Joint Music Masters

[MADE BY CRAMGO]

Evaluation and dissemination

Monitoring

The Steering Group (SG) was responsible for the management and monitoring of the Quality Assurance (QA) and Curriculum Development (CD) working groups.

A direct line existed between the work executed by groups and the Steering Group, because members of the SG were chairing the working groups. In this way constant feedback was assured.

Evaluation

Permanent project evaluation took place on various levels within the project and with outside help:

- Internal evaluation of the Joint Masters was realised by the partner institutions. All activities with teachers and students were evaluated by various means during the pilot year and afterwards, e.g. through questionnaires and panel discussions. The working group on Quality Assurance carried out the joint design of the internal evaluation methods.

- External evaluation was realized to evaluate the developing process of the Joint Masters and the Joint Masters itself. An external evaluator was appointed; visited some of the group meetings and provided three evaluation reports. Moreover, the external partners met once a year with the group members in order to evaluate and contribute to the development.

Concerning the evaluation of the Masters itself, the working group on Quality Assurance carried out the joint design of the external evaluation methods, consisting of a system of evaluation and monitoring with external stakeholders.

In the working groups evaluation took place as a continuous process: by the Steering Group, and the two working groups. Special attention was given to the design of context related assessment required to informal learning processes in non-formal contexts.

- Evaluation of the outputs took place in the academic year ‘08-‘09, which was dedicated to implementing and testing. The outputs were tested in all partner institutions. The following issues were tested and evaluated:

- educational output produced by the CD group;

- evaluation and regulation output of the QA group;

- overall organisational output, defined by the SG.

- In the phase of testing the members of the working groups played key roles in their institutions. Members of the CD group were involved in the teaching, testing and adjusting of pilot modules, and members of the QA group in its assessments and the adjustment of it, as well as in issues of regulation. External partners cooperated with the institutions within pilot project for professional integration (this is the third phase of the master’s programme). This was evaluated by means of the joint design of the external evaluation methods.

Dissemination

The dissemination of the Joint Masters project took in general place as follows:

The production of an email project newsletter and the launch of this project website.
Presentations at congresses and seminars. The presentations were announced through this website as well.
Dissemination through channels offered by the partners. These included regular updates and information on project activities and results in several publications produced by the partner institutions.
A course brochure which contains information about the content of the course and various practical issues.

Six digital newsletters have been sent out: in December '06, in June '07, in December '07, June '08, December '08 and June '09. Moreover a Joint Master flyer has been designed and sent to all institutions and external partners to disseminate. The Joint Masters has so far amongst many other occasions been presented during the following meetings, congresses and seminars:

Regional meeting with the Council of Arts, orchestra's and Jyväskylä city authorities on 22 February 2007.
Meeting of the Association of Music School Teachers in Iceland on 2 March 2007.
The Seminar 'Trends in the Music Profession in Europe; Lifelong Learning & Employability' from 9-11 March, Groningen, The Netherlands. This seminar was jointly organised by ERASMUS Thematic Network for Music 'Polifonia' and the Lectorate 'Lifelong Learning in Music'.
Meeting with board of "Music in the schools" in Iceland on 14 March 2007.
Presentation at the University Center of Isafjördur (IS) on 29 March 2007.
Meeting of the Council of Arts in Central Finland on 19 April 2007.
The yearly Congres of the Dutch HBO-Raad (The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences) on 26 April, entitled 'Trends towards the future'.
The conference 'Towards strong creative disciplines in Europe' from 27-28 April in Tallinn, Estonia. This conference was jointly organised by the Socrates/Erasmus thematic networks enhsa, inter}artes and Polifonia, in close collaboration with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Cooperative meeting of two Joint Degree programmes in Jyväskylä (FI) on 4 May 2007.
Meeting with Dance Center of Central Finland on 16 May 2007.
Meeting Regional Artists of Central Finland on 5 June 2007.
Press conference for the newspaper of Jyväskylä City (FI) on 20 June 2007.
The International Relations Coordinators meeting of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC) in Oslo on 8 September 2007.
The annual congress of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC) in Aarhus on the 8th of November 2008.

Moreover, all institutions have presented the Joint Master during several other occasions inside and outside the conservatoires.