SAFE Final Meeting Birmingham 7th July
SAFE Project Final Meeting Birmingham Saturday 7th July 2012
AGENDA
9.45 Progress of project – description of progress against results/work packages for each partner. Please be prepared to lead your work package.
11.00 Coffee
11.15 Continue progress against results until complete
Sustainability and experience in other countries.
12.45 Lunch
13.45 Final Report finances
14.45 Tea
15.00 AOB
Present. IL, RL, UK; BM, DE; LR, ES; TG, KF, MC, IK NL; GM, FS, RO; KN, KP, MB CZ
Apologies AS, BG (ill-health).
WP1 - IL
Work package 1 has no problems provided that all partners supply information as requested on time. RL will send the relevant parts of the final report that will require partner input. The form is really bad for handling so please provide the information in plain text format. There was general agreement that the Adobe Acrobat forms used for data collection are slow and inefficient to use. It would be far better to have a shared on-line facility similar to GoogelDocs or the INGOT web site. RL will go through the financial details as they stand later.
Action: All partners to provide information
WP2 - IL
IL asked for feedback on whether or not partners felt sufficiciently confident from the training and support to sustain the project in their locality. All said they were happy and felt confident to ask to build on the project training as revisions were made post-project. IL demonstrated new features from the Tracking System. These were thought to be reasonably straightforward but without local policies to use them it might be difficult to get large scale take up, especially as there would be a support cost involved. The follow up project applied for by Pro-work could be very important in providing continuity.
Action: All to inform IL if new needs arise.
WP3 - KN
KN reported that all the on-line supporting games were completed and that there have been no recent reports of problems so we are asuuming that they are bug free. The games have been well-received by schools as complementary to the growing range of free on-line learning resources on the web site.
Action: All to provide any further feedback on the games or their localisation to Katerina.
WP4 - LR
All translations agreed for the project are completed. There are some minor aspects of the new progress tracking system yet to do but they need to wait until all of the coding has been finalised. IL said there will be on-going work on this right up to the end of the project and beyond. We have no budget for translations beyond the application specification but we will try to provide whatever is needed post project to finish off this work. All agreed that the system is workable as it is but would benefit from further local research into wording of criteria and prioritising the assessment subject matter.
Action: All - Where possible check and update translations.
WP5 - TG considered the quality of the project to be high, especially taking account what has been achieved with a relatively restricted budget. Feedback from partners has generally been that they are satisfied and this cross-references with communication that has taken place from time to time with external subcontracted monitors. A final questionnaire for partners has been prepared and FJS will contact partners for final data gathering.
Action: Any issues related to QA refer to Pro-work in confidence. FJS to complete final QA survey and liase with external adviser with respect to final evaluation report.
WP6 - GM
The targets set in the certification trials have been surpassed. Some partners have had a lot more difficulty getting take up than others but overall the trials have been successful. While it is straightforward to use the technology some teachers are still not confident to get started. IL encouraged all to carry on with certification post project even though at present there is no budget. This could change with the Dutch follow up project application and possibly the UK links with ASDAN.
Action: All to consider ways of sustaining the certification in their locality.
WP7 - BM
Dissemination has been successful in reaching a diverse audience from end-user learners to Doris Pack MEP. We all need to keep promoting dissemination, particularly with policy influencers since it seems without a culture that supports new pedagogies and new technologies to support learners with special needs it is very difficult to get the project take up to be widespread due to our limited resources. We should continue to look for strategic partnerships and alliances both in the private sector and in the public sector. It is obvious that we could use the SAFE project on a national scale at very low cost - maybe as little as 1 Euro per certificate but that message is not always easy to convey.
Action: All to maintain dissemination activities and prioritise routes to national government.
Sustainability - IL
Sustainability means getting funding to pay for the services we are providing. The technology itself is paid for but still needs maintenance. TLM will take care of this for the foreseeable future. What is currently beyond our resources once the project ends is paying for school visits, training and support locally. The Dutch follow up project is a possibility in easing this issue and we have given some consideration to private sector companies sponsoring certification. Sustainability in the UK is assured through the new alliance with ASDAN and the growth of the business so as not to need grant aid. All partners should consider ways of influencing policy to make it conducive to take up locally. IL will continue to follow up the link with Doris Pack's office.
Action: All prioritise local sustainability on policy influencers
Final report finances - RL
RL went through the finance categories and explained the rules and what is required from each partner for the final report. The budget looks on target to be fully spent and TLM has provided significant additional days to ensure that the Tracker software was completed. All partners need to provide RL with financial receipts and justification of expenditure before going on summer vacation. The earlier we can get the final project report into the National Agency and agreed the quicker we will all receive the final payment. Partners agreed that they were clear about the requirements.There can be no spending after 30th September
Action:
1. All partners to provide RL with any outstanding travel and subsistence or other expenses as soon as possible and in any case before 1st September 2012. Any further spending must be eradicated if possible and if unavoidable please discuss with RL. 2. All partner results from their Workpackage must be finalised by 30th September. If this looks like a problem RL as soon as possible.
3. RL will send out the final report form. Partners must complete their sections asap and return.
4. Please notify RL with any possible areas of under-spend asap.
