Process and outcome
In the previous Module you worked with a group of young people to plan and carry out a project of their choosing. As part of this process, you facilitated a debrief session with the participants and collected feedback from them and possibly other stakeholders.
In this topic, we look at the data you collected along with your own notes, observations and what you submitted for assessment. You can use this material to evaluate the project and your role in it.
Task: Review the assessment requirements
Read Assessment 5.1 for this Module. Identify from the questions in the assessment what you are being asked to evaluate. Skim through the information you have to see what relates to the areas highlighted in the assessment. The relevant information is your own notes, observations, and the evidence you submitted for assessment in the previous project, especially feedback from participants and other stakeholders.
Evaluation
In the previous Module you collected feedback, including a debrief session with participants to carry out an impact evaluation to measure the project’s effectiveness and its impact on the participants’ learning. You can also use this data to help evaluate your practice working with young people.
During the debrief session the participants explored both the outcomes (what was achieved) and the process (role of planning to achieve outcomes).
An evaluation is different to a reflection in two important ways. An evaluation needs:
- Stated criteria to determine what has been achieved. In the debrief session with participants, you used the goals and objectives set at the beginning of the project as the criteria.
- Data from a range of sources. Evaluated conclusions are not based on personal feelings, opinions or observations, but rather on a range of perspectives, experiences and information. If you need a refresher on evaluation, look back at the final topic Project: Feedback in the previous Module.
Analyse information
Before you carry out an evaluation, you need to analyse your data. Quantitative information like that collected from a survey form is straightforward; simply add up or collate the responses and present the findings as a table or graph.
Qualitative data may require a bit more work. Sort the responses into categories. Firstly, by data source – who it comes from. For example, the participants, and other stakeholders such as customers and support workers from the event. Organise by activity or session, or any category that makes sense to you.
Skim read through a data set a couple of times. As you do, keep a mind map of notes to write down the themes that keep coming up. For example, under what participants gained from their participation, several things might keep occurring in the responses such as confidence talking to new people, making good friends, having fun, or learning how to write a budget. If one category or theme is too big (because the participants had a lot to say about it) break it up into smaller subthemes.
Some people like to use different coloured markers to highlight key points about the different themes in the feedback. Once you have identified the main themes of the data try to write short summaries. Select examples of data points from the feedback that support your summaries.
Once you have an analysis of the data you can step back and look at the feedback as a whole:
- Is there a consensus (agreement) view among participants? Or are there differing opinions and experiences on the project?
- Is there anything that surprises you? Perspectives or opinions you did not expect?
- Do you have any first thoughts about how the project’s process or outcome could have been improved?
Task: Participants’ perspective on the process
Explore the participants’ experiences and thoughts about the project’s process using the data you have. Think about these questions and makes some notes.
From the perspective of the participants in the project:
- What went well with planning and implementation? Do they know why these things went well?
- Which aspects of the process did they believe could have been improved?
- Were they satisfied with how they handled any unexpected situations?
- What did they learn about working together? And about planning and carrying out an event, activity or project like this?
- How did they respond to any other stakeholder feedback? Were they surprised or did it mostly align with their thinking?
How does this compare with your perspective and observations about the project’s process? What did you learn as a result of exploring participant perspectives?
Task: Participants' perspective on the outcomes
Explore participants’ experiences and thoughts on the outcome of the project. Relate these to your own expectations for the outcomes of this project. You may find it useful to discuss these questions with a colleague for a more balanced and impartial view on the project’s outcomes.
- What learning did participants identify as a result of their participation in this project – knowledge, skills, behavioural changes, beliefs, opinions, new ways of thinking?
- What did participants learn about themselves as a result of their involvement in the project? What positive things did they learn about others in the group?
- Do you see the participants’ learning in the same way they do? Why or why not?
- Are there any skills, knowledge, belief, or behaviour changes you have noticed that the participants may not have recognised?
- Is participant learning or change solely due to the project? What other factors are involved?
- Overall, are you satisfied with what the participants took away from the experience?
- Did it meet your original expectations? You may want to relook at your original project scope.
- Overall, were participants satisfied with the level of autonomy in the project? Was it too much, not enough or just the right amount?
- If you did a similar project with this group again, how would you approach youth participation and leadership; what would stay the same, what would you do differently?
Task: What would you do differently next time?
Think about how you would answer these questions in relation to the whole project:
- What are the key takeaways about the young people’s involvement in this project?
- Was this a worthwhile activity for the participants? Why or why not? What positive differences did participation make for the young people?
- Would you do something similar with this group again? What about with another group? If so, what changes would you make to the process and what would you keep the same?
What is self-evaluation?
Self-evaluation is an opportunity for you to take time and look at your own practice to determine how you are doing. While it can include some self-reflection such as exploring personal subjective feelings, responses, and experiences, self-evaluation primarily needs a more objective approach. You attempt to view your practice through others’ eyes – the young people, colleagues, or managers, from their feedback. Self-evaluation may also involve comparing outcomes in the form of factual data like statistics, numbers, or demographic information.
You do not need to share the results of a self-evaluation with anyone. This is your opportunity to honestly look at your own practice and evaluate it against criteria. This can be criteria set by the sector through a professional group or body and/or the government. Or it may be criteria set by your organisation and/or other relevant parties. It could also be personal criteria in which you decide what is most important to evaluate your own practice against. Of course, most youth workers are likely to use a mix of criteria from different sources.
Self-evaluation is an opportunity to monitor your own abilities, to identify your particular strengths and weaknesses and to determine how you might go about improving your practice.
Benefits of self-evaluation
Primarily, self-evaluation provides you with a greater sense of autonomy and control over your work and career. When you understand your own practice better you have more confidence in your own ability and experience. You are better able to determine if your current role or organisation is providing you with the experience, support, recognition, or opportunities you need. Self-evaluation can be a catalyst for change both in yourself and in relation to your role or organisation.
Self-evaluation provides insights that can inform changes in your practice and professional relationships; and enable you to set achievable, more meaningful goals. You learn more about yourself as an individual and as a professional. This enhanced learning capacity enables you to target your decisions regarding:
- training and professional development
- problem solving
- being accountable
- motivation to learn new skills
- how you appreciate and articulate your value.
The project self-evaluation
In the previous Module, you conducted a debrief session and possibly collected other feedback from the project’s participants and other stakeholders. Use this information, along with your own notes, observations, and the evidence you submitted for assessment to complete a self-evaluation based on the project. This self-evaluation can provide you with a wider view of your own practice.
How well do the themes you identified in the participants’ feedback line up with your own perspective on the project? When you analysed the participants’ perspectives, the focus was on what they achieved. You tried to find out if the project met its goals and had value as a learning experience.
When you explore the project from your own perspective, you will need to focus on your role of mentoring and facilitating. What can you learn about your own practice and how you approach working with young people? How can you use this information to improve your own learning and development as a professional and be accountable?
Task: Evaluate your own contribution
Relate what you have learned from this project to your practice. Do you have supporting evidence from your own notes and observations and other feedback or data? Think about these questions:
Planning process – your pre-planning (what you did before bringing in participants)
- How do you rate your pre-planning? Did it set the project up well?
- Knowing what you know now about what worked well and what did not, if you went back in a time machine to talk to your past self, what advice would you give yourself about how to improve the pre-planning stage of the process?
Planning process – your role
- Throughout the planning process, how well did you monitor the group? What evidence do you use to support your answer?
- Did you need to step in at any point? Was this the right decision? Why, or why not?
- Was there any point you should have stepped in but did not?
- While mentoring and/or facilitating this group, which strategies were most effective? What were the main challenges? Looking back, is there anything you wish you could have changed about your approach?
- What did you learn from this experience about your ability to facilitate a group? What could you do to improve your skills in this area – next steps?
Youth participation and leadership
- At the start of the project, which level of youth participation or leadership did you expect? Was this accurate?
- Which level of youth participation or leadership works best with this group? Why?
- What could you do with this group to improve their participation and leadership?
- On a project like this, in relation to youth participation and leadership, what are the biggest challenges?
Challenges and obstacles
- What were the main obstacles and challenges of this project?
- What was your role in working with the group to resolve or overcome these obstacles and challenges?
- How much autonomy did the group have to solve its own problems or sort out group dynamics and conflicts? Was this the right approach? If you could do it again, which aspects of the approach would you keep and what would you do differently?
Task: Top five strengths and areas for growth
Based on the self-analysis of your role in the project, make a list of what believe are your top five strengths. How can you use these more in your practice? How can you build on these strengths?
Identify five key areas of your practice that you would like to improve.
Overall learning
Write a list of the top five things you have learned about yourself as a youth worker or your practice.
You are now ready to complete Assessment 5.1. There is only one task in Assessment 5.1, the evaluation of your project. Your notes and ideas from this topic will help you to complete the assessment.
