What Is An Evaluation?

We make choices almost constantly in our everyday lives, wether its what drink to have, what food to eat or what activity to do, but based on what premis?

These are all choices based on value judgements or appraisals and reviews on certain criteria.
We use reviews in everyday life in order to help us evaluate and decide which path we should take, eg: watch a certain film due to reviews or not, buy/not buy a certain video game or eat/dont at a certain restaurant.

As human beings we constantly weigh up the pros and cons of everything we do to determine if we will carry out something or not. This could be considered more evaluating rather than choosing.

What is an evaluation?

An evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, people, products and organizations to improve their performance or effectiveness.

But where to begin?

- Identify what you have been asked to evaluate. Is it about progress as a result of learning? Personal performance during modules? The ability to work in a team? Professionalism?

- Things not to write: I think I made good progress, I was pleased with my work, I worked hard in this module, I worked well in the team (better than the others anyway), my professionalism improved loads.

 - Give an example, tell a story.
- Make comparisons.
- Talk about landmarks.
- Describe how you overcame hurdles.
- Measure yourself against the best.
- What was the impact?

Bloom's Taxonomy

- Knowledge
- Understanding
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation

Compare with other past learning experiences. Past with presents. Recommend what you will do differently next time and what you would like to learn more about to improve your practice. Organise your thoughts from less complex to more complex and draw attention to different points.

Always stick to the subject of the heading you have written for each section.
Always explain why you have enjoyed something.
Always explain how your way of thinking was changed if something made a big impact on you.
Always qualify your achievements and explain why you're pleased or disappointed with your own work.

Never say you think you did well without giving evidence to support the statement.
Avoid the use of words such as: Nice, good, rubbish, special, amazing, awesome.
Dont leave your evaluation to the last minute.