The Scholarship Programme
for furtherance of technology uses in education at FoA, MUNI
How we evaluate submitted project proposals
The evaluators use the form to evaluate the project based on the categories listed below. The evaluators use a 5-point scale for each of the categories.
Evaluated categories
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Project impact
The evaluation is based on the number of students affected by the outputs of the project. Better evaluation is given to projects with a greater impact, i.e., projects focusing on courses, which can expect a high participation of students, courses taught each semester and projects that output open source content (e.g., databases available to a wider public).
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Financial adequacy
Evaluation in this category is based on the total funds required for the project and the quantity and nature of outputs expected from the project. The best score is given to those projects whose outputs reach also beyond the innovated course - i.e., projects giving existence to materials that can be used across the field of study or even open source materials.
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Project sustainability
The sustainable the project and demands on its maintenance are evaluated. Those projects whose outputs will be used repeatedly and whose subsequent maintenance is easy are evaluated better. An example can be a course that expects using the principal study materials over the next few years, only to be periodically updated with new study materials or new dates for tests to be set. Lower evaluation for this criterion will be given to those projects whose outputs will be used less frequently (e.g., teaching once per two years) or projects which will be require major adaptations with each new run.
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Schedule plausibility
It is assessed how realistic is the implementation of all the outputs of the project within the specified schedule. Technological complexity of the project, number of participating assistants and their experience and obviously the project schedule are taken into account. Better evaluation in this category will be given to simple projects and projects prepared well in advance.
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Adequacy of selected technologies
It is assessed whether the selected technologies are adequate for the project, i.e., whether the chosen solution is not unnecessarily complicated due to the number of assistants and their experience. It is also taken into account whether these technologies are not obsolete or even dangerous.
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Degree of innovation
The evaluation in this category is based on the level of innovation of the subjects in the project. The evaluation will look at the amount of new study materials, the extent of modification of the existing ones and the extent of enriching the teaching compared to the current situation in the subject. Projects involving development of new study materials, enriching the subject innovated by the project, will be evaluated better. Worse evaluation may apply to such courses, for which the study materials are only transformed into more technologically advanced forms.
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Degree of interactivity
The higher the level of interactivity in the outputs, the better the evaluation in this category. Projects that output static study materials or storages of such materials will receive the lowest evaluation. Projects expecting course tutoring, moderated discussion forums, using mobile technologies in teaching or interactive tests will receive better evaluation.
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Degree of involvement of the outputs in teaching
Because our programme is aimed at the use of technologies in education, it is also necessary to assess the extent of use of the project results in teaching. This criterion looks at how much the outputs are used directly in the classes. Better evaluation in this category will be given to a project with the output such as an e-learning course that includes mandatory study materials and interim tests, which will become part of the final assessment of students. Another example can be a project whose outputs include creating tests or quizzes to be used via mobile technologies in order to obtain immediate feedback from students directly in the classes. A lower score in this category would apply to such a project that tries to create an e-learning course containing only supplemental information and study materials, which may expand the studied subject matter, but do not play any role in the classification of the students.
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Feedback
The project should describe how the success of the project will be assessed by the project researchers. To achieve a higher score in this category, you should not rely solely on the course opinion poll in the IS. You can create your own survey, focused on specific aspects of your project. In the courses that involve tests, it is a good idea to use the analytics of the test results to determine the discriminatory effect of individual questions. Using applications, such as Socrative, it is possible to obtain real time feedback from a large number of students directly in the classroom.
What kind of projects are rejected automatically?
- Projects that miss substantial information and cannot be adequately evaluated.
- Obvious financial inadequacy. Projects requiring inadequately large funds for a relatively small number of simple outputs.
- Projects whose implementation may pose a security risk (not only) for the faculty. An example would be a project involving outdated or dangerous technologies (e.g. FLASH).
- If it can be expected that the project outputs will not be used at all. E.g., innovation of a course that has not been attended by anyone in the past two years.