Using Feedback as a Formative Evaluation Approach to Minimize Implementation Fidelity and Maximize Project Accomplishments in a Multi-institutional Sustainable Agriculture Systems Project

Abstract Information: A multi-institutional inter-disciplinary project on Sustainable Ag Systems focusing on Controlled Environment in Agriculture (CEA) funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) was initiated in April, 2023. This project spans a duration of five years and covers a broad team of experts, including horticulture, plant breeding, water science and technology, life cycle assessment, education, economics, extension, and evaluation. The team of experts represent faculty and staff from five land-grant institutions and a large number of stakeholder advisory groups. The purpose of this proposed paper is to share the value of feedback approach in minimizing implementation fidelity and maximizing project accomplishments and evaluation use. Ensuring fidelity in implementation, and understanding the project activities for each of the teams are crucial when working on the multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary projects. We are using feedback as a formative evaluation strategy to improve the efficacy of the project's implementation and assessment. To accomplish this, we designed a Qualtrics survey (Formative evaluation questionnaire) to gather data pertaining to the activities, objectives, and intended plan of action, and deadlines for meeting the objectives of each team. The survey contains following questions: (1) List five major topics discussed at the meeting, (2) Action plan for the each topic discussed, (3) Member responsible and deadlines for the action plans that were set up, (4) To what extent were the action plans from previous sessions accomplished by the deadline, (5) Reasons, in the event that any of the action plans were not achieved, (6) The extent to which the monthly meetings contributed to accomplish the overall goals of team’s objectives and (7) Any comments or suggestions that assist project progress in a timely manner. As the project is on-going, we think that utilizing the survey results could provide useful information that will help achieve project progress in a timely manner. During individual project monthly meetings, team leads would assess the progress made and complete the survey, which would subsequently be reviewed by the project evaluator to summarize the information. In addition to the monthly project meetings, each team met separately every month to work toward their respective project goals and objectives. The survey is to be completed during individual team meetings in order to establish team goals, objectives, and record progress made. We collected data on participants' self-assessments and the extent to which they have accomplished their objectives and completed their previous month’s action plans. The survey data facilitated in documentation of progress achieved and the identification of problems encountered in the failure to implement the action plan within the designated timeframe. In addition, such analysis will aid in deciding on strategies to follow corrective actions. Collectively, we believe this approach will be helpful in minimizing implementation fidelity and ensuring project progress in a timely fashion.