pedal book to basics rapid-cycle project
Evaluation: rapid-cycle design and testing
University of Cambridge PEDAL Centre
Dartington and the University of Cambridge PEDAL Centre have joined forces to apply Darington’s rapid-cycle design and testing approach in a new and exciting way. For us at Dartington, the new learning is how our nimble and adaptive approach works when it’s being driven by others, with us riding along and coaching in the backseat. For our partners at the PEDAL Centre, it’s learning whether they can use our approach to quickly and rigorously adapt for online delivery of an evidence-based face-to-face book sharing intervention developed by Murray and Cooper.
The need
Face-to-face interventions like Murray and Cooper’s Shared Picture Book Programme can help to improve parent-child interactions and children’s language development. The inclusiveness of such interventions may be improved by online delivery and including families who historically are less likely to participate in them. Adaptations to mode and target population are big changes for any intervention that need to be well designed and carefully tested in an adaptive learning environment first.
Our response
Rapid-cycle design and testing is ideal for this early-stage formative testing. With Dartington’s support, the PEDAL team will use the 5 steps of rapid-cycle design and testing to quickly:
(1) adapt the book sharing activities/materials to online and the new population;
(2) monitor implementation as it’s happening and respond to events in real-time;
(3) analyse data and draw insights; and
(4) jointly reflect, interpret, and decide whether to adapt, keep going or discontinue.
The lead partner in this project is Cambridge PEDAL, with the work being commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation in partnership with EIF, the University of Reading, and the University of Bangor.
Our work started in September 2021 and concluded in October 2022.
For more information, contact: