iPlant Collaborative

The iPlant Collaborative has contracted with an external evaluator to independently measure the success of iPlant in relation to the project’s defined goals and outcomes. Evaluation services are provided by East Main Educational Consulting, LLC located in Wilmington, NC (www.econline.com).

The external evaluator will provide insight regarding the planned and implemented activities of the project through independent data collection using quantitative and qualitative methods that include surveys, interviews, and document analysis among others. At times, the community will be asked to provide data for the evaluation through online surveys. The data provided by the community will be analyzed and combined with other project data sources, which will then be organized into formative reports and provided to the project team. The reports will provide information regarding successes and areas for improvement, so that the project team and the Board of Directors can make data-based project decision such as when to strengthen existing services, expand effective services, identify additional needs, prepare long-range plans, and focus attention on programmatic issues. If evaluation data warrant, the project team may modify the project plan in order to better achieve the project goals. In addition to interim formative reports, the external evaluators will generate annual reports that aggregate yearly data and provide the project team with estimations of goal attainment.

The feedback provided by the community will impact the success of the iPlant project and your confidential feedback submitted to EMEC will greatly assist with the development and implementation of the project activities. Email from the external evaluators will always have iPlant in the subject line.