CILASS Research and Evaluation

The CILASS Research and Evaluation Programme is focusing on two main areas of inquiry:

  1. Conceptions, experiences, practices and outcomes of inquiry-based learning
  2. The facilitation of educational change and development at institutional level
CILASS student ambassadors and Champions

We are pursuing the following over-arching questions through a number of evaluation and research projects.

  1. How do students conceptualise and experience inquiry and inquiry-based learning? What is the value of inquiry pedagogies for students? What are the challenges?
  2. What is the role of digital technologies, information literacy development and new learning spaces in students’ experiences of inquiry and inquiry-based learning?
  3. How do academic staff conceptualise, design and facilitate inquiry-based learning? What approaches are found to be effective, and what are the design and facilitation challenges?
  4. How can ‘design for inquiry-based learning’ be supported effectively at the level of individuals (academic staff, students) and at the level of institutions?
  5. Why and how is CILASS achieving impact as an educational change programme and what are the challenges for, and constraints on, achieving impact?

Evaluation and research projects exploring aspects of these questions are being carried out by CILASS core team staff and others, including Academic Fellows, Development Project Leaders, Student Ambassadors, Student Researchers. Projects include:

  • A longitudinal, qualitative study of undergraduates’ conceptions and experiences of inquiry and inquiry-based learning;
  • A longitudinal, quantitative survey of graduating students’ experiences of inquiry-based learning;
  • A study of students’ experiences and use of digital technologies in inquiry;
  • Impact evaluations and ‘meta-analyses’ of CILASS-funded development projects;
  • Impact evaluation of CILASS programme-level change strategies and activities;
  • Personal research projects undertaken by students and CILASS Academic Fellows

CILASS is using a `Theory of Change´ methodology for evaluation research. The CILASS approach aligns with a new approach to evaluating learning and teaching development that has been developed and applied more generally at the University of Sheffield. This is an adaptation of Theories of Change programme evaluation combined with the use of EPO (Enabling, Process and Outcome) Performance Indicators.

The CILASS ToC approach works as follows. Through backward mapping, a causal narrative or `theory´ is established which identifies evaluation indicators and becomes the basis for an evaluation plan. For example, `to achieve the desired impact on student learning experiences, the outcomes of the initiative need to be x, y and z; in order to achieve these outcomes, the processes or activities a, b and c need to happen; in order to carry out a, b and c, the enabling factors and resources d, e and f are required´. The narrative thus identifies three different types of evaluation indicator: enabling indicators concerned with the structures and support, process indicators concerned with what needs to happen, and outcome indicators concerned with intermediate outcomes of an initiative and that are tied to broader and longer-term impact goals. The approach distributes weight between outcomes, processes and enabling factors and identifies them all as valid indicators of impact. Underlying the `theory of change´ narrative are various assumptions, beliefs and values relating to the change initiative, its context, purposes and so on. Exploring these in the course of impact evaluation affords insight into why and how impact occurs.

Resources and guidance for project leaders about the Theory of Change approach are available in this section.
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