The National Trust, Friendly Evaluation Toolkit will:
- encourage you to think about what you are trying to evaluate
- help you to understand the different types of evaluation
- give some real, practical examples of evaluation techniques that other people have used, and that you can modify for yourself.
What?
Museums often consult schools about:
- which themes and activities they would like developed
- what information they need to make a visit
- what barriers to visiting they face
- what students have learned during a visit
- levels of satisfaction with different aspects of the visit
- how they could improve their service .
How?
Some of the things museums want to know about schools are common to all museums and all schools, so it’s always good to check what other people have already found out.
Museums usually begin by:
- talking to a few local teachers directly and asking them the same set of questions
- giving teachers simple feedback sheets at the end of a visit.
If they need more detailed information museums may:
- observe children in school or using a prototype activity in the museum
- ask teachers or children a specific question and have a post box or email address for their responses
- set up a teacher’s meeting or Teacher’s Advisory Group.
Downloads:
- Friendly Evaluation Toolkit National Trust (National Trust. Word DOC, 461Kb)
- Renaissance East of England have produced a really useful publication Evaluation Toolkit for Museum Practitioners especially written for museum practitioners with case studies and planning tools. To accompany the publication Evaluation Toolkit Worksheets.
- Examples:
- Summative Questionnaire Key Stage 2 Brighton Museums and Galleries (Brighton Museums and Galleries. Word DOC, 27Kb).
- Evaluating Taught Museum Sessions (Hampshire County Council. Word DOC, 103Kb). This is a useful document to use for an evaluation to review the way in which a session is delivered to a school group.
Websites:
- Also really useful Arts Council England Evaluation Toolkit.
- On the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Inspiring Learning website you can find the following:
- Generic Learning Outcomes
- How to measure outcomes
- and much more including Generic Social Outcomes.
