DESIRE REACH OUT TOOLKIT DESIRE REACH OUT TOOLKIT

  – A GUIDELINE ON HOW TO REACH YOUR STEM EDUCATION STAKEHOLDERS EFFICIENTLY

The Reach Out Toolkit is based on two years research and is intended to project managers and project coordinators running initiatives to improve learning and teaching of STEM in formal education (schools) and informal education (science centres, museums, fairs, events). It gives information on how to plan and implement dissemination and exploitation strategies. The Toolkit also provide recommendations on how to make a difference by adapting its behaviors when communicating and looking for results from STEM education projects.

Below you find the Reach Out Toolkit divided into 4 parts:  

• Cover page, holds information on the context of the research findings.

• Chapter 1: Dissemination, is mainly oriented project managers and project coordinators with recommendations on where and when new STEM education output should be disseminated and how your communication should be shaped to reach your target audience.

• Chapter 2: Exploitation, is mainly oriented project managers and project coordinators with recommendations on how you ensure your target audience understand and utilize your STEM education output in the expected way.

• Chapter 3: How to make a difference, encourages all STEM education stakeholders to take concrete actions and measures to shorten the distance between innovative knowledge in STEM education and its end users. In this part you will also be able to find a sum up off all the recommendations provided in the Reach Out Toolkit. 

Download the full Reach Out Toolkit in  en   fr ,  it  or  es 

There are also delveloped a usefull appendix to the Toolkit:

  • List of free tools and new ideas to disseminate your science project outcome:  Annex I 

  • List of European and national STEM education websites that are publicly accessiblee:  Annex II 

Do you agree with our findings? Feel free to comment on the Reach Out Toolkit in the forum at the bottom of this page. 


 Cover page   Chapter 1: Dissemination   Chapter 2: Exploitation   Chapter 3: How to make a difference   Download in pdf 

 

 

 

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I've read the PDF rather quickly. It seems to me that there is an unresolved tension in the writing. STEM managers, teachers etc are sometimes referred to as if inclusive, and sometimes as if only those who are actively engaged in the development phase of eu projects. As such I'm completely unable to decide exactly who the document is addressing. It seems to be aimed at those who are running EU funded STEM projects, but does not, I think, distinguish well enough between liaising with those on the inside of such projects and those who have no involvement in such projects, yet who you might hope to influence ( as a rider, I'd guess that there is much more non-EU funded STEM development activity in Europe than is represented by the EU funded projects which seem to be the focus of attention here: yet there seems to be little attention paid to the boundary interactions between these (largely national?) flows and the rather unidirectional flow that seems to underly the document.

Ian Lawrence, UK

Posted on 26/11/13 18:59.

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As it is made explicit from the very beginning of the Toolkit (in the introduction of p.8), ‘it is intended for project managers and project coordinators who are running initiatives to improve learning and teaching of STEM in formal education (schools) and informal education (science centres, museums, fairs, events)’. However, this Toolkit does not intend to focus just on EU projects but any kind of funded initiatives, at a local, regional, national or EU level.
On the other hand, you are right that the document might not clearly distinguish between those being involved in the development of the project as producers and/or disseminators, and those who are considered the end users. And, of course, the dissemination strategies should be different for each of those target groups and for reduced or larger target audiences. In any case, the Toolkit tries to focus more on involving stakeholders in the development of an initiative during Chapter 1 on Dissemination, and it emphasizes more the outreach of end users in Chapter 2 on Exploitation. I hope that might help to interpret the terms and structure of this Toolkit.
Another issue that you mention is that ‘there is much more non-EU funded STEM development activity in Europe than is represented by the EU funded projects which seem to be the focus of attention here’. It is true that the sample of projects from which we collected data for the DESIRE project has a larger representation of EU projects than national projects. We completely agree that there might be more non-EU funded projects existing and being run since there are also many specific priorities or topics that might never have the chance to get EU funding. That is why the Toolkit does not just address managers or researchers of EU projects but any other national initiatives.

Posted on 26/11/13 19:00 in reply to Marisa Hernandez.

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