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5.2 How Can We Recognize Learning Opportunities? Module

Learning opportunities arise when there is a possibility or a pressing need to act in a new way. 8

These opportunities naturally present themselves at the end of each stage of your IEA and at the end
of the whole IEA cycle. You also can cultivate learning if you encourage participants to exchange and
collectively process new information at any time during the IEA process. This is how discussion lists can
work effectively.

Exchange of information and discussions (processing) are prerequisites for learning opportunities. Abu Dhabi, UAE

Yet, further conditions apply to fully realize them, including:

? motivation, which often is the urgency to solve a problem, or act with the support of new knowledge;

? trust to discuss values, assumptions and ideas without repercussions;

? mandate and opportunity to apply the new knowledge; and

? shared understanding of the importance of learning (not only what to learn but also how to learn)
(Preskill and Torres 1996)

Each stage can be characterized by one or two of these learning conditions. Keeping these conditions
in mind, you can enhance learning by using relevant exercises

5.3 How Can We Use Learning Opportunities?

In this final section, you are going to design a monitoring meeting that helps you and other participants
monitor progress and cultivate learning.

As discussed earlier, learning opportunities naturally present themselves at the beginning and end of
each IEA stage and each IEA cycle. These are the times when you need to reflect and articulate lessons
learned to improve the next course of action.

Given the limited time available, we suggest that your core IEA team organize regular but brief, mid-
stage and/or stage-end monitoring and evaluation meetings to serve two purposes:

1. Monitor progress toward and capture lessons learned to improve the next IEA stage and the next
IEA cycle.
2. Cultivate a learning, improvement-oriented approach throughout the whole IEA process.

The two types of meetings - monitoring and evaluation - can be organized using the same principles,
with due attention to their complementary differences (Table 1).

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 39