Evaluation Training for Community Consultancy, with IEDE

UCL IEDE

8 Aug 202404:28

Summary

TLDRThe UCL pilot program 'Evaluation Training for Community Consultancy' is a six-week course aimed at students across all levels, teaching them to become evaluation consultants. It partners with Kentown Community Center to assess social value, providing practical opportunities for students to apply their skills and make an impact. The center serves 25,000 people, emphasizing the importance of measuring social value beyond financial metrics. The program encourages networking and learning from both academia and community practice, offering students interdisciplinary insights and hands-on experience.

Takeaways

🎓 The pilot program is a six-week learning initiative for UCL students at all levels to become evaluation consultants.
📚 It includes lectures and activities focused on consulting skills, particularly for the voluntary sector.
🏢 Kentown Community Center has partnered with UCL to challenge students to assess social value.
🤔 The center serves a diverse population of about 25,000 people and seeks to understand its impact beyond financial measures.
🔍 The social value of the community center is crucial for demonstrating its importance and securing support.
👥 Guest speakers have been invited to share ideas and resources, fostering a two-way learning experience.
💼 The program offers networking opportunities for students with potential employers in the voluntary sector.
📈 It also allows organizations to learn from academia on how to assess and improve their community work.
🌟 Students gain hands-on experience, applying theoretical knowledge to real-world community challenges.
🧐 Interdisciplinary collaboration is highlighted as beneficial, with students from various backgrounds working together.
🎉 The presentations by students have been highly valued for their insight into community impact and potential for improvement.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the 'Evaluation Training for Community Consultancy' pilot program?
-The pilot program is a six-week learning initiative aimed at teaching students across UCL, from undergraduate to PhD level, how to become evaluation consultants, particularly focusing on working with voluntary sector organizations.
Which community center is the program collaborating with?
-The program is working in collaboration with Kentown Community Center.
What challenge has Kentown Community Center set for the students?
-The challenge set by Kentown Community Center is to assess the social value of the community center.
Why is it important for Kentown Community Center to measure its social value?
-Measuring social value is important to demonstrate the center's impact, justify its existence, and encourage support from the community and potential benefactors.
How does the program benefit students looking to apply their skills in real-world scenarios?
-The program offers students opportunities to put their skills into practice, make a difference, and gain hands-on experience by working on real challenges set by community organizations.
What is the population size that Kentown Community Center aims to serve?
-Kentown Community Center aims to serve a population of approximately 25,000 people.
How does the fast-paced environment at Kentown Community Center impact its operations?
-The fast-paced environment makes it difficult for the center to reflect on its operations and understand where it is going wrong or right, emphasizing the importance of social value assessment.
What kind of support are students looking for in terms of networking and career opportunities?
-Students are looking to network with professionals and organizations where they might potentially have placements or work in the future, gaining insights into the practical application of their academic learning.
What is the significance of the guest speakers and resource providers invited to share with the students?
-The guest speakers and resource providers are important for sharing ideas, signposting resources, and showing interest in the students' work, fostering a two-way learning experience between academia and community organizations.
How does the program address the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application?
-The program provides a platform for students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical setting, offering insights into how academic concepts can be utilized to benefit real community groups and organizations.
What was one of the key takeaways from the student presentations according to the speaker?
-The speaker was delighted by the value of the presentations, noting how well the students understood the population size, context, and capacity of the community center they were assessing.

Outlines

00:00

📚 UCL Evaluation Training Program

The script details a six-week learning program at UCL aimed at students from undergraduate to PhD levels, focusing on training them to become evaluation consultants. The program includes lectures and activities to equip students with the skills necessary to assess social value, particularly in the voluntary sector. The Kentown Community Center has set a challenge for the students to evaluate social value, providing a practical application for the students' theoretical knowledge. The center serves a population of approximately 25,000 people and seeks to understand its impact beyond financial measures. The script highlights the importance of social value in community centers and the need for measuring it to demonstrate the center's worth and garner support.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Evaluation

Evaluation in this context refers to the process of assessing the effectiveness, significance, and impact of a program, service, or initiative. It is central to the video's theme as the pilot program at UCL aims to train students in becoming evaluation consultants. The script mentions the challenge set by Kentown Community Center to assess social value, emphasizing the importance of evaluation in understanding the impact of community centers.

