We offer a range of consultancy and services for your project, whether at the ideas stage or in full swing. Consultants have particular expertise is in the design of projects, stakeholder analysis, project planning, project management and evaluation of outcomes, impact and project working processes.

Recent work undertaken

Evaluation support to JISC Advisory Services

A number of workshop contributions to support projects and services in evaluation, offering guidance in gathering appropriate evidence of outcomes, benefits and impact and contributing to development of a wider framework for impact assessment.

External evaluation of the JISC funded BCE-CT project

The Business & Community Engagement (BCE) programme encompasses several strands and projects, using strategies and technologies to promote and support institutional collaboration with businesses and local community groups. The BCE-CT project is looking at how collaborative online tools can foster and build engagement activities. The external evaluation focused on the project's overall effectiveness in meeting its objectives, the uses of collaborative tools in eight trial institutions and the impact on the wider strategic aims.

External evaluation of the EQUESTA Leonardo Lifelong Learning e-VET CPD project

The EQUESTA project - Electronic, Quality assured,  European Steel Training and Assessment – is being led by The Steel Construction Institute (SCI), an independent, research and technical organisation supporting the use of steel in construction.  Funded under the Leonardo Lifelong Learning programme Priority 3 – developing relevant and innovative e-learning content – it comprises a transnational partnership with four Eastern European countries.

The project aimed to support improvements in quality, innovation and attractiveness for vocational education and training systems, institutions and practices by sharing practice and training across a pan-european social partnership and exploring opportunities to harmonise approaches to the assessment of both training materials and vocational competences within the EC VET framework.

The external evaluation has at the Interim Report stage, reviewed project processes and progress against pedagogical and partnership goals. Feasibility, transnationality, innovation and impact on target group is being explored as part of the summative component at Final Report stage. Using a qualitative approach, the external evaluation is examining project outcomes in relation to partnership effectiveness and transnational knowledge transfer, in particular in terms of the likelihood of uptake of products resulting from the project, their quality and relevance to end-users.
 

External evaluation of a 'Course Designs Intensives' programme

The Course Design Intensives (CDIs) are a staff and learning development programme developed and delivered by Oxford Brookes University, originally as part of their e-learning strategy. The evaluation was based on methodologies, experiences and learning from CDI workshops and related support spanning 2003-2008. It examined the features and format of the workshop model and explored the benefits, limitations and critical success factors.

The study aimed to inform the local team around future work not only in supporting strategic decision-making centrally, but also the practices of providers within the institution. Other stakeholders included course teams and individual module leaders who may be considering the potential benefits of participation in a CDI process and staff development providers who may wish to use a similar model within their own institution.

External evaluation of CABLE Transfer, a JISC-funded e-Learning 'Pathfinder' project

CABLE Transfer is a HEA/JISC-funded Pathfinder phase 2 project, supporting change management for the implementation of blended learning, led by the University of Hertfordshire and involving universities of Sunderland, Worcester, St Mary’s Twickenham and Reading. The evaluation was conducted between February and July 2008 based on methodologies, experiences and learning within the participating institutions to which CABLE is being transferred.

The evaluation focused on the range of activities and interventions currently in place for the development and implementation of CABLE Transfer and the institutional context for participation. The work reported on the effectiveness of the CABLE Transfer work with its partner institutions. It provided evidence concerning the viability of the CABLE process as a transferable model to other institutions. It offers some recommendations for improvement of the transfer process.