quote:

At the beginning of class, each participant writes down on a sticky what they expect to learn in the class, anonymous of course.

I've been doing that for years and calling it "great expectations" - although I don't have the facilitator collect the stickies. Let the learners post their stickies up themselves!

So, my question to all you experienced learning specialists, coming from an unexperienced trainer. Why remain anonymous? I'm working on my Masters right now and most of my professors ask for my expectations and I'm not asked to be anonymous. Why would it be important?
Marci

I put the 'anonymous' decision down to how open and honest you expect the participants to be. Often they will not feel they can clearly state what they expect to get out of the development without leaving themselves open to criticism. It's really a matter of preference.

If framed well (no - I'm not going to spoon-feed what that means), I don't feel it is necessary to keep that part anonymous - let people write their expectations on stickies and simply initial them, then post them on the wall. Indeed - if any adult registers for a class (per a requirement or for personal goals) he/she should know why he/she signed up for it and what he/she hopes to get out of it. It is best for one to know from the get-go if one's expectations are on track or way out of scope so one can choose to either reset one's expectations or remove oneself from the class.

My 2 cents of best practices re: a parking lot are:
1. Explain the purpose in your intro/at beginning of class
2. Explain what goes in the parking lot- questions that cannot be immediately answered, but that will be addressed by the end of class or afterwards in a follow-up email

I do not use it for expectations of class

I know I am not an official source, but hope that helps!