Murrayarra: Evaluation toolkit

Through 2019/20 First Languages Australia joined with human-computer interaction researchers at the Australian National University and Charles Darwin University on a small research project to identify how language communities evaluate the technologies they develop to support language activities. The research activity was intended to share learnings between communities around ways to identify the types of tools that might be useful, what to think about when developing a new tool, and how to evaluate projects as they proceed as well as at the end.

Foundations for successful evaluation  

• Establish clear communication processes within the community and establish or utilise a language reference group.

• Ensure the community has ownership of how and when language materials are developed and used.  

• Train community members to maintain language tools to ensure longevity.  

• Develop an understanding of different stages of success within each specific language context.

The Murrayarra Evaluation Toolkit is one outcome of the research project. The toolkit provides a series of reflective questions to assist communities in evaluating the tools they create.

Murrayarra aligns with utilisation-focused monitoring, evaluation and learning (UMEL) approaches. It is designed to support reflective, strengths-based and community led evaluation processes that inform decision making, ongoing improvement and sustainable practice, grounded in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing.