CETL Evaluation Do you want to find out what impact the CETL programme is having? Do you want to know whether to believe or dismiss the doomsayers? Well we are awaiting the outcome of the interim evaluation of the CETL programme which was conducted by an evaluation team from Lancaster University and the Open University throughout late spring and summer 2007. The report is due for publication by HEFCE some time around Easter 2008. The data used is the interim self-evaluation report all CETLs were expected to send a to HEFCE by mid-July 2007 and a series of visits members of the evaluation team made to many CETLs to investigate the impact CETLs are having in their institutions and the wider higher education community.

CETLs were encouraged to be as creative as possible in describing their successes and providing evidence, including the use of different media and artefacts: photos, video, audio, paintings, CDs and DVDs as well as conventional text and report formats. The team were also keen to find out about the challenges faced by CETLs in setting up, embedding and disseminating their work in order to inform future funding. It will be interesting to see whether any of the difficulties spoken about in network meetings, such as getting capital spends through university bureaucracy, appointing suitable staff, defining a CETL’s role in the institutional context and being told not to provide a “warts and all” story (an understandable instruction given apparent desire in some quarters to want to see the programme fail), actually make it into the programme evaluation report.

While the self-evaluation process has not always been comfortable members of the CETL-IPREN network, very often those charged with overseeing or writing individual CETL self-evaluation reports, found the opportunity for reflection very useful. The process enabled them to see that more had been achieved than at first thought, sometimes so much that data collection proved to be more demanding than first envisaged. Compiling the report also provided an opportunity to rethink and review original objectives, something positively encouraged by programme advisors; in some cases this meant moving away from the original bid because of changing circumstances, including staff changes, and unforeseen opportunities.

The Evaluation experience and process is to be the focus of a series of CETL-IPREN activities over the next few months, beginning with a network meeting at BCU on 28th February. There will also be a session on the outcome of the Evaluation at the CETL-NETWORK conference to be held at Leicester University Conference Centre 17th-18th April.  ¶ 12:11 pm 1 Comments

  Enquiry-based learning Back in January I attended a symposium exploring instances of enquiry-based learning in the engineering-related curriculum. The presentations are now available from the engCETL website. It was enjoyable day with people turning up to share their experiences and learn from others. Participants came from a number locations, including colleagues from Ireland and a visiting Carrick Fellow from Australia. They key impressions that I took away was that enquiry-based learning took a fair bit of planning and persuation (both with students and fellow staff) but that the outcomes were impressive - students raised their game to produce much better, thoughtful outputs - and a lot more fulfilling for those involved.

For more information about enquiry-based learning and related educational theories see:

• James Atherton's definitions
• CEEBL CETL
• Handbook of Enquiry and Problem-based Learning
• Problem-based learning - University of Brighton hosted site, HE Academy Centre for Legal Education compiled resources
• Activity-based learning, also see Macdonald, Janet and Twining, Peter (2002) Assessing activity-based learning for a networked course. British Journal of Educational Technology, 33 (5). pp. 603-618. ISSN 0007-1013

Labels: activity-based learning, CETLs, enquiry-based learning, problem-based learning

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