VoiceS - Integrated competences for European Teachers. Giving voice(s) to professionalism and citizenship in school networking.
In-Service Course Graz: Course Evaluation
Heiko Vogl (University College of Teacher Education Styria, VoiceS member of the Austrian national group and the thematic field New Teacher Media)
This chapter provides an overview of the evaluation process of the VoiceS in-service course in Graz and its main findings.
In terms of quality assurance the in-service course in Graz was evaluated by all course members. As a basic model of quality assurance the Plan-Do-Chech-Act (PDCA) or Deming Circle procedure (Moen & Norman 2006) was used. PDCA is often used in the field of internationalization in higher education, (University of Amsterdam 2012; Japan Society for the Promotionof Science 2010).
The University College of Teacher Education Styria uses PDCA as a tool for continuous improvement of international activities. For evaluating international activities with the PDCA circle the international office of the University implemented the Net Promotor Score.
Net Promoter Score
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of customer loyalty to a product. It was developed and published the first time by Reichenheld and Frederick (2003). To calculate the NPS, the percentage of persons who are Detractors is subtracted from the percentage of Promoters. Promoters (score 9 to 10) are enthusiasts about a product, they will recommend this product to others. Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied, but unenthusiastic customers. Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage a brand through negative word-of-mouth. To measure the NPS the customers just have to answer three simple questions:
- How likely is it that you would recommend this product to a friend or colleague? (score 0 “No, not at all”; 10 “Yes, definitely”)
- Why? Any advice?
To calculate the NPS score, the percentage of Detractors in the total sample is calculated and then subtracted from the similarly calculated percentage of the Promoters:
NPS = % of Promoters (9 and 10) - % of Detractors (0 to 6)
The narrative part of the NPS evaluation contains the answers and statements of the "Why? Any advice?" field. These answers can be used for additional qualitative research.
Evaluation of the in-service course Graz
All course members where asked on Friday the last course day to attend the online evaluation. The NPS questions for the evaluation where presented in simple Google Drive format.
NPS Online evaluation form
Fourteen responses were collected online. The results of the evaluation:
NPS - result
Promoters (score 9-10): 13
Passives (score 7-8): 1
Detractors (score 0-6): 0
Total 14
NPS = % of Promoters (9 and 10) - % of Detractors (0 to 6)
NPS = 92,85 – 0 = 92,85
The NPS of 92,85 marks a very highlevel of satisfaction of the course attendees. Just one participant scoredwith 8 all other with 9 or the highest score 10.
The results of the narrative part of the NPS evaluation:
Share experiences
A3: As far as I concerned its a great experience in order to share new experiences, learn new things and meet fantastic teachers.
A4: It is always interesting to meet teachers from other countries and share our experiencies. We learned many things from each other […]
A5: It is a great experience to meet teachers from different countries […]
A7: It has been a very enriching experience and it gives teachers the opportunity to grow up as
educators, change ideas and experiencies with other colleagues from different European countries and so enlarge education horizons.
A8: Because it allows collaborative learning and promotes knowledge of different countries.
A10: […]What contributed to the results of this process has been to meet a group of teachers who taught and coached us from within. I have seen, heard and felt their commitment to the development of a curriculum for a European Teacher. Inspiration and knowledge came together […] Meeting people wo live and work from within is like a virus: it makes me resonate from within and contribute from within!
A11: […]As fas as I could see each of the attendants were very kind, helpful and very very hardworking. Sharing their opinions about education, getting to know their education approaches and systems in their own countries was very interesting andenlightening […]
A12: The frequency of the project for me was extremely important, due to the sharing of plural and different experiences […]
A16: It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other people from other countries/culture […]
Impact for the students/schools
A4: […] the course is not only important for us the teachers but for our students.
A6: […] It gives me motivation to make a change in my school(s) […]. I think it's a good start to create not only European Teachers but also European Children. It's a very good thing that it's not only a week in Graz, but that it continues in our own schools.
