Land the Luscious Learning

Land the Luscious Learning ... with reflection and evaluation of your Project.

In last week’s blog we learned from children through their illustrations and views on community. This week we invite you to the land of luscious learning from a different lens... that of project reflection and evaluation.

We created a learning journal full of questions for the coordinators of the “Community Through the Eyes of Children” project and were enriched by the succulent gems of wisdom that they expressed. We have not included their responses here, but have included some of the questions so that you can take the time to land YOUR own learning around any project that currently has your attention.

Reflect on the objective:

How would you describe the purpose and objective of the project?
On a scale of #1-5, was the objective received? Describe.

Reflect on the process:
What got done? How did it get done?
Did the objectives and priorities remain the same through the process? If yes, how did you stay focused? If not, what emerged to change them?
Who was involved? (place a star beside the name of any person or organization that was a surprise contributor/participant)

Reflect on:What communication, resources and activities were needed to make this happen?

Reflect on accomplishments:What do you want to celebrate? What went well?
What were the most valuable parts of the project?

Reflect on learning and name any challenges:
What challenges, if any, arose? How did you handle these challenges? What have you learned?

If an organizational partner or colleague wanted to do a similar project, what advice would you give them?

Reflect on impact. Build on what you’ve created:
Where do you think the time and energies should be focused if this project was repeated?
If you could expand on this project in a “secret wish” kind of way...what would happen?
What impact did you notice (add detail for all participant and target groups)?

Often projects take a great deal of time, energy and resources. Once you are finished you may feel like taking a breather and letting it all go. Perhaps do that for a time... then come back to tap into the wisdom you hold. This will provide you with reflection, completion, possible next steps and a format to articulate the process to others.

So...what project have you been a part of that could use some luscious learning?

Village Raising Questions:
How will you tap into the learning of a project?

What different approaches might you take to capture coordinators learning from participants learning?

When your project is complete...what questions still arise?