LEARNING WITHIN INNOVATION PROJECTS: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUDIOVISUAL LEARNING HISTORY

Within many innovation projects aiming to contribute to sustainable development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) efforts play an important role. M&E is used for several purposes, including facilitating learning both within and between innovation projects. Learning, which refers to acquiring new knowledge, requires the effective communication and sharing of knowledge. Knowledge generated within innovation projects appears often to be indivisible from the practice in which it is embedded and therefore difficult to generalize to other situations. This situated knowledge is commonly argued to be better shared when not only the lessons learned but also the context of the learning experience is described. This ‘thick description’ enables people to learn through ‘vicarious experience’, referring to the capacity to learn by being given access to other people’s experiences. One of the M&E tools to facilitate this vicarious learning is documenting learning experiences in a learning history. A learning history is ‘a tool aiming at articulating, describing and communicating learning experiences within network’. Normally, these learning experiences are explicated in a written document. However, a learning history in a written format appears not to communicate learning experiences to third parties in such a way that vicarious learning is stimulated. Therefore, within the Regional Food Chains project, a new way of documenting learning experiences has been developed: an audio- visual learning history. In a audiovisual learning history, learning experiences are captured in short video clips of the people involved, sharing their dreams, doubts and successes. This paper describes the from multimedia and learning theories derived principles and challenges the design of the audiovisual learning history was based upon, the process of development and the specific interface used. Moreover, this article explicates the experiences concerning the use of this tool to enhance vicarious learning within an innovation project and concludes with lessons learned for future projects.