Capacity Building

The Challenge

FifityFour Collective is a Christian organization committed to supporting non-profit organizations to enhance their impact and operational capabilities. They envisioned creating a wide range of courses to educate non-profits on best practices, but required assistance in the following areas:

• An internal framework for course development.
• Expertise in implementing a contextual course development process.
• A way to ensure consistent and high-quality course content.
• Embedded learning design principles to inform overall course design.

The Solution

In response to these challenges, I partnered with FiftyFour to build team capacity in the following areas:

• Learning design process: The team and I developed a mission-relevant learning design process drawing from ADDIE, SAM, and agile methodologies. We created an operational flow that saw courses go from being inside experts’ heads to storyboards, video production, and beyond. 
• Learning development template creation: To support the learning design we developed a blueprinting and storyboarding template to accurately capture and lay out the design thinking and principles for each course. 
• Learning pedagogy: We developed an approach to online learning that focused on relevance, action-based learning, reflection, and backward design. 
• Developing learning standards: To ensure consistency in the quality of both content and learning experience, we developed several standards documents and checklists that informed all stakeholders involved. 

My Role

In my multi-faceted role as a capacity-building consultant and EdTech specialist, I played several roles in this project:

• Strategist: I assisted in formulating the strategy for creating sustainable and effective online courses for the platform.
• Designer and Developer: I designed the templates and tools required for course development and created a framework that internal stakeholders could utilize.
• Trainer and Mentor: I provided training to internal staff, helping them become proficient learning designers using the templates and tools I created. I also offered ongoing mentorship to support their growth.
• Quality Assurer: I maintained a focus on quality throughout the process, ensuring that each course met the established quality standards.

The Results

The collaboration with the Christian organization resulted in significant accomplishments:

• Over 70 courses were developed, covering a wide range of topics relevant to non-profit organizations.
• The templates and tools I provided ensured a consistent structure and format for all courses, enhancing the overall quality.
• Thousands of learners from non-profit organizations now have access to high-quality online courses that empower them with knowledge and skills to improve their operations and impact.