Evaluation

Inclusive activities and resources are designed and proposed with the aim of being usable, enjoyable and welcoming to a specific group of participants or, in the context of Universal Design, to as many people as possible.

All outreach and education activities and resources should be evaluated to adequately test their validity and effectiveness, relative to their purpose.
The results of such evaluation can become “building blocks” for future work. 

Formal and quantitative evaluation takes into account changes in the knowledge and awareness of participants.
On the other hand, more qualitative assessment tools can identify emotional and behavioral aspects. In addition to this, they may be the only choice in contexts involving very young children, non-native speakers, cognitive or intellectual disabilities, etc., who cannot rely on language and verbalization alone but instead need other means, such as documentation and observations guided by the experimenter and/or a dedicated collaborator.

The UNIVERS@LL group is studying the most suitable methods for doing validation first (with co-design involving experts and self-advocates and pilot testing in the case of new resources and activities) and evaluation later, with tools that disregard language skills and cultural diversity as much as possible.

In particular, with regard to existing (not specifically designed) activities and resources proposed in disadvantaged settings or with participants with special needs, the UNIVERS@LL group has developed a list of tags to support validation in terms of usability, effectiveness, and meaningfulness to those who use them with respect to various aspects.