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How should an evaluation plan be organized: Background
The Background section of the evaluation plan should describe the information needed to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the background of the digital library or its subcomponents being evaluated. This section should provide enough information to convey the nature of whatever is being evaluated, but not so much detail as to overwhelm readers. Explain any jargon used in describing the digital library (e.g., metadata ), especially if the plan will be read by stakeholders unfamiliar with technical terms. Although most evaluation plan s make for dry reading, it does not have to be that way. Your evaluation plan can tell an interesting story, and you can include screen images from the digital library or its components to clarify its nature. If lengthy background materials are needed, consider putting them in Appendices. Here is a much abbreviated example of a Background section:
BACKGROUND: DLESE is a digital library that provides engineering faculty with free access to high quality interactive learning resources. With a planning grant of 2.3 million dollars from the ASF that commenced in November 2002, the first beta version of DLESE.net was released in September 2003. DLESE currently contains education resources primarily related to undergraduate engineering education, but future plans include the provision of interactive learning resources for both graduate engineering education and continuing professional development. All of the resources currently available via DLESE have been validated by the members of the North American Association of Engineering Professors (NAAEP). In addition, most of the resources in DLESE contain reviews by practicing engineering faculty members who have previously used the resources in their teaching. Appendix A contains screen captures from the beta version of DLESE illustrating the interface and interactive features of this digital library. |
The Background section of an evaluation plan should answer the following questions:
- What digital library is the focus of this evaluation?
- What is the current status of the digital library?
- Who uses this digital library and why?