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Table 1 “Foundations in KT” educational principles

From: Evaluation of the “Foundations in Knowledge Translation” training initiative: preparing end users to practice KT

“Foundations in KT” Educational Principles

Example

Interprofessional

Collaboration [48]

 • Course applicants were required to apply in teams of two to four that included both knowledge users and researchers

 • The integration of both stakeholder groups in the teaching and practice of KT is important so knowledge is relevant to their needs

 • Teams were required to have institutional support and were, therefore, asked to recruit their manager or a decision-maker partner (DMP)

 • Managers’ or DMP involvement was sought to help capture their perspectives of the implementation project and organizational factors that may influence sustainability, including scaling up of the project and further enhancing capacity in KT at their organization

Learning through practical application [49]

 • Teams needed to be working on a project addressing a local knowledge-to-action gap as learning is enhanced when participants are given opportunities to apply knowledge in real-world settings

Range of teaching techniques [50,51,52,53]

 • The course was based on active learning through small group work, interactive discussions (seminars and asynchronous discussions), and brief didactic sessions

Facilitation of social interaction [49, 54, 55]

 • The course included an online platform to stimulate discussion of participants’ projects and to promote social connectivity; participants were asked to share their learning materials with others through the online platform.

Formal feedback and coaching

 • Participants were assigned a coach they could reach out to for project-related questions; formal feedback on project plans was delivered during in-person sessions

Adult learning theory and assessment of learning needs

 • Real-time assessments of learning needs was performed via interviews and focus groups before each workshop

 • Session content was adapted based on learning needs to make the training initiative more relevant to participants (e.g., additional content on dissemination, KT funding, evaluation, and sustainability were included in course content; see the Additional file 1 for workshop agendas).