3. Evaluation of the Results Introduction Evaluation is a core aspect of every challenge prize. In running an evaluation, we aim to share results in a transparent way, learn from evidence and engage stakeholders by allowing them to contribute in the observation and assessment of the change generated.
“We are just absolutely thrilled at the success of this project that students have been working on, and to actually have that recognition of winning it is just superb, and we’re just very excited as a school because of it.” Teacher
The prize was designed to reach six main objectives: • Provide a practical education opportunity to improve skills such as long-term planning, as well as data collection and analysis. • Increase awareness of young people about the Internet of Things technology, its possibilities and how it can affect their lives. • Increase awareness of young people about health issues faced by people nowadays and how they can be prevented.
“This was an amazing opportunity for the students. They have developed their tech skills, teamwork, working under pressure, Confidence has improved, planning and communications skills.” (Teacher)
The Longitude Explorer evaluation was run during the implementation of the challenge prize, and includes an impact assessment and a process evaluation of the prize journey. The impact assessment aimed at capturing the results of the activities against its initial objectives, to state the changes that the prizes created. The process evaluation focused on the prizes activities to understand participants’ feedback on the prize structure and whether the activities were well tailored for such participants.
• Engage young people in and support them to develop practical STEM skills linked to IoT to enhance their learning and practical understanding of how they can utilise the technology for social good. • Develop young people’s understanding of the relevance of IoT to entrepreneurship and UK industry. • Inspire young people to consider continuing development of their skills in technologies
The overall evaluation shows that the Longitude Explorer Prize was positively received by all key stakeholders, and was able to achieve all of its objectives as well as meeting overall satisfactions with the challenge prize experience. Below are some of the key highlights of the prize: • All students (100%) enjoyed their experience of participating in LEP • The majority of finalists (80%) felt they had developed or gained STEM skills and knowledge through the Prize.
• Most (92%) students believed they had increased their awareness about health issues facing people nowadays and how they can be prevented. • All teachers (100%) thought the Challenge Prize was a suitable tool for young people, and would participate in the prize again.
“I have really enjoyed the experience and I feel like I have been given a really good opportunity to create programmes in a way I have not done before.” -Student
Methods In order to collect the necessary data to evaluate the prize we ran three different surveys, as listed in the table below. All surveys were run in parallel of the prize
main events, in order to be able to engage with the highest number of stakeholders and minimize the resources time and cost around evaluation.
When
Method Used
What
Who we engage
Respondents
Beginning
Semi-structured survey
Entry forms evaluation class to assess the baselines data from beneficiaries
Students Teachers
64
During
Semi-structured survey
Assessment of Students workbooks - to judge the quality of their development
Students Finalists
36
Semi-structured survey
Assessment of the innovation, capabilities and ecosystems changes achieved via the prize. Also, assessment or prize process.
Students Finalists & Teachers
34
End
15
• Over a quarter of finalists (36%) who participated in LEP were able to develop additional STEM skills through the Prize.
16
