Learning Partners Course Development Process

Once you determine you want to host a course: Start by coordinating your date(s)/time(s), duration, and number of sessions with Organizational Development (OD).

FAQs:

• Should I schedule dates if I don't have all my course details planned yet? - YES!
• Will I get my preferred dates? - First come, first served! We will do our best to get your preferred date(s) and timeslot(s), but keep in mind, there are 20+ learning partners we're coordinating with.

Action Needed by You:

• Once you decide you want to host a course on the OD calendar, reach out to us at OrganizationalDevelopment@cityofmadison.com ASAP!
  • Check out the 2025 OD Calendar Availability spreadsheet to see what's still open before reaching out to coordinate dates/times. 
  • When you reach out, include:
    • Course Start Time, and Length/Duration
    • Number of Sessions - for the calendar year

Submit your Course Information with the Course Planning Form. Use the Course Planning Checklist to help guide you through the form and to make sure you have everything you need!

FAQs:

• Any specific format for sending this to OD? - Yes, see "Action Needed by You" section below.
• How will I know OD has all they need from me? - You can expect a confirmation email once we receive your course items! This will include a request for any missing items.

Action Needed by You:

• Use the checklist to gather the items needed to get your course operationally ready and live for registration.
• When sending everything to OD...
  • Use the subject line: "2025 Course: Course Title"
  • Send a separate email for each individual course
  • Watch for proofing email(s) - these require action by you!

After you've coordinated and secured your date(s)/time(s) and submitted your course form(s), our OD Coordinator begins building your...

1. Course Webpage (City Website)
2. Registration Page (Eventbrite)
3. And adds your course(s) to the OD Calendar (Outlook, Printed, and TV Versions)

FAQs:

• Do I get to review everything before it goes live? - Yes, you will receive proofing emails that will require action by you within 3 business days.
• If I don't respond to the proofing emails, what happens? - Our OD Coordinator will take the next steps to make your course live - without your review.
• How will I know when everything's live and ready for people to register? - Once proofed, we'll make any necessary changes and send you a "Your Course is Live" email.

Action Needed by You:

• Review and follow the steps in the proofing email
  • Review your Course Webpage
  • Review your Eventbrite Registration Page
  • Send any update requests within 3 business days

While our OD Coordinator is hard at work building the operational side of your course(s), there's work to be done by you, the facilitator, to make sure your course is the best it can be for all learners.

Our OD Manager & OD Coordinator are here to support you and share our Curriculum and Learning + Development expertise with you!

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Learning Partners = Subject Matter Expert (SME)
  • Content, Curriculum Building, Topics, Lessons, Facilitating
• Learning + Development Specialist = SME for Consultation Only on Adult Learning Principles and Curriculum Design
  • Layout & Design, Engagement, and Facilitation Techniques

Action Needed by You:

• Reach out to OrganizationalDevelopment@cityofmadison.com to work with HR-OD for feedback and recommendations on...
  • General design and scaffolding of your curriculum
  • Adult learning principles and best practices
  • Facilitation best practices and tips
  • Slide deck accessibility and visual design
  • Connection and alignment with TeamCity values

Once the curriculum, course materials, and lesson plans have been reviewed and updated (if needed), it's time to finalize everything to be posted on your course page(s).

Posting these items on the course page is a standard practice when working with OD.

This allows for folks with access needs to prepare their screen readers, if needed, and learners who prefer to review content prior to joining know what to expect.

Looking for examples of what this looks like on a course page? View the Values-Based Leadership Course Page for ideas.

Action Needed by You:

• Gather the following items to get posted on your course page(s):
  • Slide Deck
  • Learner Workbook
  • Pre-Work, if any
  • Any other resource(s) you want to share with your learners - (i.e., One-Sheeters, external resources and links, etc.)
• Send to OrganizationalDevelopment@cityofmadison.com 

With your course(s) scheduled, developed, built, and LIVE, it's time to bring in the crowds!

Marketing course(s) is a shared task between OD and you.

For Marketing ideas, check out our Marketing Your Course webpage.

What OD will do:

• Send out weekly "Upcoming Courses" e-Blasts.
• Include your course in quarterly-calendar-print-outs and distribution to all facilities.
• Be in regular communication with you about registration numbers, access needs requests, and if more marketing is needed as your course date approaches.