A7: […]The opportunity to carry out a project with participants from other European schools within the class is very positive for both teachers and students and promotes innovative practices as well as the European dimension […]
A10: This week has opened many doors to improve education within our schools. By working a week with an inspired group of teachers and students, more and more possibilities were created to invite our teachers and children to look into the future and develop attitude and skills to be thoughtful citizens.
Learn about education
A5: […] discover new ways of working and learning more about education.
A11: […]Also it was very good to see a "different" school apart from our own. Observing an innovative school was inspiring. I have learned so many things about ICT tools and I think they will help me to modify and customize my teaching environment […]
A12 […]Was motivating to see the involvement of teachers who organized and showed us other perspectives to see how students in various countries build their journey in learning in their schools[…]
A13 […]I learned a lot of things about education […]
A14: The first one, it was a way to feel and to discover what is an European Teacher. The second, was to feel what is European mobility and European citizenship in real-life. The third one, was to feel how we al deal with changes in (national) education. The fourth one, was to discover the differences and the similarities between the European education systems. And the last one, was to discover new ideas about how to deal with the European dimension/globalisation in language classes (cf. Multilingualism).
A15: Very interesting the visits to the Austrian schools
A16: We visited the schools, this it's very important because you can understand better your "world" if you see something different. We had also information about school systems and research in education.
Projects
A6: The project we made is very practical and nice.
A13: People worked hard on this project and I am sure that their projects will be effective with children.
Career
A11: Apart from being and living in the wonderful city, Graz, it was a great experience for me because I'm in the beginning of my career. Opening some new windows by the help of the network of the VoiceS is very useful for me and I will use this experience in the following years of my career.
Suggestions
A7: If I had to make a suggestion, I would say that it would be interesting to make more connections between the theoretical part and the real-life practice in the schools...giving examples (videos, real experiences with kids/teenagers) as well as promoting debates around the topics discussed.
A10: […] The week could have even been better if the teachers would have known about their
workshop/key-note/ presentation, not only about the content, but als about didactics. Listening was sometimes a bigger part than necessary and useful. The collection of competences we created on Monday could have been used to connect with the different contents. […]
A11: […]My only advice would be making the in-service course longer and well attended so that we would share and learn much from other countries and cultures more […]
A12: […]It is important to encourage more teachers to participate in European initiatives so that they know the new changes in schools today […]
Generally positive though not specific
A9: It's been a pleasure meeting all these passionate and devoted teachers, teacher trainees and lecturers here in Graz. After having attending in such valuable sessions and working with colleagues from all around Europe, I am glad to be part of this opportunity. European citizenship, pluralinguism, diversity, professionalism, mobility etc. These are all combined with each other and we can feel this thoroughly.
A10: Thank you so much for this oppotunity! We'll go back with a lot of 'luggage ' and will invite teachers to join us, not only in our school, but also to participate in conferences and in-service-courses.
A11: […]Anyway, it was a brilliant and inspiring week for me and I would definitely advise each of my colleagues to attend and to share ideas with the wonderful people from around the Europe.
A12: […]Congratulations to the teachers who gave us this learning in Graz
A14: In-Service Course Graz, was really interesting from a lot of points of view.
A15: Interesting topics, good communication among all the members of the different countries.
References
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. (2010). University Internationalization within Global Society. Strategic Fund for Establishing International Headquarters in Universities. Recommendations for Internationalizing Japanese Universities. (Final Report) Summary. Tokyo.
Moen, R., & Norman, C. (2006). Evolution of the PDCA Cycle. Retrieved from http://kaizensite.com/learninglean/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Evolution-of-PDCA.pdf
National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation. (2013). Institutional Thematic Assessment : Internationalization of Higher Education. Tokyo. Retrieved from http://www.niad.ac.jp/english/unive/publications/eng_pbc_itac.pdf
Reichheld, Frederick F. “The One Number You Need to Grow.” In Harvard Business Review, 81(12):46–55. Cambridge, 2003.
University of Amsterdam. (2012). Strategic Framework for Internationalisation. University Polica Papers. Amsterdam. Retrieved from http://www.uva.nl/binaries/content/assets/uva/en/about-the-uva/uva-profile/mission-and-identity/uva_strategic_framework_web_en.pdf