Monitoring; evaluation and impact

Monitoring.- the project was a key issue to achieve what was already designed in the application form. We achieved it through different means and task:

-  permanent communication via email, skype

-the creation of a simple but connected network with blogs; google tech; facebook, etc..

- term report: two templates were designed to obtain information from the partners: one for the videoconferences and another for tasks and activities different from that: mobilities; workshops; hand made products. It was intended as a monthly report but it turned out in a term report because each term the work was based on a different topic.

- meeting during the mobilities: it was always an important part of it. There went through a check list to revised what have been done; pros and cons and we planned what was coming next according to the project schedule. We decided how to carry it out; changes or add new ideas. Agendas of every mobility are on the blog.

- minutes were written up after every meeting and send to every partner to make clear the agreements and also everything discussed. The agenda on the blog was also updated with every change.

- the project coordinator was in charge of reminding pending tasks if something was not finished in time.

-uploading or directly working on the presentation, post or any other online tool we needed for every purpose.

-the reports after each mobility.

Evaluation- We were well aware of the fact that  we had to evaluate its progress constantly and systematically to ensure the success of our project.

The AREAS we focussed on and  the INSTRUMENTS we used were:

- Participation: students (families, teachers, partners) By means of Google technology Spain created a set of questionnaires to do so. They were shared with the rest of the partners so they can do a similar assessment. Children were also asked to make reflections on their participation in presentations.

- The work plan was mainly revised in the different project meetings. We revised every term’s products, results;  communication; project meetings and according to our feedback from every school either we continued with our agenda or we adapted something to fit better the situation (changing the topic; using the same on line tools to make things easier; arranging the groups and so on).

- Mobilities (organization, problems, relevant products, agenda before meetings, oncoming tasks) by means of  on line questionnaires (Google technology), control lists (to be in control of the tasks required), direct observation of children (their attitudes; their outcomes), on line board game

Impact.- The impact was very positive specially as regards children. In most of the schoosl they became really aware of being European citizens and more motivated to language learning.

Our sources to gather information about it:

- a rubric.- the first year of the project the knowledge and attitude of the participating students on the subject addressed by our project (cultural and language as unseen elements in tellecollaboration) were tested through a rubric designed for the project coordinators. The same procedure was followed at the end of the project. The results were compared to evaluate the impact the project had on the knowledge and attitude of the participants. This rubric was specially designed for the grown-ups because they are more directly engaged in collaboration using videoconferences and on line tools.

-the schools´ atmosphere during the developing of the project.

- to measure the impact we also looked at the rest of the on line questionnaires, direct observation and outcomes. The preschoolers deserve a special mention at this point. They were really enthusiastic about videoconferencing and the real proof that communicating in a real context and for a real purpose makes a difference.

- our blog.- We also check the impact in the number of visitors (about 20, 000) to our site. Taking into account we are small schools except for Poland and Italy it is quite a number. Also the interaction with the social network of Finland.