Q Project Phases Evaluation  
Evaluation

Evaluation is a concept that will bring different kinds of activities into people's minds. In the universities it may have to do e.g. with the learning results, the quality of teaching as well as the total quality management. In the EQUIPE quality tool evaluation refers to the evaluation of the quality project.

The evaluation functions that we are dealing with emphasize wide coverage, continuity and developmental aims. Not only the outcomes of the project, but also the structures, processes and working practices need our constant care. Evaluation is an activity that has to be designed as a part of the project plan, not after the project. The idea of evaluation is to support skilful managing of the project. This part of the tool analyses the various viewpoints to evaluation in quality projects. The main question that you should answer in this section is:


How can evaluation support the implementation of the project?

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. Are the actions planned and the methods to be used the best to achieve the objectives and to meet the needs of the target groups of beneficiaries ?
  2. Are the planned results the most appropriate to meet the needs identified ?
  3. What will you do about any welcome or unwelcome side-effects or unexpected results ?
  4. Do the planned methods maximise the use of available resources ?
  5. Can the desired results be achieved at less cost using other means ?
  6. Could you use the available resources in different ways to produce better results ?
  7. Will the planned results actually fulfil the goals and objectives in the best possible way ?

Issues

The Issues

There are number of criteria to be taken into account in a quality project, which relate to the totality of the project and the relationship between the various elements within it.

Some of these are:

  • Coherence: both internally within the project – that is the link between the objectives, the means and the actions undertaken – and externally – that is the link between the project and the beneficiaries, the local environment and the institutional characteristics.
  • Congruence: the relationship between the needs identified as the rationale for the project and the actual results, both expected and unexpected.
  • Efficiency: the relationship between the results and the methods used to achieve them.
  • Effectiveness: the relationship between the goals and the objectives and the actual results

Recommendations

Recomendations

  1. In a complex project involving a range of different actors, there may be different needs and different objectives in play. It may not be possible to please them all equally; compromises may be necessary. So make sure the results planned meet the needs of the most important beneficiaries and the primary target group. Then devise a plan to manage those not completely satisfied.
  2. Make sure you explore a wide range of methods and chose the one most likely to achieve your objectives and required results.
  3. Consult widely on the possible outcomes so that you minimise the chances of unexpected problems.
  4. The plan is a tool and can be changed if necessary. So during the project review progress against objectives and take action to correct if the project is not going according to plan, or to change the plan if it is going better than expected.
  5. Make sure that the resources employed are in proportion to the results planned.
  6. The experience of all of us is that quality project takes more resources than expected so make sure you work out carefully how much time it will take and monitor the use of resources (especially time) carefully.
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    To know how to use evaluation in quality projects, you can see:

    EQUIPE Case Study: Bergen (Norway)

Evaluation Questions

Evaluation Questions

  1. Was the overall project a success? How do you justify that judgement ?
  2. Did you meet the needs of the primary target group ?
  3. Do those actors whose needs were not completely met understand the reasons ?
  4. Was the project rooted in the daily life of the university/department?
  5. Could you have achieved your objectives more effectively ?
  6. Could you have used the available resources to produce better results?
  7. Were there some unexpected results that you should have foreseen ?
  8. Are they arrangements to ensure further learning after the end of the quality project ?
  9. What were the strengths of the project ?
  10. What were the weaknesses?
  11. If you were doing it again, what would you do differently?
  12. Is there a reflection planned for ensuring the developments of the quality after the end of the project ?

    13.