A contract is defined simply as an agreement between two parties to do something.  It can be used on anything from an agreement to buy or sell an item to an employment contract.  One thing many do not consider using contracts for however is with learning.

I just finished up doing a year long educational cadre on the use of Universal Design for Learning strategies in a classroom.  Part of the deal was that in return for strategies and software or devices to use in the classroom, participants would meet with me in person at least 3-4 times a year in addition to doing some web based stuff.  Sounds simple enough, but I’ve been in the game long enough to know things don’t always work out as planned.  The last thing I wanted was a project that started with 30 people and ended with five.  This can happen for a variety of reasons, so to help prevent it from happening this time around I created a contract that not only the participants had to sign, but they’re administrators (and sometimes their administrator’s administrator) had to sign.  No one could register before signing and returning this contract to me.  On the contract I included what the expectations of the participants were and what they would receive in return.  If someone did not show up, they would not receive the support and devices that everyone else received.  Also, if for some reason they were told they could not attend a training, I simply pulled out the contract for the administrator so they would realize this had been agreed upon some time ago.  Overall it was a huge success.

The purpose of this post is to get you to think out of the box and take this a step further.  It’s easy to use contracts if you are meeting face to face with people over a the course of several months, but what about using this in your online courses or trainings as well (even if it’s only a one time thing).  A contract immediately provides clear expectations of what is expected of the learner.  They know how much time it requires and have the opportunity to say no (or choose a different time to take the course/training) up front.  This will also help the learner understand what they will be gaining in return for taking the course (a certificate, mandatory training satisfied, a gift card, etc…)

I recommend giving a contract a try during your next training.  If nothing else, the simple act of signing an agreement is likely to increase the completion rate of any of your courses.