Below is an outline of the phases of the project and some general descriptions of activities participants will engage in. These are suggestions and modifications will be made along the way as needed.
Stage 1: Getting started (2-3 weeks)
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Introductions
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Sharing of goals and expectations
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Soliciting peers that may be interested in joining
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Q&A to get clarifications (possibly a live Google Hangout event?)
Stage 2: Establishing Categories (1 week)
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Collaborative Brainstorming of ideas and options
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Filtering to establish categories of primary focus
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Creating clear descriptions of what qualifies in each category
Stage 3: Collecting Online Tools and Resource options (2-3 weeks)
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For every category, participants find and store in our system resources that may have some value or application
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Focus is on gathering as wide a range of resource options within each category
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Filtering of the suggestions in each category to a few of what we think may be the best resources to review.
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Publishing the unfiltered list of options as well our our filtered list to get feedback from the field
Stage 4: Creation of the evaluation tool and process (2 to 3 weeks)
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Participants will collaborate on the creation of an evaluation tool that best provides information to the field
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The evaluation tool will be automated in a way that evaluations can be easily processed
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Participants begin volunteering to evaluate a number of the filtered resources they wish
Stage 5: Evaluation of Resources (4-5 weeks)
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Goal is to have at least two participants evaluate every tool in our filtered resource list
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Evaluations will be done independently with discussions occurring when vast differences appear. It may be necessary to bring these discussions to the entire group to get consensus on contentious points.
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If time is available and participants wish, resources that we collected that remained on the brainstormed list can also be addressed after we have all the filtered resources assessed.
Stage 6: Sharing of data (4-5 weeks)
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Group moderator will compile all evaluation data into an organized collection that can be reviewed by the group
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Raw data generated will be shared with the group in order to solicit discussions and implications
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Notes and comments are welcomed on all results
Stage 7: Draft Report Generated (2 week)
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The group moderator will create a draft of the final report
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Group members will edit and suggest revisions of the final report
Stage 8: Synchronous Wrap up (2 week)
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Group members will be invited to participate in a group synchronous meeting (Google Hangout) in which all members can share thoughts, suggestions and changes to the edited draft before it goes to final draft development
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A recording of the virtual meeting will be shared with members that were not able to attend to ensure all voices can be heard in the forums
Stage 9: Publishing (1 week)
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The final report that details the evaluations for each resource will be published and shared with the field
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The filtered list of resources as well as the brainstormed list of resources will be shared with the field. Ideally this will be in a format that allows for filtering by category at the least.
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All members are encouraged to share finished publications with any agencies working with Adult Education that would benefit from this work.