2012-2013 ANTIGUA LUBERRI BHI STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ELOS PROJECT EVALUATION
Elos Students Evaluation The purpose of this procedure is to offer teachers feedback through the systematic collection of students’ views regarding Elos project. This is a way to ensure that we are giving students the opportunity to comment on the education they receive. This questionnaire was given to a group of 17 years old students in their second year of ‘batxiler’ (sixth form). Once it was done we realized it had been made a year later than it should have been, so the feedback is not as reliable as it could be and it was too late for any modification. Next time we will be doing it at the end of the academic year, this way students will feel that they can benefit more directly from actions taken in response to their comments. Students were asked to help choosing some questions. The questionnaire begin with a preamble to explain its purpose and it is completed anonymously. Once they filled it we discussed in groups the main issues. It helped teachers to have a broader view, so the questionnaire is not a mere quantitative summary.
A. Summary of the answers to Elos Project According to the questionnaire, students consider in a majority of cases that being part of the project helped them in a personal level. They feel they are more autonomous, that they have learnt to work as a team, also that they are aware of the different cultures and of the variety of norms and rules in the different families and schools they visited. They marked the experience as very positive. A couple of exceptions were more critic but failed to give a clear explanation of their reasons. Questions and results Do you think you have learnt anything in the following areas as a result of taking part in the ELOS project? – Autonomy Yes
15
79%
No
4
21%
Team Work Yes
17
89%
No
2
11%
Awareness of other cultures Yes No
18
95%
1
5%
Different rules (New school & Family) Yes
17
89%
No
2
11%
B. Portfolio A very similar response was given in relation to learning languages, knowledge about Europe or European Union culture and problems. They showed in their answers that they were very happy with the idea of being part of the project. It came as a surprise that they considered that ‘Europe’ was not sufficiently present in their academic life. They felt they deal more with the Basque Country or Spain but not so much with Europe. Questions and results Do you think you have learnt anything in the following areas as a result of taking part in the ELOS project? - Foreign languages Yes
17
89%
No
2
11%
- Knowledge about Europe Yes
16
84%
No
3
16%
- Presence of Europe in your academic life Yes
7
37%
No
12
63%
- European Union Cultures & Problems Yes
15
79%
No
4
21%
C. OUTCOMES In the case of the outcomes they are more reserved toward their personal improvement in languages, in the use of English, the use of ICT or their social skills improvements. There is a majority of students that consider they learnt quite a lot but next group in importance is those that consider it ‘to some extent’. They do not feel very confident on themselves; it is due to a critical point of view, they feel they could have done it better. - Has the project improved your language skills in general? Not at all
0 0%
To some extent
6 32%
Quite a lot
9 47%
A lot
4 21%
- Do you feel more confident using English after participating in this project? Not at all
0
0%
To some extent
7
37%
Quite a lot
9
47%
A lot
3
16%
- Do you feel your social skills have improved as a result of the contact with other European schools? Not at all
0
0%
To some extent
5
26%
Quite a lot
11
58%
A lot
3
16%
- Do you feel your ICT skills have improved as a result of the contact with other European schools? Not at all
2
11%
To some extent
6
32%
Quite a lot
9
47%
A lot
2
11%
- Did participating in this ELOS project make you more motivated for school work and language studies? Not at all
1
5%
To some extent
5
26%
Quite a lot
10 53%
A lot
3
16%
What is your dearest memory from the visit to your exchange partner’s country? They answered differently but they basically referred to personal activities with their partners. What is your favourite memory from the project activities? They mainly named outdoor and ITC activities.
When they are asked about how much they enjoyed the project, they show a positive response about the work they have done regarding the activities and the team work but it is when evaluating the exchange and the stay with the family when they show a complete agreement on how enjoyable it was. How much you enjoyed? - Project activity 1
2
11%
2
4
21%
3
12
63%
4
1
5%
- Group work 1
0
0%
2
5
26%
3
8
42%
4
6
32%
- Exchange 1 2
0 0
0% 0%
3
2
11%
4
17 89%
- Staying in a Family 1 2
0 1
0% 5%
3
2
11%
4
16
84%
Regarding their involvement in the project and if they would recommend the experience, a vast majority agrees in the intensity and interest of the experience.
How would you define your participation in the project? Very intense
3
16%
Intense
11
58%
Middle
5
26%
0
0%
Low
Would you recommend others to take part in a similar activity to this one? Yes
17
89%
No
0
0%
Depend
2
11%
Not to this country
0
0%
The questionnaire was answered by 17 students of the multilingual project in a class period in January 2013.
Elos Teachers Evaluation The purpose of this procedure is to offer us as teachers feedback, a second thought on our work regarding the Elos project. We can discuss our different points of view and ideas on the subject. In this case the questionnaire was proposed to five teachers, those closer to the foreign exchanges, languages and the Comenius projects. As it is a low number of individuals it is not worth to follow the graphics because they are not very significant. As all teachers were involved in the different projects we commented on the questions and discussed the main issues. Approaches and strategies were suggested for developing our manners of evaluation. Considering the impact of the Elos project in our school we agreed in its interest. The project gives us the consciousness of the importance of integrating Elos 'European and international dimension' in the curriculum. We also appreciate it as a marketing instrument, so parents can rely on the label to know we fulfil Elos principles. We all consider the project as an interesting way to be connected with Europe, a way for our students to learn about their partners’ habits, to be more aware of the global reality they live and they will be living in. All the teachers agree on the main points about how Elos students will benefit from the project; not only in their knowledge of different cultures and languages but also on a personal and social level. Some doubts appears though, when we consider the way the project can help on their interest in learning new languages, it is a very personal matter. When we consider our involvement in the project, the perception on it varies according to the teacher’s reality, but (in general) we can say it is intense. About our personal benefits on taking part in the project, we agree it is very interesting for us, on the one hand as a practice on our foreign language skills and cultural knowledge, on the other from a professional point of view, we can learn from the teaching practices in other schools of Europe. We do not consider any unexpected outcome, but some people missed more contact with the rest of the schools involved in the Elos project.