Pre-project form
This form (Appendix 1) is optional in its struc-ture. It is can vary depending on the contexts and objectives of the project. ODL project leaders may draw inspiration from it when set-ting up ODL projects in other regional or inter-national partnership contexts.
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Guide for a blended or full distance learning project 54─ The sociolinguistic policy of the project ;
Step 2 : OPPORTUNITY STUDY
The opportunity study is carried out by the commission of experts in charge of assessing the relevance of the pre-project. It first assesses the consistency of the pre-project file to issue an opportunity note which, in case of validation, results in the production of planning documents.
Figure 9 : First step of an ODL pre-project file compiling phase
◼ 1- PROJECT ASSESSMENT
The evaluation is based on the relevance of the following criteria:
─ Provided that the project team has initial skills relevant for ODL;
─ Provided that the project team has prior educational resources (content, activities, assessments, etc.) in line with ODL use;
─ Provided that the institution hosting the blended learning programme has a technological infrastructure (IT and telecommunications) suitable for managing the ODL part of a blended learning programme (student equipment, public Wi-Fi access, VPN network, ADSL);
─ Provided that the institution has clearly defined the pedagogical needs to be met to manage a blended training programme from an administrative and technical stewardship, pedagogical coordination and a budgetary management point of view;
─ Provided that the institution has clearly defined an economic model specific to the ODL part, in accordance with the rules of the institution and the finance laws in force in the country;
─ Provided the project team has clearly defined the objectives to achieve, planned the actions to carry out and identified the resources to deploy;
─ Provided the project team has specified the roles and responsibilities of each member involved in project support (project manager, legal referent, education manager, technical manager, pedagogical resource designers, tutors, etc.).
Step 2 :
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Guide for a blended training project
55 The Commission produces two specific documents:
1. An evaluation grid (Appendix 2)
2. A note of opportunity in case the pre-project is approved (Appendix 3).
Pre-project evaluation grid
The Commission reports presence/absence of several criteria grouped under several axes on the grid (Appendix 2) :
─ General context of the project ;
─ Assessed needs of the project ;
─ Declared objectives of the project ;
─ Required competences for the project ;
─ Existing pedagogical resources accessible for the project ;
─ Technological infrastructure available favourable for the project ;
─ Stakeholders involved in the project ;
─ Financial resources mobilised for the project (economic model).
The proposal is confirmed if a predetermined percentage of positive criteria is met (e.g.
50% This rate is proposed as a minimum standard for an institution seeking funding and/or support for an ODL project. It can be adjusted depending on the context.
An opportunity note for the project
The Opportunity Note (Appendix 3) is a second model submitted to the Commission of Experts evaluating the pre-project. It provides an assessment of the relevance of the pre-project and can therefore result in approval or denial of the AUF with respect to the support of a proposed ODL project.
In the light of this note, the decision will be made to end, continue or call for revision of the pre-project. In the latter case, the expert commission must give precise recommendations aimed at optimising the conditions of the pre-project's approval in a new and improved version.
The note of opportunity of the pre-project should focus on the following aspects:
─ The project team determines the programme needs if not its priority nature;
─ The current situation of the host institution and the possible scope of a blended learning project;
─ The contributions of blended learning for the said institution ;
─ Key success factors and potential risks in the institution with respect to the completion of such a project;
─ First cost estimation of such a project (economic model) ;
─ Decision: choosing to launch the project or not.
The opportunity note is essential for medium and large scale projects (involving several partners and large numbers of learners) before proceeding with a more in-depth feasibility study.
◼ VALIDATON OF THE PROJECT
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Guide for a blended or full distance learning project 56Once the project is validated, a first working meeting of the project committee should take place to produce the project planning documents. At this stage, two documents may be considered to frame the project in space and time:
1. A roadmap (action plan : Appendix 4) ; 2. An operational plan (Gantt chart)
A roadmap (action plan)
A detailed action plan is essential in the initial phase of a project development process.
It is a sort of project roadmap that needs to be developed, documented and approved by the stakeholders. A model is provided in Appendix 4.
The roadmap provides answers to the questions "when", "who", "how" are the expected results going to be achieved. It describes the work organisation, identifies the actors and the specific activities assigned to them and sets the timetable and resources needed to achieve the planned action strategy. The roadmap finally describes how the project will be executed, monitored and controlled, and then completed and delivered.
A roadmap should primarily include the business model of the project, the stakeholders, their roles and responsibilities, the pedagogical resources to be digitised and exploited, the support, monitoring and feed-back mechanisms, timeline, etc.
The general structure of a roadmap may focus on the following aspects:
─ Pedagogical model: blended or full distance learning ;
─ Methodology: managing the digital reference of the project;
─ Stakeholders: roles and responsibilities ;
─ Digital environment: internal or outsourced ;
─ Set-up work ;
─ Training of the supervising staff
─ Schedule management;
─ Cost management (economic model)
─ Monitoring and feed-back;
─ Risk management;
─ Project deliverable
Operational plan (Gantt chart)
An operational plan is a document setting out the objectives the project manager intends to achieve within a given timeframe. The operational plan must be consistent with the action plan. Both are, in some ways, key guides giving the project leader an overview of the project and its implementation stages.
The operational plan is usually a graphic (i.e. Gantt chart) which allows a project manag er to monitor the progress in all the stages or steps making up the project lay out plan (general matrix).
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Guide for a blended training project
57 Using a Gantt chart, complete projects can be set up and managed on the basis of a
standard and tested methodology. The Gantt chart makes it easy to add or delete tasks, set or change their length, sequence tasks, etc.