Sandbox Environment

Improving participation with the Learn panels

  1. Improving Participation

    Improving participation with the Learn panels Effective participation is informed participation. The Learn panels let you offer useful information about the process and the issues, in an eye-catching format.

Opportunities for public participation should be designed to encourage people to become informed about the relevant issues and decisional processes. In the SmartParticipation platform, this means

  • providing multiple points at which people are offered relevant information;
  • "layering" information so that participants can dig deeper, or get more remedial assistance, depending on their individual interests, abilities and motivations; and
  • to the extent resources permit, providing information in multiple formats for those who prefer to learn by watching or listening.

The Learn panels allow you to create informational slides tailored to your process and discussion. These appear at the top of the Home page and at the bottom of every Topic Page. Select a colorful image, come up with an easy-to-understand tab title and some concise, quotable "teaser text," and then use the "More" functionality to offer a page with additional details, including links to other sources on and off your site.

If creating short informational videos is an option for you, a video link can be inserted within the image. For examples, see RegulationRoom and NYCSmartParticipation.

How to do it: SmartParticipation Manual.