In the Spring time, when the flowers are starting to open, the weather gets warmer and plans are forming for the summer, it is a great time to find out what happened to experiences in the winter. So the team organised different ways to produce conclusions about the Just Imagine course.
Each participant received a copy of the impact questionnaire to complete and return to Briana. She collated the results.
Based on the results of the questionnaires, the six participants and people responsible for training within national agencies were interviewed by phone. These interviews concentrated on the following topics:
- How much were the participants able to transfer their learning to their youth work practice
- To what extent did the methodology of the course respond to the needs of the participants
- How many of the planned projects were actually being implemented
- What use the National Agencies had made of the participants as resource persons.
Again the results were collated and transmitted to the other team members.
The team were lucky in having the resources to hold an evaluation meeting. Here their agenda covered:
- Participants' evaluation
- National Agencies' evalution
- Their own evaluation of the course
- and, importantly for their professional development, their team work
- Structure and writing responsibilities for the final report
In addition to the more usual daily reports and descriptions of participants' projects, Briana wrote a considered analysis of the evaluation process and results from the different stakeholders' viewpoints. This was finalised together with the other team members and included a series of recommendations for future courses which could then be used by the networks of National Agencies and trainers working at European level. Printed copies were sent to targeted individuals and an Acrobat Reader version was included on the SALTO website to ensure the widest possible distribution.
After seeing the report on the SALTO website, the editorial team of Coyote magazine invited José and Briana to write an article about their recommendations for future courses. Spiffy the coyote was reported to be most impressed!
Just Imagine! All that evaluation!