Action Needed by You:

What Learning Partners (you) will do:

• Promote your courses by...
  • Forwarding e-Blasts
  • Request Course Highlight email(s), Course Banners, and additional materials to send out to targeted audiences
  • Post flyers
  • Share via word-of-mouth! - Think about the spaces you're in to cross-reference and highlight your course(s)

Action Needed by You:

Before the Course:

• Practice! Want to work on your facilitation skills? Here are some resources to help get you started:
  • Gender-Inclusive Language for Facilitators
  • Tips to Make Virtual Training Engaging (Facilitator Tip-Sheet)
  • We also offer courses on being an effective facilitator and are happy to consult with you to discuss how to build your facilitation skills.
• Receive your attendance sheet with registered folks for your course (2-3 days prior to your course). 

Day of:

• Log on 10-15 minutes early to make sure you’re ready to roll
  • Have a check-in question so folks who join early have something to do & build rapport!
• Take attendance – record who attended on the excel file received from HR-OD.
  • Note, HR-OD is available to support with attendance. Let us know in advance if support is needed and we’ll make sure someone’s available to help you with this! 
• Use facilitation best practices
• Own your material, remember you’re the expert!! :) 
• Save time to ask for feedback using the HR-OD Survey!  
• Send completed attendance form back to HR-OD

After the Course:

• Send the completed attendance sheet back to HR-OD for us to:
  1. Update the attendance records for end-of-year reporting out.
  2. Send out post-course emails, "Thanks for Joining Us" and "Sorry We Missed You".

Feedback fuels continuous improvement!

In the spirit of continuous improvement, all courses offered through OD use the City of Madison Course Evaluation Form to gather participant feedback. 

Learn about the L+D Evaluation and Process.

Asking for Feedback:

• Save the last 3-5 minutes to personally ask participants to share their feedback using the current year’s evaluation form. These are updated yearly and the current version can be found on the Course Evaluation Link webpage. 
• OD does send a copy of the link out in course follow-up emails once attendance sheets are sent back to OD, but a personal ask typically yields more responses!

• You can expect a summary of the feedback the Friday following your course date. 
• Review this for ideas and suggestions for how to enhance your training.

• Work with HR-OD to incorporate suggestions into your course content.
  • We recommend you discuss your course(s) with HR-OD on a periodic basis (at least annually) to discuss questions, or improvements that can be made.
  • Remember, we're here to help you be the best facilitator you can be! Reach out for a consult anytime.
  • HR-OD Manager reviews all evaluations on a quarterly basis to support continuous improvement.

• OD begins to market your course in our Weekly Upcoming Courses emails to All-Email Users (sent out every Tuesday at 3 PM). 

• OD checks-in with you about registration numbers, access needs requests, if additional marketing is needed, and reminds you of what the next steps and your options are.
• If registration numbers are on the lower end, additional marketing is needed. There are ideas on the Marketing Your Course webpage and OD can create a Course Highlight Email for you to send out to your desired audiences.

• OD will check in again with an updated registration amount, if any new access needs requests came in, and when to expect an attendance sheet to be sent your way.
• If registration amounts are still low, we can discuss last-minute marketing efforts. This is also when we would consider rescheduling or cancelling. See Cancellation Policies.

• OD will send an attendance sheet and a reminder about the Course Evaluation your way.
• You’ll notice a column titled “Attended?” – This is where you’ll need to mark if someone attended or not. Once your course is done, send the completed attendance sheet back to OD to update our attendance records.
• A reminder to ask participants for feedback using the current Evaluation Feedback Link – included in the email. Current year’s link and QR code can always be found on the Course Evaluation Link webpage.

• Once we receive the completed attendance sheet, OD will update our attendance records and send out follow-up emails.
  • "Thanks for Joining Us": A follow-up email for folks who attended is sent out with a thank you and a reminder to complete the Course Evaluation.
  • "Sorry We Missed You": A follow-up email for folks who no-showed is also sent out with a sorry we missed you message and a link to future course sessions.

• OD will send you a summary of the course evaluations received.
• If you do not receive this the Friday after your course, this may be that the number of responses received is low, and we’re giving folks more time to submit feedback. You can expect this the next Friday if this is the case.