Course Catalogue

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This course will present different approaches to, and goals of, evaluation, and discuss critical issues in evaluation practice including: ethical issues, the importance of stakeholder relationships, participatory evaluation, reporting, quality assurance, and the use of findings.

10 weekly two hour seminars

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Student presentation - 30%

A written essay, critical review or case study (3,000 words) - 70%

This course aims to introduce students to the main approaches to, and goals of, evaluation, and support them to develop an in-depth understanding of critical issues in evaluation practice, including: ethical issues, the importance of stakeholder relationships, participatory evaluation, reporting, quality assurance, and how to maximise the impact of findings.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Identify and characterise the main approaches to, and goals of, evaluation

2. Suggest the most appropriate responses to the main ethical issues that arise in the course of evaluation

3. Identify the key stakeholders in evaluations and the kinds of relationships evaluators have with them

4. Critically assess the benefits and challenges of participatory evaluation

5. Identify the most appropriate ways to report evaluation findings

6. Meet high standards of project evaluation and judge the quality of others' evaluations

7. Maximise the use and impact of evaluation findings.

8. Structure ideas effectively both orally and in written forms, work effectively independently and in groups, and develop effective time management skills

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.