Consider the following concepts and issues to build new learning activities and resources and review existing ones.
Who is the program for?
While this is a very obvious question, the answer may not be so clear cut given the increasingly multiprofessional nature of cancer services. For an initial answer, we would suggest that you first focus on those areas of professional development that are needed by all cancer professionals in order to achieve specific service delivery outcomes within your network/organisation. You could then add in those areas of new knowledge and skills that you feel are essential for a particular professional group(s).
Conducting a Needs Analysis by considering some of the issues raised in this document may also be a useful way to determine the purpose, structure and learning goals of a new program or activty.
What kinds of learning outcomes are needed?
Often our concept of professional development outcomes is restricted to those things that directly benefit our own professional advancement. These continue to be important, however professional development in the field of cancer services would strongly suggest looking for outcomes which directly benefit the patient on their cancer journey.
The Cancer Professional Development Framework has been designed to target professional development outcomes for all cancer professionals. It has been widely validated by cancer specialists and would be a good starting point to choose those areas of multi professional learning outcomes that could help optimise patient services.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is another useful framework – it is one of the most commonly used models for planning learning outcomes.
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Objectives
Find out more at:
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/exams/blooms-taxonomy.html
What are the activities and resources needed to make a program possible?
The frameworks featured in this section of the Cancer Learning site have been designed around clear statements of what professionals, or professionals in training, need to be able to demonstrate in an applied or service delivery setting. In many cases learning activities and resources are suggested that provide the opportunity to practice these outcomes.
We would strongly recommend that a professional development program look at "aligning" learning activities and resources closely with what is expected of professionals as part of their practice. This may mean that the learning will often take place in a workplace setting rather than as independent study.
Using a curriculum design matrix to ensure alignment in program structure
| What do I want to learn? Or What do I want to teach? |
How will I learn it? Or How will I teach it? |
When and how is the best way to assess it? |
| Outcome 1 | Activity 1 | Assessment 1 |
Assessing learning outcomes
Depending on the purpose of the program or activity and the needs of the participants, there are a number of options for assessing the efficacy of learning activities for partipants. You may like to include an informal evaluation, such as a participant reflection. An example of such a reflection, developed by Public Health, is available here. If you have the available resources, you may wish to involve a formal, marked assessment (i.e. exam/post test; multiple choice questions; written responses). Options for more formal, online learning assessment and potential barriers are contained here.
There are also some very useful assessment resources, including assessment fact sheets, competency assessment tools and portfolio templates, in the EdCaN learning resources.
How will it be evaluated?
In the current climate of "best evidence", professional development programs are no exception. An evaluation plan needs to be designed early in the program’s life and should address the following issues:
- What is the rationale for the evaluation? (What do you want it to achieve?)
- Who are the key stakeholders?
- What are the relevant evaluation questions?
- How will data be collected?
- How will the findings be reported to stakeholders and followed up?
Who will provide the program?
We would strongly recommend reviewing the list of evaluated resources provided under the FIND link on this website as a starting point. For a program customised to the needs of individual practitioners a portfolio approach may be an appropriate overall structure
Are there any credentialing or accreditation implications?
As cancer services move toward accreditation there will be an increasing need for professionals to consider their credentialing needs. We suggest the link to the requirements of professional bodies under PLAN on this site may be a good starting point.
Also, one of the few ‘drivers’ for health professionals to undertake PD is recognition by their professional body. Developing your program in a way that allows participants to claim points, obtain a certificate etc will help to ensure health professionals will undertake your program. Information about professional body requirements is summarised in this table. You will need to contact the relevant body to obtain more detailed information.
Will you share your program and resources with other professionals?
The Cancer Learning site includes a "Submit a resource" button. All submitted resources and professional development programs are appraised using a transparent process and added to the "FIND" listings. Make your program count!
