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If we want sustainability we strive for beauty, not efficiency.
Nicolás Gómez Dávila
"Supporting innovative projects"
IMPULSE offers support to public institutions, non-profit organisations, enterprises and individuals in the areas of
- evaluation and quality management
- project design and project development
- organisational development.
The focus lies on evaluation, be it "classical" external evaluation or support for internal or self-evaluation or peer review.
Additionally, consulting and workshops/trainings in evaluation are offered.
An overview of the key areas of expertise can be found here
NEWS
Workshops "Developmental Evaluation, 23.1.2014, Bonn
1) Workshop for the evaluation units of the German political foundations
2) Workshop at the annual meeting of the evaluation units of the German organisations for development cooperation
On January 23, 2014, Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner gave two workshops on "Developmental Evaluation" (Michael Q. Patton).
(31.1.2014)
Launching Conference Erasmus+, 22.1.2014, Hofburg Wien
Round-table discussion "Thematic Forum 1: Mobility under Erasmus+ following European and national political goals - Mobility for all"
On January 22, 2014, Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner took part in a round-table discussion on mobility under Erasmus+. During the discussion, experiences of different educational sectors with the "Lifelong Learning Programme" were reflected and the opportunities and challenges of the new programme highlighted.
Information on the Launching Conference Erasmus+ in Austria more
(27.1.2014)
Presentation on "Cross-border Peer Learning"
"Peer Learning in Local Youth Work and Policy"
2nd InterCity Conferenc in Helsinki
On December 9, 2013, Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner gave a keynote on "Cross-border Peer Learning" at the second InterCity Conference in Helsinki.
The presentation can be found here
(15.12.2013)
Workshop "Evaluation" for Team Focus, Fonds Soziales Wien
On November 13, 2013, Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner gave a workshop on evaluation for Team Focus, a department of the "Fonds Soziales Wien", who conduct community and neighbourhood analyses commissioned by the city of Vienna.
The workshop tackled the question how evaluation differs from the usual studies and analyses of Team Focus, in what areas these studies already encompass evaluative elements and how their services can be developed further with a view to evaluation.
(20.11.2013)
Computer-Science-Management: Tentative "final" evaluation
During the third and fourth year of the implementation of Computer-Science-Management (CSM) at the Hertha Firnberg Schulen the evaluation and process facilitation by IMPULSE continued.
Special foci were: effects of CSM on school development, the planing the continuation within the framework of the new curriculum "Communication and Media Design" (Kommunikations- und Mediendesign) and the information and recruitment of the target group. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of all data since the beginning of the study programme in 2010/11 was conducted including time series.
The report is available upon request: contact
(15.11.2013)
Presentation on the "Europeanisation of Austrian education and educational policies", 5.11.2013, Linz
Lecture series at the pedagocial university Upper Austria on the Austrian National Education Report 2012
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner gave a presentation on the "European chapter" of the National Education Report 2012 on November 5, 2013 at the Pedagogical University of Upper Austria
The presentation was recorded, the video can be found here
(10.11.2013)
Gender mainstreaming of evaluations
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner is member and co-speaker of the Topical Interest Group on Gender Mainstreaming in the DeGEval (Gesellschaft für Evaluation; German-Austrian Evaluation Society).
For the revisions of the "Standards of Evaluation", the Topical Interest Group developed a paper delineating the consideration of Gender Mainstreaming in the standards. A short report on this topic has now been published in the "Zeitschrift für Evaluation" (Evaluation Journal):
Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Maria; Wotha, Brigitte, Wroblewski, Angela (2013): Considering Gender. Qualitätsvolle Evaluierung durch Einbeziehung der Geschlechterperspektive in Evaluationen, In: Zeitschrift für Evaluation, Jahrgang 12, Heft 2, 349-352. (Considering Gender. High-quality evaluation through integration of a gender perspective in evaluation)
(10.10.2013)
Peer Evaluation: Are Peers evaluators?
If yes, what kind of competences and training do they need?
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner has spent the past years investigating the evaluation competencies of "peers" who assume the role of external evaluators in peer evaluations/ peer reviews. In the last issued of the "Zeitschrift für Evaluation" an article on this topic was published:
Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Maria (2013): Experten, Gutachterinnen oder Dilettanten: Welche Evaluationskompetenz und Schulung benötigen Peers? In: Zeitschrift für Evaluation, Jahrgang 12, Heft 2, 235-256. (Experts, Reviewers or Amateurs: What Kind of Competence and Training in Evaluation Do Peers Need?)
Zeitschrift für Evaluation: Information on the volume can be found here
Download Abstract (English) here
(10.10.2013)
Presentation "Dealing with uncertainty - experiences with Developmental Evaluation"
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner put up for discussion her experiences with "Developmental Evaluation according to Patton as an approach for coping with uncertainty and complexity in evaluations". The presentation took place in the session of the Topical Interest Group on Vocational Training during the yearly conference of the DeGEval on September 13, 2013.
Further information and the presentation are available (in German) here
(1.10.2013)
Seminar: Gender Mainstreaming of evaluations – how to "gender" evaluations
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner gave a seminar on gendering evaluations at the 16th Conference of the DeGEval in Munich on September 11, 2013.
Further information (in German) can be found here
(15.9.2013)
Internationalisation of Austrian schools
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner conducted an explorative study on the internationalisation of Austrians schools commissioned by the Austrian Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture. The study was carried out together with Katharina Novy in 2012/13.
Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Maria; Novy, Katharina (2013): Bericht zur Internationalisierung der österreichischen Schulen - eine qualitative Untersuchung, i.A. des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, Wien.
A comprehensive report is available upon request: Contact
In addition, Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner wrote an article on internationalisation for the anthology "Schule grenzenlos" (School without frontiers):
Gutknecht-Gmeiner, Maria (2013): Internationalisierung der österreichischen Schulen, In: Gesslbauer, Ernst; Großruck, Ursula; Siegele Petra (Hg.): Schule grenzenlos. Erfahrungen und Herausforderungen im 21. Jahrhundert, Innsbruck: Studienverlag, 36-48.
Information on the publication can be found here
(20.8.2013)
"Youth in action" Conference in Bonn, May 7-8, 2013: Workshop on Peer Learning
"Europe - A place of learning" was the title of a workshop which focused on "cross-border peer learning as an instrument to professionalise youth policy and youth work practitioners". The workshop explored different perspectives and approaches to peer learning on the European level.
Maria Gutknecht-Gmeiner from IMPULSE gave an overview of cross-border Peer Learning, offering definitions, presenting formats and discussin challenges and opportunities. The presentation can be downloaded here
(30.5.2013)
