Q Project Phases Results  
Results

The results of a quality project can be versatile depending on the aims and objectives. A part of them will be easily measured and evaluated, some are more complex and visible only in the long term.

This part of the tool has to do with the outcomes and results of the quality project. A part of the results will be in line with your aims and objectives, but very often the ones responsible for quality projects will meet unexpected results that may be positive or negative. The main question that you should answer in this section is:

What kind of results do you expect to have?

For answering this question you have a collection of resources. These include a list of supportive questions in "Planning Questions", a description of the relevant "Issues", some "Recommendations" based on previous experience and some "Evaluation Questions".

You can use some or all of them to clarify your thinking. You will probably find a certain order and emphasis between the resources that will suit your way of thinking.

After having a look at the resources, you will have a chance to write down your ideas in the "Wrinting Page" and to remind yourself of the most important items in "To Remember" .

You can use a "Writing Page" and "To Remenber" in every phase and they will be available to you next time you enter with the same login.

In every moement you can go to the "Making It an Entirety" and print the whole plan (constructed with the Writing Page from every phase) at the moment you decide.

Planning Questions

interno: Writing Page

interno: toremember

  1. What kind of results do you want to achieve in the short term and in the long term? Do you want your results to be a quality system, a process or a practice?
  2. How can you ensure that the results of the quality work support both the studies of the adult learner and the university that delivers the educational services?
  3. When do you need to see the results? Is it totally up to the project or do you need the results at a certain time e.g. because of the annual plans or external audits?
  4. In your context, is it better to organise a one-time project (e.g. an evaluation) or to construct permanent quality management arrangements?
  5. How will you monitor and assess your progress in achieving the results?
    6.

Issues

 

The Issues

 

Quality projects tend to produce two kinds of short-term results:

1) The product or concrete outcome of the project, usually some form of written report  (this usually relates to the direct, immediate or primary objective) "quality as system".

2) The process or the act of engaging in the project development relationships (this is often an indirect or unexpected result or sometimes relates to a secondary or more hidden objective) "quality as process".

Process results can include e.g. a wider awareness of the range of activities involved in adult education, a higher profile of continuing education service, a review of the ways individuals and teams work together or greater common understanding or consensus around the mission of the service/department.

Implementing results

 

Making use of the results of a quality project includes all the activities, which transfer the new solutions, tools and practices into the working routines and processes of the key players in adult education, and more widely within the university.  It is important to note that quality projects are learning environments where the "dissemination of best practice" starts at the beginning of the project and is continued throughout; it is not something that starts at the end of the project.

3) There is therefore a third kind of result that tends to take place over the long term, "quality as practice". It may be the application of new tools for measuring student/client satisfaction, new criteria for measuring quality, better staff relations and performance or improved services for adults etc. The implementation varies according to the type of result

Recommendations

Recommendations

  1. Beware the risk of carrying out a project that lives "a life of its own?" or one that is experienced as "additional work". The quality work can be effective only in relation to the core tasks and activities.
  2. Make sure that the key players can gain from the results of quality work (students, teachers, managerial staff, the board of adult education and the university leadership).
  3. In adult education quality can only be permanent when all the staff are committed to continuous learning. Making use of the results calls for determined staff development.
  4. Make a plan and a budget for the quality project itself, but also for the task of transferring the results into the daily life of adult education services.
  5. Think of the results within adult education as a part of the results within university`s outreach activities and external impact in general.
  6. Communicate the project and its results widely and do not be afraid to admit the weaknesses as well as the strengths of the project. It will be more credible that way.

Evaluation Questions

Evaluation Questions

  1. What concrete results have you achieved?
  2. What impact has the quality project had on relationships within the service/department and within the university more generally?
  3. Has it improved student/client satisfaction?
  4. What impact has the quality project had on your external environment?
  5. Were there any unintended or expected results?
  6. What were the benefits compared to the costs?
  7. Was it all worth it?