Strictly speaking, program evaluation can be defined as “a social science activity directed at collecting, analyzing, interpreting and communicating information about the workings and effectiveness of social programs” (Rossi et al. 2004:2-3). In our case, of course, we are evaluating Immunopaedia as a learning approach.  Evaluations are conducted for many reasons, including helping to make decisions about what scale and in what format a program should be implemented, whether or not it should be continued, how well it is being received by its target audience, whether or not it is actually having an effect on its intended target audience, to guide program administration and management, and to ensure accountability to program sponsors and donors. In summary, evaluation is vital to ensuring that a program does what it is supposed to do, that it is good at what it is supposed to do, that ways and means can be found to improve and expand it, and to ensure that it is properly run.

None of this is possible without the information and feedback you as participants provide to us. We depend on your feedback to guide us in terms of deciding what works and what doesn’t, to gauge whether or not we are meeting your needs (and preferences!), and to make sure Immunopaedia is meeting its mark; that is, to make sure you are actually learning and benefiting from interaction with the program. This is important both for you as current users of the Immunopaedia approach but also for future generations of the medical community in South Africa and elsewhere who will benefit from from how Immunopaedia evolves.

So the next time you agree to fill out a questionnaire, rate the website, or do an interview with one of us, remember that in doing so you are helping to make sure we do our job well and to shape Immunopaedia to be the best possible learning tool now and in the future.

Thanks!

PS – If you want to see some summaries of our program evaluation work please flip to other tabs in this section …..