How can you design online courses for public sector employers and policymakers?

Context is everything. While fundamentals can stay the same, understanding the learning and work context of people in the public sector and policy space will help us design targeted interventions for them. Here's how to do it, in my experience: 1. Conduct secondary research to understand the audience and their roles. Look for you tube videos, blogs, and articles that shed light on what they do and how they do it. 2. Conduct primary research by interviewing a sample of the target audience to understand their challenges and also interview the managers to understand KPIs. 3. Work with HR/L&D to understand the culture and the unique attributes of the sector and define how success would be measured.

Designing online courses for public sector employers and policymakers involves understanding their needs and aligning course content with specific objectives. Focus on developing a curriculum covering essential topics like public administration and policy analysis, while incorporating interactive learning methods to engage participants effectively. Additionally, emphasise real-world application and provide ongoing support for continued professional development, ensuring learners gain practical skills and knowledge relevant to their roles in governance and decision-making.

Begin by identifying key issues and challenges specific to the public sector, integrating relevant case studies and examples. Utilize interactive elements such as quizzes, forums, and real-world simulations to engage participants. Ensure content is up-to-date with the latest policy developments and includes practical tools for effective decision-making. Foster collaboration and networking opportunities within the course to encourage knowledge exchange among participants. Lastly, incorporate flexibility to accommodate busy schedules while maintaining a focus on fostering skills crucial for public sector success.

Conduct thorough research to understand the specific challenges, needs, and objectives of public sector employers and policymakers. Tailor your course content to address these pain points effectively.

1. Know Your Audience: Understand their roles, challenges, and preferred learning styles. 2. Focus on Practical Skills: Equip them with immediately applicable skills in policy analysis, data literacy, communication, and tech adoption. 3. Engage, Don't Lecture: Use interactive elements like case studies, simulations, and peer discussions to keep them engaged. 4. Bite-Sized Learning: Offer modular courses or microlearning modules for busy schedules. Ensure flexibility and mobile access. 5. Real-World Relevance: Integrate current policy issues and real-world scenarios to enhance learning transfer. 6. Collaboration & Networking: Foster peer learning and knowledge sharing through forums and online communities.

Some other points to take note: - Should the course be scripted or recorded on the fly? - Is talking head format needed, or only screencasting is sufficient? - Whether you want to go 4k recording (good for talking head) or Full HD (good for screencasting)?

Elegir el formato contempla una serie de retos. Uno tiene que ver con la cantidad de estudiantes que se tengan en el curso lo cual va a permitir que sea sincrónico y generar retroalimentación personalizada o por su parte que sea mejor la implementación de un curso totalmente sincrónico, cuando hay una cantidad de estudiantes considerable automatizando los procesos de evaluación y seguimiento del aprendizaje. Desde un punto de vista práctico realizar pequeños retos a través del formato elegido en tiempos o periodos cortos en el que los participantes lleguen a logros tempranos genera motivación, y ayudan con el engagement en el curso.

I think it is important to remember the audience of the course and tailor it to their particular needs. The course also needs to be interactive and have a lot of different ways to obtain the information. When a course is just designed with a Q&A, it can get redundant and boring. When creating ways to interact, remember that there are numerous ways to ask participants to apply the knowledge and show that they can utilize it.

online courses for public sector employees and policy makers requires a tailored approach addressing their specific needs and responsibilities. Incorporate case studies and scenarios relevant to public administration, enabling participants to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations. For example, a course on policy analysis, present a real-life policy challenge the learners must analyze and propose solutions for monitoring the complexities they might encounter in their roles. Integrate interactive elements such as virtual workshops or forums, fostering collaboration and exchange of ideas among participants from different government departments. Ensuring the content need to informative and applicable to the unique challenges.

When designing any kind of course, whether it's an online or face-to-face modality, it's crucial to keep the learning outcomes in mind from the start. I find backward course design to be the most effective approach for this reason. If you don't have the course learning outcomes yet, write them clearly and ensure you have only one root verb for each one. Then, design your assessments for each of the learning outcomes. Once you have your assessments developed, you now have a good idea of what content your learners need to know in order to complete the assessments and meet the learning outcomes for the course. For an online delivery model, it's take a multimedia approach: use videos, images, animations, etc., to convey the content.

It’s important to cater for different learning styles by making the content & the format accessible with audio, visual, written & interactive components and/or versions.

I have found that using the mindmap software or app is very helpful in brainstorming ideas. Also, the same can be utilised to structure your courses. Many products are available in the market - from free to paid. Some of the options include Freemind, MindNode, MindMup, etc.

Content must be designed by looking at your Audience Demographic. Like their Age, Socio economy factor. Their psychology factor. And last but not the least need of the Course Content.

