Newcastle University

Project:

National Priorities CPD Award: Impact Evaluation

From September 2008 to December 2008
Project Leader(s): Jill Clark
Staff: Ian Hall
Sponsors: TDA (Training and Development Agency for Schools)

Background

The focus of this bid to the TDA was to use the expertise of the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEG) at Newcastle University in geomatics and its experience of working with schools to realise a new suite of geomatics-based CPD for teachers. The key features for provision were:

•  five one-day CPD courses;
•  on-campus delivery of each course with potential for follow up sessions to be delivered in schools, particularly where there is interest in using geomatics in a cross-curricular manner; 
•  consideration of geomatics to support work related learning;
•  introduction to geomatics-based kinaesthetic learning experiences;
• encouragement of using geomatics beyond the classroom through activities such as outdoor and off-school-campus activities;
• development of sustainability literacy amongst course delegates by considering the role of maths, physics, geography, engineering, C&BE and geomatics in sustainable development; 
• provision of a forum for dialog between secondary and tertiary educators.

Impact Evaluation 

Being mindful of the need for a thorough evaluation of the start up CPD scheme, CEG teamed up with the university’s Research Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT) to conduct the impact evaluation.  

The conceptual design of the evaluation scheme is based on the TDA document Impact evaluation of CPD (TDA, 2007) and focuses on the following review questions particularly: 

• What kinds of impact has the provision had on participants?        
• What kinds of impact has the provision had on pupils?
• What evidence did you collect?
• Whom did you consult?
• What strategies did you use? 

Six steps were taken for the evaluation process: 

1. Questionnaire for delegates to complete immediately after the training course.
2. Follow up questionnaire to same teachers 3 months later to see what impact it has had in their teaching.
3. Focus group discussion with a sample of teachers to explore this further.
4. Interviews with teachers and pupils in schools where cross-curricular adoption has been attempted.
5. Analysis of results from steps 1 to 4.
6. Short report and feedback discussions between CfLaT and CEG about the outcomes to inform future course design. 

References

TDA, 2007. Impact Evaluation of CPD. TDA0393W/09.07.  

For further information contact:

Jill Clark, Principal Investigator.

Email: Jill.Clark@ncl.ac.uk

Telephone: 0191 222 5637

Email: I.R.Hall@ncl.ac.uk

Telephone: 0191 222 6380