Like beauty, success is in the eye of the beholder. As a result, success can have a thousand definitions.
In our many roles as distance educators, we must therefore determine how we can be successful in an environment that is char-acterized by the many perspectives that define our success. How can we improve the odds that our president or CEO will view our distance learning project or initiative as a success? How can we ensure that learners will leave our courses believing, and sharing with others, that we have been successful in our objectives? What can we do to improve the feelings of success our team members and instructors have each time a new course is pilot-tested and released?
Ryan Watkins, Associate Professor, George Washington University. Web: www.ryanrwatkins.com
Ryan Watkins, Associate Professor, George Washington University. Web: www.ryanrwatkins.com
Answering these and other questions related to our success requires that we unwrap our current beliefs about what it is that makes us successful; and view our success from the many perspectives of those who will later be evaluating our success.
The definitions of success-as well as the related criteria for evaluating success—for any distance learning course, program, or initiative—will vary greatly based on the individual perspective of the evaluator. For the instructor, learner, program administrator, technical support staff, college president or CEO, current or future supervisor of the learner in the workplace, and others who either have an influence on the distance learning experience or who are affected by the results of the experience, the criteria that will be used to define the success of distance learning typically include a range of variables that we will want to consider as we design, develop, and implement any distance learning project.
To begin, let’s face it; most perspectives of success are developed with little data to support the conclusions. Personalities, pol-itics, agendas, and other variables often play an equal or greater role in determining the generalized success of distance learning initiatives than do the numbers. And when data are considered, more often than not most of the data will be soft data (or data that are not independently verifiable). Even as some hard data (or data that are independently verifiable) regarding learner results, retention rates, learner evaluations, or return-on-investment may be considered, many of the variables that will be used to develop a perception of success are not those that are clearly identified in the visions, missions, goals, and objectives of the project.
Distance learning initiatives, as well as many other professional activities, are often evaluated on criteria that are not those developed by the project team, leader, or instructor. Yet, as leaders we can (and must) take steps to ensure that we have defined success based on the many perspectives and definitions of success that may later be used to develop formal or informal evaluation criteria.
The question thereby becomes, if we are to be successful in the eyes of the many stakeholders in our distance learning project, then how do we ensure that we are addressing their criteria when we are designing, developing, and implementing? Fortunately, most often we won’t have to please a thousand masters. Some perspectives on our success will have a higher priority than others. For example, knowing what criteria the president or CEO will use to determine your success is often a priority. In addition, many perspectives of success will commonly share similar criteria; making it possible for you to be successful from the perspective of the president or CEO at the same time as from the viewpoint of the learner.
From each perspective, however, the cri-teria for success will typically include vari-ables that we may or may not have addressed from our perspective and role. For example, retention, learning, costs, political implications, cultural changes, test scores, graduation rates, and transfer of skills, may be variables that we have failed to include in defining success from our perspective.
To ensure the success of our distance learning initiative, we will want to make certain that we have designed and developed the distance learning system to meet all (or at least most) of the definitions that will be used to determine its success, and consequently our success as well. We can start expanding our definition of success by first identifying all of those individuals or groups inside and outside of our organization who may have a role in evaluating our success.
From the multiple perspectives of success, we can then determine those that are valid, how to assign priorities, and what strategies we can use to balance competing interests that may become apparent. It is by identifying, understanding, and addressing the criteria of success from multiple perspectives that we can better ensure that the initiative is going to be as successful as possible from all perspectives.
When we don’t identify, and therefore don’t address, the criteria that will be used to judge our success from any one or more of these perspectives, then we are at risk of unnecessary obstacles and barriers to achieving our goals as well.
For instance, imagine that you have been asked to develop an online technical course for your organization or institution. In developing the course, you will want to consider the many partners in the project who will later be developing a perspective on the success of the project. For example, what criteria will future learners in the course use to define success? What are the criteria your supervisor will use when evaluating the project? Does your supervisor’s perspective and related criteria differ from that of his or her superiors, the board of directors, or CEO? How will learner performance in the workplace be utilized to determine the success of the project? And what other individuals in the organization or institution will be in a position to develop an influential perspective on your success?
Like any system, distance-learning ini-tiatives are complex; and, while it is unlikely that we can create a system that meets the criteria to be a success for everyone who will evaluate the initiative (formally or informally), we can take steps to ensure that we are addressing the perspectives in a systematic manner.
In developing any distance learning course, program, or initiative, a results-focused needs assessment is an essential planning tool that should be utilized. By using the needs assessment process as a means for exploring what results are necessary for future success, you can tap into the definitions that others will be using to evaluate the performance of the system.
At the same time, during the needs assessment and related planning processes, you can also proactively generate success criteria for the project; criteria that are created based on the mosaic of perspectives you have examined during the assessment. By focusing all of these efforts solely on the results to be accomplished, rather than the processes to be implemented, you can further use the needs assessment to guide later evaluations of success (even if you have altered your implementation plans to address new technologies or unforeseen barriers).
As a result, the definitions for success of the distance-learning project are not on what you will do, but what results you will accomplish ... and how those accomplish-ments address the multiple perspectives of success that will sooner or later be used to define the evaluation criteria of your success.
