Evaluation Criteria

By which criteria will the competing entries be evaluated?

The criteria were updated in March 2024.

Helga and Diana held a webinar on March 25th called BELMA explained.
Here is the presentation
and here is the video.

Accessibility

1.0 Accessibility: Summary
Accessibility in this context denotes the material's design and production attributes that facilitate easy and effective use for all learners. High production standards ensure durability and clarity, while an intuitive interface supports seamless use across devices. Features like clear navigation, appropriate font choices, and audio aids underline a commitment to inclusivity, catering to users with varying needs, including those with visual or hearing impairments.

1.1 Accessibility: Production standards
The printing is clear and consistent, paper quality and binding style (where applicable) ensure an adequate and sustainable material. The user interface (where applicable) is intuitively designed, offering a seamless reading experience across various devices with excellent scalability.

1.2 Accessibility: User-friendliness
The material is designed for easy access and navigation, featuring clear instructions and well-defined signposts that guide users on its intended use. The digital content is particularly inclusive, offering multiple access points tailored to diverse needs. This includes a selection of fonts to accommodate special needs or visually impaired students, as well as audio descriptions and text-to-speech options for individuals with hearing impairments.

Presentation

2.0 Presentation: Summary
Presentation encompasses the material's structured layout and multimedia integration to boost engagement and comprehension. Organized chapters, headings, and thoughtfully designed pages enhance legibility and guide learners. Integrated visuals and audio, such as illustrations, videos, and audio clips, clarify concepts and support diverse learning styles, making the content interactive and accessible.

2.1 Presentation: Organization of layout
The macrostructure (chapters, appendices, additiona matter) and microstructure (headings, subheadings, use of colour and icons) are clearly organized and engage the learner. The layout of pages and/or screens has been designed to maximize legibility. This includes carefully chosen amounts of text per page, optimal line spacing, and appropriate line lengths. The arrangement of visual and audio features of the digital learning resources enhances knowledge transfer and interactivity. It makes the material easy to access and navigate and provides clear instructions and signposts regarding its intended use.

2.2 Presentation: Visuals and multimodal elements
Photographs, illustrations, videos, animations, audio clips, maps, tables, and other visual and auditory elements significantly enhance understanding when integrated with text. These components clarify complex concepts, illustrate key points, and provide varied perspectives. They cater to different learning styles, making the material accessible and engaging for a broad audience. Their inclusion enriches the content, making it more interactive and amplifying the information presented.

Content quality

3.0 Content quality: Summary
Content quality encompasses accuracy, relevance, and educational alignment. The material is factually correct, aligns with current research, and presents diverse viewpoints, fostering a balanced understanding of varied topics. Clear learning objectives outline the learning path and provide a structured framework that aligns with curricular standards. Assessment tools are included to help users gauge their progress and identify areas for improvement. Exercises are well-structured, progressive, and engaging, enhancing the learning experience. Representation is considered, ensuring diversity and avoiding bias. Beyond academic knowledge, the material aims to cultivate essential skills like critical thinking and problem-solving, preparing learners to tackle complex challenges independently.

3.1 Content quality: Accuracy, reliability and relevance
The material is factually correct, up-to-date, and relevant to the subject matter. It reflects current knowledge and research. Whenever applicable, multiperspectivity is implemented throughout; resources present balanced and multiple viewpoints on issues such as gender, sustainability, participation, diversity, inclusion, and exclusion, avoiding one-sided narratives.

3.2 Content quality: Learning objectives
The product clearly states its learning objectives based on curricular recommendations. The objectives serve as a clear roadmap for user, structuring the material for both teachers and learners.

3.3 Content quality: Assessment
The material provides users with assessment tools which enable them to become conscious of areas of success and weakness and inform them about progress made in relation to the learning objectives.

3.4 Content quality: Exercises and tasks
The exercises and tasks are clearly formulated, reflect a suitable progression, and are varied and engaging.

3.5 Content quality: Representation
The product displays diversity in terms of the students' environment (e.g., ethnicity, race, culture, gender) already reflected in the material's scope and is free from bias.

3.6 Content quality: Personal development beyond subject matters
The material is crafted to develop a broad spectrum of competencies in students, going beyond just academic knowledge. It focuses on enhancing skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, effective communication, and problem-solving. These competencies equip learners to independently address complex challenges. Key areas of focus include:
Social and Interpersonal Skills: Collaboration and empathy for effective teamwork and understanding diverse perspectives.
Creativity: Encouraging innovative thinking and the synthesis of information to create new solutions.
Critical Thinking: Developing independent opinions and evaluating material credibility and truthfulness.
Presentation Skills: Enhancing self-expression and the ability to exchange constructive feedback.
Cognitive Development: Boosting spatial awareness and logical thinking.
Problem-Solving: Training students to tackle and solve complex challenges.
Learning-to-Learn Skills: Teaching efficient ways to acquire knowledge and skills, promoting lifelong learning.

Learner-centredness

4.0 Learner-centredness: Summary
Learner-centeredness ensures that content aligns with the students' abilities and developmental stages, fostering engagement. It emphasizes real-world applicability, encouraging knowledge transfer across contexts. The material supports diverse learning styles, offering a range of activities for individual and collaborative learning, ensuring inclusivity and active participation.

4.1 Learner-centredness: Appropriateness
The content and language align with the target group's average cognitive abilities, reading level, developmental stage, and specific learner needs, actively engaging them in the learning process.

4.2 Learner-centredness: Applicability and transferability
The material provides opportunities to transfer learning outcomes to other subjects and apply them to real-world scenarios/other subjects, making the learning relevant and applicable.

4.3 Learner-centredness: Differentiation and individualisation
The material accommodates diverse abilities and learning styles, providing multiple approaches to engage different types of learners.

4.4 Learner-centredness: Varied activities
The material includes a diverse range of activities, such as individual tasks, pair and group activities along with various forms of project work and individual research. It comprises opportunities for collaborative learning, fostering teamwork and social interaction.