Page 179 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

10.3 Design of an Educational Project 171

Fig. 10.4 A sample of resource plan

10.3.4 Outputs

In order to achieve the goals of the project, many activities or action needs to be set
up. The outputs are the products of the activities. An output has to be: (1) delivered
by the project, (2) demand-driven and not supply-led, (3) stated clearly in verifiable
terms, and (4) feasible with the available budget (ILO, 2010).
The outputs are achieved by setting measurable indicators. Indicators are an
objective measure of whether and to what extent progress has been made (related to
project objectives and outputs). Performance indicators usually need to be at the
output level (ILO, 2010). And indicators of output should not be a summary of
what has been stated at the activities, but rather a measurable result of the execution
of the activity.
When developing the indicators of outputs, the verification methods also need to
be considered and designated. This will help test whether the indicators can actually
be measured with reasonable time, money, and effort or not.
The means of verification should specify (ILO, 2010):

• How to collect the information (e.g., from video records, sample surveys,
observation,) and/or the available documented source (e.g., final products).
• Who should collect/provide the information (e.g., local government workers,
contracted survey teams, the project management team).
• When information should be collected (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually).

10.3.5 Outcomes

The outcomes are often divided into short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes. The
short-term and medium-term outcomes are usually linked directly to the goal of the
effort or the specific problem situation that drives the effort (Spector & Yuan, 2016).
For example, the problem is that too many high school students did not go to
college to continue their studies. Then, the short- or medium-term result of this
effort is to increase the rate of enrollment—perhaps by 15% in the short term and
30% in the long term.