Evaluation and Research

 

Evaluation and research are essential for CISV to ensure the quality of our programmes, educational content and methods. Evaluation also allows us to improve and develop and to show how well we’re working to other organizations and our supporters.

 

Evaluation

Why We Evaluate


Educational evaluation is a quality assurance process, which allows us to ‘see how well we are doing what we aim to do’. For CISV’s educational programmes, this means finding out how successful we are in making our purpose – to educate and inspire action towards a more just and peaceful world – a reality for all our participants.

We view educational evaluation as a two part process:

1. Monitoring: The collection of evidence during an educational programme or training

2. Evaluation: Putting the evidence together to look for trends, patterns and results, so that informed judgements can be made.

CISV programmes follow a goals-based approach to programme planning and evaluation. Educational goals reflect the key attitudes, skills and knowledge that participants should develop, and our programmes and activities are designed to achieve these goals.

Educational evaluation helps us to identify good practice as well as weaknesses of our educational programmes and trainings. In this way, evaluation is at the heart of our effort to continuously improve the quality of our programmes and trainings.

Evaluation Tools


CISV is constantly developing its suite of evaluation tools to monitor, evaluate and improve the quality of all our educational programmes and trainings.

Programme Evaluation

The Programme Director’s Planning and Evaluation Form (PDPEF) is our comprehensive programme evaluation tool. It is an online form that covers administration, education, practical arrangements and other aspects.

The PDPEF is for use by people with programme responsibility such as Programme Directors, staff, leaders, and National Interchange Coordinators.

Programme-specific PDPEF Packages can be accessed here; they include all of the explanations and forms you need to evaluate a CISV programme:

Village
Interchange
Youth Meeting
Step Up
Seminar Camp

For an overview of accessing and using the PDPEF, read the PDPEF Help Notes. For commonly asked questions, see the PDPEF Frequently Asked Questions.

Training Evaluation

Regional Training Forum Evaluation Form

The Regional Training Forum Evaluation form is a general evaluation tool for Regional Training Forums (RTFs). It is not specific to individual training goals and indicators.

What Have We Learned So Far?

Our evaluation team produce annual PDPEF evaluation reports, which give a yearly picture of how well our programmes are reaching their goals. Read our programme-specific evaluation reports here.

PDPEF FAQs


Where can I find the online PDPEF?
The online PDPEF is available on CISV Forms.
How do I access the online PDPEF?
The myCISV Coordinator in your Chapter or NA will add you to the programme area on myCISV as 'director' or 'staff' (or NIC or LIC for Interchange). This will give you access to CISV Forms. Use your CISV ID and password to log on. You might not be able to find your PDPEF immediately - Closer to the start of your programme, a PDPEF will be added and this will contain some pre-filled information about your programme. Read the PDPEF Help Notes for more information.
I am a Programme Director and I can access the online PDPEF. Will my staff colleagues also be able to access the PDPEF for our programme?
Yes, as long as they too have claimed participation (as 'staff' or 'LIC') in your programme on myCISV, the International Office programme administrators can arrange for them to access, edit and add to the PDPEF.
Who do I contact for technical support?
Please contact Forms Support.
What should we do if we do not have internet access at the site?
Download the PDPEF-package from the Evaluation Tools section above. This includes a ‘PDPEF Sample sheet’ mirroring the online form. After your programme has ended (within 2 weeks) you can fill in the online PDPEF and submit it.
How long can I work on the online PDPEF before it logs out?
The form auto-saves frequently.
Why does the ‘Submit’ field not allow me to select ‘Yes’?
The PDPEF can only be submitted when all mandatory fields (*) have been completed. Check the ‘status’ for each section. Are they all ‘complete’?
Why does the Address List, Evaluation or Feedback section still have an ‘incomplete’ status, when I have added all of the information?
Please check these sections again. The Evaluation section should list all of the participants who have been included in the Address List. The Feedback section should list all of the staff/leaders/JCs who have been included in the Address list. Where the lists of individuals do not match, these sections will remain ‘incomplete’.
A delegate left the programme early. Should I include them in the report?
Yes please! Please include them in the following sections:
  • Address List.
  • Evaluation. They may still have achieved one or two programme goals/indicators while they were still in the programme. If not, then you can mark them all ‘N’.
  • Departure.
  • Feedback. Only if it was an staff/leader/JC.
How can I remove extra participants?
You may need to remove extra participants where delegates have cancelled late, or not arrived; or in an Interchange. You can remove any ‘extra’ participants or leaders by clicking on the role and country, and then ‘delete’. You will not be able to delete the extra row, just the cell contents. You will need to do this in the following sections:
  • Address List.
  • Evaluation. This will need to list the same number of participants that you have listed in the Address List.
  • Departure.
  • Feedback. This will need to list the same number of staff/leaders that you have listed in the Address List.
How do I know if my PDPEF has been submitted correctly?
When you change ‘Submit’ to ‘Yes’, you will see a message below: ‘Thank you. You have now successfully submitted the PDPEF. Please now close the form'. You can close the form by closing the browser window.
Can I make changes in the PDPEF after submitting it?
Yes. Please contact Forms Support. They will return your form to draft, so that you can resubmit it.
When does the PDPEF and Address List have to be submitted?
The PDPEF, including the Address List section, is due two weeks after the end of the programme or each Interchange host phase.
As a Mac-user, what internet browser should I use?
We recommend that you use the Firefox internet browser as it works best with SharePoint. We recommend that you do not use Safari.
Where do I report individuals who are the wrong age, wrong gender, do not arrive, or arrive but are not on the latest Host Information with Invitations report?
The Address List is now part of the PDPEF and is used to collect this information.
What date format should I use?

The form will default to the US date format: mm/dd/yyyy (month, day, year). You can choose to, but do not have to, change your personal language and region settings (including date format), using these help notes. This change will only affect your personal view, but not the view of other staff/LICS/NICs who can access the PDPEF.

Please note, most other CISV forms continue to request dates in the date format dd/mm/yyyy (day, month, year).

Should we attach the Address List to the online PDPEF or just e-mail it directly to the International Office?
The Address List is now part of the PDPEF and should not be submitted as a separate document. You can get the information from your programme area on myCISV. Remember, it will be easier to ask the participant/JC/Leader/Staff member for any missing information before the programme finishes. You will not be able to submit the PDPEF until information for all staff, leaders, and participants has been included.
Where can we find the Individual Evaluation Form, which we will need during our programme?
You will find it in the relevant PDPEF package under 'Evaluation Tools' above. The PDPEF-packages include: PDPEF Quick Notes (with E-Notes), Group Evaluation Form, Individual Evaluation Form and PDPEF Sample Sheet.
Where can we find the Activity Writing Template for our programme?
You will find it by clicking on the following shortcut: Activity Writing Template,
Where can I find some training material about how to use the PDPEF?
In the Evaluation Tools section above you will find the Educational Evaluation Training Session + Presentation, and The Complete notes to Evaluation
Where can I find out more about evaluation?
See above for Evaluation & Research.

What We've Learned


Educational evaluation helps CISV to monitor the educational quality of our programmes, and to continuously improve them. The educational performance of every programme is evaluated using the Programme Director's Planning and Evaluation Form.

The gathered data for the completed programme years since 2010 can be found in CISV Programme Educational Evaluation Results.

For the annual Trainer Notes (based, in part, on the analysis of the educational evaluation results), see Training Materials.