Overview

The 'Story of SHELL'

Project Outputs

Conference
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Evaluation
Reports

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Details

Evaluation Reports

The evaluation process

There were a number of deliverables for the SHELL Project. The evaluation strategy required that all deliverables were to be subject to acceptance testing by all members of the consortium in order to trigger payments to suppliers and partners. In addition to this, the strategy outlined a process for capturing formative feedback from partners to inform future development.

An evaluation flowchart set out the procedure to be followed. In essence, for each project deliverable (such as the learner record specification), a Primary Evaluation Statement was completed by the team leader responsible for that aspect. This statement, together with supporting evidence was passed to the evaluation team. Each partner then completed a short Local Review Statement which offered institutions an opportunity to judge the deliverable in their own context.

During the course of the project, a range of approaches were taken in respect of this process.  Initially, a document management system was used to store electronic copies of evaluation statements and supporting evidence. This proved to be universally unpopular with the team due to the complexity of the system. A second approach involved bringing partners together for scheduled meetings, and this was more successful as it provided ring-fenced time for evaluation activities.  However, the time taken for partners to travel between sites remained significant - for some, a meeting spanned a whole day when travel time was included. The most successful approach involved the development of an password restricted website, showing colour coded overall evaluation progress tables with straightforward instructions on 'what to do' for each deliverable. Links to summary pages showing statements and evidence were provided for each output. To simplify the review process, an electronic review form was developed and used to automate the procedure. 

Although this took some time to establish, the simple and easy-to-use process proved to be very successful. Significant features of this approach include avoidance of the 'inbox full' problem with sending items by email, and the ability to quarry a single source of information for a range of purposes. This method is worth considering for longer term projects in particular, especially where there may be a turnover of team members over time.

Project Website managed by Jon Yorke