💡Consultancy

Consultancy is the practice of providing expert advice or services to individuals, organizations, or governments. In the video script, consultancy is highlighted as a career path the students are being trained for, specifically as evaluation consultants working with the voluntary sector. The consultancy work is crucial for organizations like Kentown Community Center to measure and understand their social impact.

💡Community Center

A community center is a public facility designed to serve a local population by providing a range of services and activities. The Kentown Community Center is a key example in the script, where the center's social value and the need to assess it are discussed. The center's role in serving approximately 25,000 people illustrates the significance of community centers in enhancing social cohesion and well-being.

💡Social Value

Social value refers to the positive impacts or contributions that an organization, project, or initiative makes to society. The script discusses the challenge of assessing the social value of the Kentown Community Center, which goes beyond financial measures to include the center's impact on the community's quality of life and well-being.

💡Voluntary Sector

The voluntary sector, also known as the non-profit sector, consists of organizations that operate without the primary goal of making a profit, often focusing on social, cultural, or environmental issues. The script mentions that the students are learning to become consultants for this sector, indicating the importance of professional expertise in supporting and enhancing the work of these organizations.

💡Learning Program

A learning program is a structured series of educational activities or courses designed to impart knowledge and skills. The UCL pilot program mentioned in the script is a six-week learning program aimed at teaching students how to become evaluation consultants. The program includes lectures and activities that are directly related to the theme of community consultancy.

💡Pilot Program

A pilot program is an initial, often small-scale version of a project or initiative that is tested before being fully implemented. The script describes the UCL program as a pilot, indicating that it is an experimental phase designed to refine the approach to training students in evaluation consultancy.

💡Undergraduate

An undergraduate is a student who is working towards a bachelor's degree or similar qualification at a university. The script specifies that the learning program at UCL is open to students at any level, including undergraduates, highlighting the program's inclusiveness and the opportunity for students at various stages of their education to gain consultancy skills.

💡PhD

PhD stands for Doctor of Philosophy, which is the highest academic degree awarded by universities in most fields of study. The script mentions PhD students as part of the target audience for the learning program, indicating that the program caters to a wide range of educational levels, from undergraduate to doctoral studies.

💡Interdisciplinary

Interdisciplinary refers to an approach that integrates knowledge and methods from multiple academic disciplines. The script mentions the benefit of students from different academic backgrounds working together, suggesting that the program encourages an interdisciplinary approach to consultancy, which can lead to more innovative and comprehensive solutions.

💡Placement

A placement is a period of work experience, often in a professional setting related to a student's field of study. The script suggests that networking through the program could potentially lead to placements for students in organizations, indicating one of the practical benefits of participating in the learning program.

Highlights

UCL is running a 6-week pilot program called 'Evaluation Training for Community Consultancy' for students at all levels.

The program includes lectures and activities to teach students how to become evaluation consultants, particularly for the voluntary sector.

Students are working with Kentown Community Center to assess the social value of community centers.

Many students seek opportunities to apply their skills and make a difference, which this program aims to provide.

Kentown Community Center serves a fast-paced environment of about 25,000 people.

Financial impact alone does not fully explain what a community center does, so social value measurement is crucial.

Measuring social value helps justify the center's existence, gain support, and engage the local community.

Guests have been invited to share ideas and resources with students over the 6-week period.

The program facilitates two-way learning between students and organizations.

Students have the opportunity to network with potential employers and gain practical experience.

Organizations are interested in learning from academia on how to assess their work.

The speaker found the program valuable for applying theoretical knowledge in a practical context.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is beneficial, as seen in working with students from different academic backgrounds.

Working with Kentown Community Center provided insights into real-life community center work and potential for impact expansion.

Testimonies from the voluntary sector and consultancy groups highlighted the importance of community benefit.

The presentations demonstrated a deep understanding of population size, context, and capacity.

The 6-week program has equipped students with the potential to make significant contributions to the field.