Close
The sustainability of your short course or continuing professional development (CPD) also depends on its benefit to the wider world.
What impact is
Impact is the benefits of excellent research for the wider world.
Benefits can be:
- quantifiable (such as money saved, patients treated or years lived)
- less quantifiable or tangible (such as influences on government policy or shifts in public understanding)
Research might directly or indirectly lead to these benefits anywhere in the world.
Short courses and impact
A short course or CPD is not an impact in itself.
But it may lead to further research that in turn creates impact.
Measuring the potential impact of your course
Measuring impact is hard because it happens over time – months or even years after your course ends.
Try to gather feedback from participants to demonstrate how your short course or CPD has helped an individual learner or business. You could do this:
- immediately after the course
- three to six months after they complete the course
Find out more about how to review your course and get feedback.
If you expect that the eventual impacts of your course will be less quantifiable or tangible, you'll need to plan carefully how to measure them.