For technical courses, I found the below types as useful for the students: - Downloadable PDF resources - Downloadable worksheets that are relevant to the section. - Source code uploaded to GitHub and sharing the repo link. - Any additional artifacts such as Postman Collection, YAML files, etc.

As a public speaker and Tedx speaker I have learned many ways of engagement. My top 2: “punch the audience in the nose” by starting with a provocative idea, thought or assertion; offer your ideas through the lens of something already of interest, in my case baseball.

Fundamentally the course should be simple to understand and you may also want to consider incorporating interactive elements like quizzes or discussion forums into your course design to encourage engagement and active learning among participants. There is an overwhelming overload of information in the world today. People are bombarded with tonnes of information daily, and as policymakers, there should be a concerted effort to avoid this. Choosing which information to consume is power and this must be fed through the entire course design process

Typically, the evaluation depends upon the software you use to host the course. For instance, in the case of Udemy currently supports quizzes, practice tests, and assignments. If you are hosting on your site, you have more options. The key is to use the existing methods available and adjust your content according to it.

The evaluation of outcome has to be not just at end of the program but also on the basis of intermittent feedback. This will help/ give opportunity to make timely changes for better learning outcomes.

1.Do a sample base rapid need assessment . 2.Identify the gaps for the important issues to be covered in courses. 3.Create digital platforms for online and pre recorded consultations with people who opt for courses. 4.Do a mid term evaluation The digital mode should be interactive and scope of dialogues 5.Plan comprehensive home based assignment to strengthen hands on experience 6.Engage through periodic workshops and a digital page to share experiences for teaching perspectives 7.The course must be aligned with adult learning Small crisp pre tested comprehensive modules which cover need a must be focussed rather than long modules 8.Design Feedback mechanism for process and Final evaluation And positive result sharing

Cuando se habla de evaluar se asocia con la determinación de un avance en el proceso de aprendizaje y su resultado tiende a ser numérico o cualitativo. El reto se encuentra mucho más allá del resultado de la valoración: el aprendizaje. Se busca la persona haga uso de las herramientas y conocimiento aportado a través del curso. La demostración del aprendizaje o el soporte que ayuda a los docentes a corroborar este proceso se hace cada vez más complejo. Considero que la mejor oportunidad para valorar lo aprendido se encuentra en la demostración con pruebas que coloquen al individuo en un contexto específico y en una problemática en la cual deban tomar decisiones que impliquen asumir posturas y argumentar de manera consciente y propositiva.

Review your perception data with a failure lens to identify when something is too easy. While we may think 90-100% satisfaction means we are doing a great job (and we are!), it also may mean that the learners aren't being challenged enough. Remember that learning through failure is useful, so you don't have to design something that will be a breeze. And, of course, never stay stagnant! Don't opt to give the same compliance module over and over again every year. Employees need to see variety and change with the times. Incorporate industry trends and use new tactics to approach the same material year after year.

Recruit Subject Matter Experts with real experience in the field aka current policy makers and retired government officials to help design the courses.

Creating online professional development for government and policy roles demands responsive design aligning unique organizational objectives, required competencies and accessibility needs. Curating civil service relevant case studies and scenarios bridges academia with practical applications. Choosing intuitive course technology and simplified login procedures facilitates adoption at scale. Communication emphasizing continued career impact beyond compliance motivates learners too. Accommodating varied work schedules with flexible pacing enables functionality. Public sector learning optimization guides technology to pedagogy for maximum on-the-job integration.

Me parece muy importante lo que se señala en los 7 puntos: tomar en cuenta el perfil profesional, identificar el perfil ocupacional, para diseñar un aprendizaje por competencias, centrado en los discentes (participantes), estos permite que los documentos curriculares a diseñar estén acorde a la demanda y necesidad de la comunidad estudiantil al que se dirige, estos documentos son: el diseño curricular del módulo, la planeación estratégica, y la compilación técnica de documentos guías que garanticen el proceso de aprendizaje centrado en los participantes

Sometimes sharing the real life stories of persons , both success and failures , are important as eye openers for better learning. The experiences of others will guide as do’s and don’ts-in facilitating your decision making easy to move forward.

La planeación debe estar orientada a mejorar los métodos de enseñanza y formas de evaluación así como también la flexibilidad de participación. Se debe tomar en cuenta la opinión de políticos, especialistas y docentes que participen y apoyen como sujetos activos en la creación del diseño curricular para identificar los objetivos de aprendizaje y la creación de una secuencia organizada de recursos que permitan alcanzar el desarrollo de nuevos enfoques y prácticas que convivan con la exigencia demandante de una sociedad cada día más inclusiva e involucrada con las acciones de un determinado sistema. La capacitación de los empleadores puede resultar un medio útil para cambiar comportamientos y promover la adquisición de nuevas destrezas.