Elene TLC External Evaluation Feedback Project meeting – UMEA 16 th – 17 th October 2008

1. Elene TLC External Evaluation FeedbackProject meeting – UMEA 16th – 17th October 2008 Daxa Patel

2. Feedback – Overall Impressions • Very Positive everybody happy to be a part of the Elene project • Elene TT spirit is alive but a little muted. Maybe people more busy with other things. • The partners work well together, good group of friendly enthusiastic people. • Core partners and participating partners – worked well • Wiki is an excellent tool – maybe not used to its full potential • Project is on track to produce what was promised and maybe more • Project topic fits in with what some people are working on in their day job • Centra worked well – but not having video changed the atmosphere

3. Overall Project Management • Excellent project management, very professionally managed by Nancy. Good communication with partners e.g. reminders of deadlines etc. • The right balance between letting people get on with the job and managing the deadlines and promised out puts. • Project co-ordinator energetic but with a sense of humour. • Very friendly supportive leadership. Pressure is positive, cooperative and helpful • Centra meetings help to pace the work. Good minutes afterwards helps to stimulate activity. • Deadlines not always met but a lot of hard work, good motivation and the work gets done • More focus on quality and academic rigour

4. Specific Work Package issues - WPA • Was the most challenging work package – Difficult to contact people at same level of seniority in all partner organisations. • Getting people to Bremen for Board meeting difficult but a success • Agreement not signed in Bremen but now in process of being signed • Interviews proved very successful – Should have a good presentation for Educa – Berlin • Different cultures in partner countries – not possible to get a single policy on incentives • Priorities to end of project: • Evaluation – Need to record experiences of partners – lessons learnt important outcome of the project • Decide Long term sustainability of ELene looks like in practice?? Is it the people or institutions? Is it only Projects or are there mechanisms for keeping in touch in between projects e.g. Centra meeting, F2F meetings at conferences ? • Input relevant outputs into TLCentre

5. Specific WP issues – B1/B2 • B1/B2 – although delays in workplan – The work is progressing well all partners have contributed very well • People really busy so deadlines not always met. Partners have not all sent in reports on PDAs • Combining Teachers and teacher trainers was good at the beginning but may be not so good at the end as it is difficult to distinguish between the two groups and what is different for each group • Evaluation not always worked well Priorities to end of project: • Partner reports on PDAs • Design and deliver European PDA on Digital assessment – design to be finalised in Umea. • Write articles and book on digital assessment • Complete evaluation • Write practical implementation guides and prepare resources for Teaching and Learning Centre • Link to results of B3: analysis of students’ needs.???

6. Specific WP issues – B3 • Feedback on first version of self assessment tool highlighted different cultures and marking systems in different European countries • Collecting Student feedback - Partners are now in the process of getting feedback on the draft. • Partners very impressed with the SAI • Evaluation not always worked well • Priorities to end of project • Finalise Self Assessment Instrument • Write research paper on Gen Y students • Write practical implementation guides and prepare resources for input into TLCentre

7. Specific WP issues – B4 • A little isolated as only three partners but that helped to make the work in the work package more effective • Learnt a lot from having to define the role of instructional design to other partners. • Evaluation worked very well to date – Virtual Guide being evaluated • Some tension because Virtual Guide was developed separately from the TLC but now Virtual Guide now incorporated in the TLC • Priorities to end of project • Virtual Guide – evaluate and refine • Write practical implementation guides and prepare resources for input into TLCentre

8. Specific WP issues -WPC • Software has not been a priority for the partners – project management meetings talked more about the B work packages and evaluation. • Web 2.0 better software on the market – hard to define the role of TLCentre • Partner feedback mini-scenarios and animated graphics interface will be performed/implemented later than planned/liked • Need more feedback from all the partners. • Priorities to end of project • Finalise Design of TLCentre • Mini Scenarios need to be completed • All the partners need to input content • Evaluation of TLCentre

9. Specific WP issues - WPD • Bremen conference was very well organised – despite small numbers got some good feedback from people who were interested in the work. • Several Dissemination activities are work in progress – need to inform METID • Research articles are being written • BI/B2 Article accepted for European journal of teacher trainers – working on new article about the Delphi method. Partners participating in EPDA writing book on Digital assessment • Discussing with EARU for a symposium in Amsterdam for all the partners (teresa) • Lots of dissemination in Finland –FVU board informed regularly –very interested in the project. • Virtual guide being presented to a large e-learning conference in Poland • Priorities to end of project • Get articles written and published • Presentations at conferences e.g Educa Berlin

10. Specific WP issues - WPE • Mismatch of expectation between internal evaluation team and other work packages: • Confusion over role of evaluation team ? Core partners or evaluators • Speed of response? • Really worked well with B4 • Catastrophic changes at Umea created problems for evaluation team • Priorities to end of project • Get everything evaluated – tight time scales at the end of the project. • Evaluation of TLCentre • Internal Evaluation report

11. Final thoughts • This is a very good project – all the partners should be very proud of it and themselves • Some tight deadlines but every thing is on track • Some really good outputs • In the last couple of months the focus has to be on the TLCentre, TLCentre, TLCentre ……. And of course the final report!! • Finally must find a way to keep Elene alive! • It has been a real pleasure working with you all and I am really sorry I cannot be with you for this final meeting but I hope I will be able to work with you in the future!