Various levels of impact; different ways of assessing
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This ELP-WSU (The European Language Portfolio in whole-school use) case study shows how evaluation of the project revealed several
levels of impact. Impact should be integrated into evaluation if there
is a need to evidence it. The case study describes a school in Hungary
and adaptation of ELP for a particular purpose. In Hungary the
introduction of the ELP was associated with curriculum reform, and this
project was undertaken with official support. The project forged close
links between the intercultural dimension and plurilingualism. Each year
the Jewish community school that was home to the project sends a group
of 10th-grade students on a study visit to Israel. There they use
English and Hebrew (and sometimes Hungarian) to access a culture to
which they already belong. This encourages them to seek other
intercultural experiences, and some of them visit other countries and
take part in international Jewish youth meetings. Plurilingual and
intercultural experience is part of the everyday life of the school
thanks to the presence of students who come from abroad or have a home
language other than Hungarian; sporting and cultural events also play a
role. In the Hungarian project the preparation of teachers was guided by
a checklist of things to keep in mind, and questionnaires were used to
evaluate the project. See Hungarian case study
here. In addition, all of the case studies on this site contain a section
focusing on impact and demonstrating different ways of evaluating it.
In the LACS network meeting, a participant reported on the following way
of reviewing the impact of
CEF-ESTIM (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages - level
estimation grid for teachers):
• Potential impact: Skills
development; CEFR related bank of lessons and resources per level for a
number of languages in the secondary curriculum
• This was assessed/evaluated by
means of:
o Review and evaluation by teacher
educators (questionnaire)
o Review and evaluation by
teachers/student teachers involved (journal, focus groups and
questionnaire)
o Feedback from students (
questionnaire)
See the
CEF-ESTIM flyer.
Here is a
video
introducing the grid and the training kit including the level estimation grid and description form.
The Baltic participants in the LACS network meeting proposed that impact
and use of DOTS (Developing Online Teaching Skills) could be evaluated in relation to raised awareness and teachers’
understanding of the online materials by using a real blog, shared
online i.e. using DOTS itself as an
evaluation tool.
Participants in LACS meetings reported the following impact of
MORE DOTS: it gave teachers added
resources, competence, and self-reliance in choosing the right tools for
every task; it empowered teachers to use technology to reach their
teaching objectives and the objectives of the curriculum; it had
take-away-value, adding value in teaching practice, especially when
ideas are shared with others. Ongoing evaluation could include teacher
feedback and self-assessment. More can be found in the
videoclips.
LACS (Language associations and collaborative support): Participation in the
LACS workshop
by the National Contact Point in Croatia has led to greater awareness of
the benefits for the state ministry of working with and supporting
language teacher associations.
The impact of projects used for development in a particular context,
e.g. a university teacher education programme, can be seen in the normal
institutional evaluation processes, e.g. the use of EPOSTL
(European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages) in
Bulgaria.
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