WikiEducator:M and E Logic model

Welcome to WikiEducator's Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

Home | Overview & description | Logic model (Inputs, Outputs, Outcomes and KPIs | Activities | Purposes | Limitations | Reporting

How do we know when WikiEducator is successful?

The level speaks the truth.

Image courtesy of alastoros oistros

This is a tough question to answer given the productive dynamics of self-organising communities. That's why we need to work harder at plotting our paths of success.

WikiEducator is a unique community project in that the infrastructure is funded by an international intergovernmental agency. Furthermore, WikiEducator is a key initiative in COL's development programme which is committed to working collaboratively with the community in building a successful global project.

This section will summarise WikiEducator's logic model from COL's perspective and how it informs the selection of COL's activities as a contribution to the project and the corresponding monitoring and evaluation plan. The logic model illustrates the cause-result propositions among the:

• inputs into the project;
• short-term outputs; and
• achievement of the longer-term outputs envisaged by COL's eLearning initiative.

Ultimately WikiEducator must have an impact on the development agenda by contributing to the millennium development goals and the realisation of education for all -- otherwise we have failed in our mission. Reflecting on a career in distance education, Sir John Daniel, patron of WikiEducator, concludes that:

"For my generation the great innovation was the course team. For the next I suspect that it will be Open Educational Resources [1].

COL initiates a wide range of activities over the duration of the three-year strategic plan. With reference to WikiEducator, these activities are prioritised and selected according the framework of the logic model below. In order to monitor and evaluate our progress, we have identified a number of key performance indicators (quantifiable metrics) to help us gauge the progress and success of the project on an ongoing basis.

WikiEducator's logic model

This section provides a description of WikiEducator and its anticipated outputs, outcomes and potential international impact in general and the Commonwealth in particular.

Implementing a phased approach

WikiEducator's strategy is divided into three distinct phases.

Phase 1 Establishing the foundations	June 2006 - Dec 2007	This phase involves setting up the technologies, processes and content resources to facilitate community development and international collaboration on open education resources using wiki technology.
Phase 2 Scaling up OER content development	January 2008 - December 2008	The prime purpose of Phase 2 is to scale up the rate of OER content development building on the foundations established during Phase 1. Phase 2 will be realised through ongoing community development with special emphasis on activities for scalable capacity development.
Phase 3 Implementation and sustainable OER development	January 2009 - ongoing	The purpose of this phase is to prioritise activities which implement OERs into mainstream educational activities. COL must facilitate the collection of evidence on the merits and value proposition of the free content model in real educational contexts.

Inputs

• 

  

  Figure 1: WikiEducator's Logic Model
  Technology infrastructure. Installation of a Mediawiki server and supporting interaction technologies for communication among WikiEducators. Technology infrastructure also includes the software enhancements required for the development and delivery of asynchronous learning materials and the implementation of customised templates to support quality assurance approaches in the wiki;

• Training resources. The development of free content resources including, for example:
  • tutorials on how to develop OERs in the wiki environment;
  • OER workshop toolkits for facilitators to run their own WikiEducator capacity building initiatives;
  • Guidelines on how to participate effectively in the WikiEducator community;

• People. The educators, learning designers, multimedia and technology support individuals who form the WikiEducator community. This input includes organisations and institutions who support the WikiEducator project.

• External funding. External funding raised to support capacity building and community development for OERs. This includes both extra budgetary funding activities through the COL and in-country fundraising for national projects on WikiEducator. Institutions are encouraged to support WikiEducator in kind by allocating resource time for the authoring of OERs, professional development and community building in the official roles and responsibilities of staff.

Outputs and data sources

Output	Metrics and data sources
Educators trained	Number of workshops (face-to-face and online) Number of educators trained Geographical spread of training interventions Number of support tutorials developed Page views of tutorials on WikiEducator
Community grows and community teams are formed	Number of user accounts registered on WikiEducator Growth in visitors to the WikiEducator site Number of countries visiting WikiEducator Number of community projects, clusters and regional nodes formed on WikiEducator Number of recorded presentations dedicated to WikiEducator around the world Media reports published and number of citations in the blogoshpere Global traffic rankings of the WikiEducator site
Free content is developed	Number of content development projects initiated on WikiEducator Number of "legitimate" content pages Average edits per page Number of page views per edit
New technology implemented	Number of "pedagogical" and support templates implemented in WikiEducator; Number and nature of new extensions and software enhancements implemented;

Outcomes and data sources

Outcome	Metrics and data sources
Community A thriving and sustainable community of practitioners and policy makers is established to leverage OERs for education and development.	Number of sustainable language installations of WikiEducator Growth and diversity of activities in regional WikiEducator initiatives Number and diversity of national projects listed on country pages in WikiEducator Changes in the ratio of COL initiated versus community initiated projects Number of community roles that evolve in WikiEducator and number of users that fill these community roles Community development of policies to support WikiEducator activities Number of postings on WikiEducator talk pages and discussion forums Number of institutions that officially support WikiEducator through allocation of staff time to the project
Capacity Educators acquire capacity and skills to engage meaningfully with the technologies supporting global best practice in OERs for e-learning.	Numbers and ratio of WikiEducators that achieve different levels of demonstrated competence in wiki editing skills Increase in the pedagogical quality of WikiEducator content demonstrated by the incorporation of appropriate educational elements and templates.
Content Open content resources are developed in support of national curricula by 2015 for all sectors and levels.	Growth in content development as categorised per educational level (primary, secondary and tertiary) Growth in content development as categorised per sector (formal, non-formal and technical and vocational training) Number of courses implemented and taught using WikiEducator content Number of WikiEducator textbooks authorised for use in national curricula Number of content developments implementing WikiEducator quality assurance mechanisms
Connections Strategic networks and digital technology innovations which constitute the enablers for a cost effective a sustainable OER eLearning initiative are established.	Number and nature of strategic collaborations between WikiEducator and other OER related initiatives Number of WikiEducator initiated technology innovations to support OER development Nature and extent of technology enabled quality assurance mechanisms implemented Quantum of extra budgetary funding (including successful grants initiated by COL and national-based awards)

Phases and key performance indicators

Phase	Key performance indicator

Impact

The WikiEducator community believes that OERs can make a significant contribution to:

• Lowering the production costs of asynchronous learning resources;
• Removing the barriers to active and meaningful collaboration among educators (formal and informal), regardless of educational level, language, culture, technology, and geography
• Improving the quality of free educational content in general and improving the opportunities for reconfiguring these resources in ways that are more appropriate for local contexts;
• Widening access to educational opportunities particularly through alternative educational opportunities for learners who may not have the opportunity to participate in the formal education system.

Ultimately WikiEducator aims to make a contribution to the Millennium Development Goals, specifically:

• increased opportunities for income generation through free content and reduction in the cost of educational provision;
• increases in education participation rates at all levels and sectors;
• improved participation from women in ICT enabled education;
• sustainable partnerships for development