of your intentions and how they fit in the organisational directions.
Q #2 - Your context
Paint a picture of your local context, your team and your learners/clients for us sitting around the selection panel table.
Some demographics might be relevant or perhaps a short quote from a learner?
Q #3 - Building on skills and strengths
How is technology currently used in your program/s? What are the issues/limitations? How do you intend to move that forward? What are the strengths of your team members and what will their strengths be at the end of the project?
Q #4 - Capability building focus
There are two aspects to this question - the team as a whole and the individuals within it.
How will you enable the individual team members to explore their own interests at their own pace and in their own way?
How will you plan and feed the learning of individuals back into the team as a whole?
How will you deal with dispersed teams, or the needs of time-hungry team members?
Q #5 - Justify your project
How will your project support the organisation’s directions and priorities?
LearnScope is about innovation but the embedding of that into policy can be a challenge.
How will your teams learning open new opportunities/ pathways/ markets?
Q #6 - Engaging your learners/ clients
Most projects this year will be required to demonstrate how they are a) engaging learners in the team’s learning and b) how they will capture the impact of their learning on clients i.e. the outcomes.
You could include clients in your team, in your team’s activities or actively try out new ideas in programs, critically reflect and seek feedback to be fed back into the teams learning as a whole.
We DO acknowledge that some teams (eg. of Managers) will have more of a strategic focus and trickle down effect - if this is the case, state that.
Q #7 - Knowledge sharing
There is an expectation that your LearnScope team will share its learning both within and beyond your organisation/s.
How will you capture and share your team members’ wisdom and learning?
Keep in mind that internal tools such as Sharepoint will NOT enable this.
Q #8 - Budget
Yep, that’s right… I’ve removed all the line items this year.
Why? - because some applications last year used them regardless of the teams learning strategies - there was no connection. There should be a DIRECT correlation between what you intend to do and what that will cost. Note there are 4 mandatory line items. Ensure your costings are realistic - the selection panel reads the budget carefully. Yes, you WILL be able to adjust it slightly over time.
Supporting documents
Keep your application clear and succinct. If you have background information you feel is important include it in an Appendix rather than the application itself. It can then be referred to if necessary without drastically lengthening the document. I will have time to peruse these items and summarise their contents for the panel before the selection day.
Feel free to include diagrams or photos if they will help your narrative.
Best wishes with it!
We’re looking forward to receiving some wonderfully innovative and inspiring ideas, and to a year of adventure and creativity!
Robyn Jay
NSW LearnScope Manager