A project-based approach to learning design
In the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams describes a computer that was built to answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. After seven and a half million years of calculation, Deep Thought reveals the answer to be 42. In the face of disappointment at this answer, the computer says: “I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question was.”
At Toffee Hammer Productions, we bring a huge amount of experience to all our work – but we try to avoid the word ‘expert’. Our success lies not in selling a magic formula, but in understanding the challenge or problem to be solved. Put simply: Knowing what the question is.
The ideal project for Toffee Hammer Productions is pioneering. When you’re exploring unchartered territory, you want to have the right team alongside you. A team of diverse skills and experience that can work together towards a common goal. This is why we build teams around the needs of each project – most often supplementing and becoming part of the client’s existing project, not attempting to ‘start from scratch’ or commit the sin of educating the client. If there is something to be learned – and there always is – we can all learn together.
Learning design and a project-based approach go hand-in-hand.
Learning design is about motivating people to want to learn, and providing the means (environment, structure, access to information, confidence) for them to construct their own understanding and/or develop skills at their own pace.
A project-based approach requires deep inquiry – it is about ensuring you know what question you are trying to answer, before jumping in with a ‘solution’.
Broadly speaking, we always start a project by finding out:
What’s the question we are trying to answer (or the problem we are trying to solve)? This could be as simple as: ‘How can we ensure everyone in our organisation knows and understands the health and safety policy?’ to the more complex ‘How do we promote learning as a core competency within our organisation?’
Who is the intended audience? How will they receive this communication? What will motivate them to engage? What are the barriers to engagement?
Once we understand the purpose or outcome we are trying to achieve and who we are trying to reach, we then go through an innovation cycle. Quickly creating and testing possible solution against what we know we are trying to achieve. We never stop asking questions:
What type of media or live intervention will work? Why would our audience engage with this? How will they find (out about) it? When will they have time to engage with this? How will we know if this has worked?
Every commission starts with a conversation. We are happy to discuss your requirements and brainstorm ideas without obligation. We love learning from other people, about their work and passions.
If you have a project you would like to discuss with us, drop us a line with a brief outline of your goals and we will arrange a free telephone consultation with Founder and Creative Director, Ben Verrall, at a time convenient for you.
We will never try to sell you an 'off-the-shelf' solution or close down divergent thinking too early in the process. We will bring together people with the right skills to realise your project - no matter how ambitious.
We work with budgets ranging from just a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands - and believe we offer value for money across the board. We only take on work where we can give creative input and share a process of discovery. We believe in paying people a fair wage for the experience they bring and value craft skills and expertise. From the beginning of our relationship with you, we will be honest about money and timescales - and what we can offer within any constraints you may have.