Measuring the Success of Working with the Community Project
摘要
Working with the community (WWC) projects, based on experiential learning, are a requirement, incorporated within a two-year Teacher Education Program. Usually, integrated as a Service Internship Model, all prospective teachers complete coursework of 20 h per year under WWC, wherein they work on a real community-identified need or produce a work of value to the extended community. To orient prospective teachers to the service of the community for its educational and socio-cultural resurgence was the objective of “Project Make and Donate a Mask”—an awareness campaign and community outreach program undertaken as a part of the WWC Project. The project stemmed out of a humble attempt for curricular and pedagogical interventions to raise awareness about wearing masks among the extended community, especially with a focus on the most vulnerable community. Assessing the efficacy of such a community engagement program and communicating the performance story of the “Project- Make and Donate a Mask” was a daunting task. The present paper attempts to outline the application of an outcome-based evaluation plan for measuring the success of the WWC project undertaken by a College of Education. Activities (how it is planned and delivered, by whom and for whom) and outcomes (skills, knowledge, awareness, attitude, value changes, and participation) of the program were the actual focus of the evaluation. The investigator illustrates the use of a program logic model incorporated within the project, for its management and evaluation and the subsequent evaluation scheme that emerged out of the endeavor. Various outcome indicators that measured all or any of the three logic model components of output, outcome, and impact are also slated out. The output of the project was indicated through the quantitative aspects of the success story, while the follow-up questionnaires administered to the student teachers yielded the primary data regarding the qualitative outcomes of the project. Also, the Critical Incident Journals and Photo Essays included in the student teacher’s WWC Portfolios bear witness to the qualitative aspects of the success story and provide vital input for the reflection phase of the service-learning pedagogy. This program evaluation envisages providing concrete ideas to improve the management and the performance of any education program, all but keeping the learner at the center.