Our team used three different methods to meet the goals of the project: (1) student surveys, (2) student interviews, and (3) a client questionnaire.
Student Surveys
Surveys were used at the beginning and end of the project. The initial survey was done in the CSL project groups and was used to assess the expectations and pre-project perception of students about the course and their CSL project. This was done in to provide a basis for comparison with what students learned and how their perceptions changed as they progressed with their projects. A secondary survey was done individually at the end of the course to gauge course satisfaction and also students’ satisfaction with their CSL project and team.
Student Interviews
Similarly to the surveys, two sets of interviews were conducted with groups; the first interviews were conducted during the middle of the project and the final interviews were conducted at the end. Three group members participated in conducting the interviews: Wee Kee Ong, Natasha Palmer, and Rouzbeh Salehipour; the interviewer asked the questions and then transcribed the students’ responses. The interviews were done to gauge the development of different groups’ projects and understand the possible difficulties they faced and learning that was achieved. Some of the interview questions were designed to obtain more in-depth answers for questions that were asked in the initial group survey.
Once all the interviews were conducted, all the answers were compiled and classified. This information was then compared to the initial survey results from the beginning of the project; this allowed our group to evaluate the outcome and impact of CSL projects on students and gauge their satisfaction with the projects.
Client Questionnaire
Questionnaires were sent out to all of the community partners that were the clients of the CSL projects. This was done at the end of the projects to obtain feed regarding the usefulness of the projects and any difficulties or issues that were faced during the project. The questionnaires were also intended to establish the success of the CSL projects and the impact on the community groups. Unfortunately, only one of the clients completed the questionnaire, so we were unable to perform this analysis.