External Evaluation of SEED Final Report - SEED - Schule.at

upload information on their school projects for wider dissemination
purposes. Although it should be noted that only a few groups have
entered their details on the school partnerships website.
The reflections in the Key Informants sessions and during SEED
workshops (such as Frascati, Italy) indicate that the ICT is a useful
medium for members to access and interact with. It is generally
perceived as being inclusive to all members and sub-communities.
Although perceived by participants as a useful tool, their lack of
knowledge of how to use the intranet site and the time required to enter
in (or access) information has proved to be a limiting factor in its
widespread use.
All SEED partners and member countries have access to the ICT network.
There are also sections of the intranet restricted to particular subcommunities.
For example specific project partners have access to subcommunities
such as ‘Quality Criteria’, ‘Internal Evaluation’, ‘School
Partnerships’. These sub-communities are virtual group rooms which
support the flow of information and communication within working
groups. This tool has supported group exchanges throughout the project
in a situation where members are spread across Europe (see PoE section
C). The evaluators have noted however that not all these subcommunities
have been regularly active.
The ICT allowed groups such as the Quality Criteria to join a subcommunity
open in the SEED intranet, in order to have all reports and
comments readable by the participants. This transparency allows for
consistency and information sharing between the countries. While the
publication was being prepared, all SEED members were able to access
the data if required and if permission was obtained.
Summary of ICT
All SEED partners and member countries have had access to the ICT
network. The majority of the information presented has also been
accessible to the wider public. The ICT provides a source of virtual
communication. It is used to present current SEED news, events and
products. It also has a section which provides restricted access area for
sub-communities such as ‘quality criteria’ or ‘school partnerships’. These
sections have been used to exchange information during projects. The
use of the site, in particular the restricted access section, has been
limited due to participants lack of skills, knowledge and available time to
learn to use it properly. Although this situation did improve marginally
after training was provided in SEED workshops.
Reflecting Good Practice
SEED has provided regular opportunities to showcase examples of what
results have been achieved in schools through the various presentations,
workshops and discussion forums at the conferences, thematic
workshops and seminars. Each SEED event has included site visits to
schools and institutions to demonstrate various forms of EE in practice
related to the event theme. These visits have proved popular and
successful in allowing participants to understand how EE, Action
Research and whole-school development works in practice. This has been
combined with discussions, questioning and reflections with fellow
participants, school teachers and principals. The initial response was that
some events were too theoretical and participants preferred greater
opportunities to explore the theory in practice.
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Good Practice evaluation questions:
Q. Does SEED offer examples of what
works in schools?
Q. Do SEED products identify good
practice within COMENIUS projects and
disseminate a wider educational
audience?
KIG reflections on Frascati
workshop content:
KIG member: ‘I think we found it more
theoretical than practical. We discussed
that this morning, we say it was very
nice to do this work, but not enough
examples of how it works’.
Good Practice:
Stories of good practice discussed
at Frascati, Italy:
KIG Member: ‘That is the part that
you remember. You remember more
when you tell something about what you
have actually done...Success and nonsuccess
stories- Not just success stories.’