Networks and communities to support evaluation

At the heart of our University's strategic vision, From Manchester for the World, is a commitment to enable collaborative, empowered decision-making 

Across the University lies a vibrant ecosystem of staff networks each dedicated to enhancing evaluation practices across all areas of academic and professional practice. These networks bring together colleagues from different disciplines and roles to share insights, develop skills, and co-create approaches that support evidence-informed improvements in teaching, learning, and the student experience, research, and operations. By fostering a culture of evaluation, reflective practice and continuous enhancement, these communities play a vital role in shaping our collective understanding of what works and what doesn't, what we do and how we do it.

Evaluation Advocates Network

The Evaluation Advocates Network provides a space where colleagues across the University can share and learn from each other. It’s a space for staff to connect, collaborate, and explore new ways to use evaluation to improve teaching, learning, and the student experience. Whether you're just getting started or have significant experience of evaluative practice, the network is here to help you think creatively, work with others, and make evidence-informed decisions about your teaching, learning and professional practice.

Aims

The Evaluation Advocates Network will: 

• Promote transparent and supportive evaluation: Support staff to use evaluation tools and approaches that give meaningful insights into student learning outcomes and help to improve the student experience. 
• Enable evidence-based decision making: Develop guidance and resources to help staff apply evaluation tools and techniques to their teaching and learning practice.
• Embed evaluation into everyday practice: Foster a culture of continued enhancement where evaluation becomes embedded into our teaching, learning and professional practice, not just a one-off task.
• Strategically aligned: Help colleagues to design evaluation plans that are transparent, ethical and methodologically sound and that reflect, and support our strategic goals.
• Encourage creative and inclusive methods: Promote evaluation tools and approaches that include diverse voices and perspectives, ensuring evaluation is fair, relevant, and impactful.

What can the Evaluation Advocates Network do for you?

As part of its commitment to support and enable evidence-based decision making for the enhancement of teaching, learning and the student experience, the Evaluation Advocates Network provides practical advice, guidance and resources to help you develop your evaluation plans as well as opportunities to connect with others. The Evaluation Advocates Network:

• works with others to develop and signpost resources and guidance (e.g., case studies, lessons learned) to help you develop your evaluation plans
• delivers workshops and events that provide opportunities for you to share ideas, explore good practice and connect with others across the University
• tests new evaluation tools, methods and approaches to share what works (and what doesn’t)
• provides feedback on your evaluation plans (excluding ethics) to help you to navigate evaluation challenges (please note that opportunities for feedback are limited each month).

Joining the network

If you are interested in joining the network, please join the Evaluation Advocates Network Teams Channel (link below). 

• Join the Evaluation Advocates Network Teams Channel (opens in new window)

Upcoming events

Evaluation Advocates Network meet-up

These informal, unfacilitated sessions are an opportunity for you to meet and chat with others in an informal, relaxed environment enabling you to:

• share good practice and learn from others about different evaluation tools, methods and approaches
• discuss any challenges you may be experiencing when it comes to evaluating your teaching and learning - and to seek help and advice from others
• reflect on your own evaluation practice.

Meet-ups will be scheduled to take place every two months. For more information, dates, times and venues, please visit the Training Catalogue link below. 

• Evaluation Advocates Network meet-up