Evaluating community projects

Evaluating community projects seeks to explore the questions- what do users get out of community projects? what do projects achieve? how can we find this out? The study places community projects within a theoretical and historical context and examines participation in relation to involvement of users at different levels in projects. It explores different approaches to evaluation - experimental, American management, participatory and critical and looks at what implications these different approaches have for the meshing or otherwise of different interests. Examples from the case study of evaluation in a community project are threaded through the sections of the chapter on methods of evaluation. These sections are - measurement of intangibles, monitoring and indicators and participatory evaluation. Measurement of intangibles looks at how criteria for evaluation can be set against a background not only of criteria that might have to be negotiated but also concepts which are hard to break down into specifics. The section on monitoring looks at what information we need to gather, in what format from which source and also at project specific indicators. The last section of this chapter examines appropriate methods for participatory evaluation and how far this type of evaluation could be used in a project setting. The conclusion offers an expedient, loose framework for evaluation (as part of the process), which whilst situation specific offers possibilities for adaptation

Three decades of universal design - Defining moments

This paper contributes to the growing research on incorporating Universal Design in the Higher Education landscape by presenting a Practitioner\u27s Perspective on Universal Design as delivered in the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown (ITB) in the first year of a creative digital media degree as part of the first year experience. This first year experience is a transition time for many students and has many complexities; while being an exciting and fulfilling time, the transition can also be challenging and isolating. Through Universal Design, the aim is to enable students to \u27Get connected\u27 and \u27Stay connected\u27. Universal Design for Learning is explored through changes in curriculum design as a means of enhancing student engagement [1]. The Universal Design framework is structured into three strands; providing multiple means of representation; providing multiple means of action and expression and providing multiple means of engagements. The broader perspectives of Universal Design are considered at Institutional level. Resources, practices and attitudes, Michael Fullan suggests, are the three critical elements required for change to occur [2]. \u27The Power of Moments\u27 [3] and why certain experiences have extraordinary impact, coupled with underpinning Universal Design for Learning guidelines is considered in curriculum design and how they may enable meaningful engagements.The role of creativity and innovation suggests a way of interlacing universal design with the power of moments, acknowledging the critical elements for change to move from UDL exploration to integration. This paper highlights case studies where all these interrelated forces intertwine with emotional learning and how embedding Universal Design enables transformation. These are design models and are still to be evaluated

To Stay and To Change: Beginning Social Justice Educators Creating Collaborative Third Space(s)

Beginning teachers committed to social justice and emancipatory education often experience isolation and discouragement and need communities for intellectual, social, and emotional support as they learn to teach, and sustain their commitments to transformative pedagogy. This qualitative inquiry followed recent graduates who demonstrated personal commitments to a more just world through their lives and their studies and who began their first year as teachers in a variety of settings. Framed within a theory of transformational learning, third space, and Adler’s concepts of social interest and encouragement, the participants and the participant researcher co-created a virtual community to reflect upon and problematize this complex stage of their careers. Guiding this inquiry were the following questions: (a) What are the individual experiences, tensions, and perceptions expressed by social justice educators during their first year of teaching? (b) How does an online community created to develop a support network influence the experiences of these beginning educators during their initial year in the field? Data collection for this individual and multiple case study included autobiographical information, postings, interviews, and extant data from the teachers’ preservice training and the beginning of their first year. Data were inductively and iteratively analyzed. Trustworthiness was established through attention to credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Exploration of the life histories of these women indicated that justice and equity have been their ontological way of being in the world, and that commitment extended through their preservice training and into their first year of teaching. These women approached curriculum in critical ways, problematized simplistic explanations of student apathy, deconstructed the one right answer myth, and worked to democratize education, liberating both their students and themselves. The co-constructed community provided multiple venues for reflection, discussion, collaboration, and support which were used by the participants to meet their unique goals and needs. Participants resolved to continue and expand the community beyond the data collection period so as to remain inspired and focused on issues of justice. Implications for teacher education programs, school districts, and beginning social justice educators themselves were discussed. Possible questions for future research were also explored

CCRI 2017 Year in Review

This book presents an overview of CCRI's research activities during 2017

After the Rain – learning the lessons from flood recovery in Hull

The report shows that it is often not so much the floods themselves, but what comes afterwards, that people find so difficult to deal with. The research on which this report is based aimed to undertake a real-time longitudinal study to document and understand the everyday experiences of individuals following the floods of June 2007 in interaction with networks of actors and organisations, strategies of institutional support and investment in the built environment and infrastructure. It had the following objectives: - To identify and document key dimensions of the longer term experience of flood impact and flood recovery, including health, economic and social aspects. - To examine how resilience and vulnerability were manifest in the interaction between everyday strategies of adaptation during the flood recovery process, and modes of institutional support and the management of infrastructure and the built environment. -To explore to what extent the recovery process entailed the development of new forms of resilience and to identify the implications for developing local level resilience for flood recovery in the future. To develop an archive that will be accessible for future research into other aspects of flood recovery. The flooding which affected the city of Kingston-upon-Hull took place in June 2007. Over 110mm of rain fell during the biggest event, overwhelming the city‟s drainage system and resulting in widespread pluvial flooding. The floods affected over 8,600 households and one person was killed. Our research used in-depth, qualitative methods where 44 people kept weekly diaries and participated in interviews and group discussions over an 18-month period