WP 1 – Management (lead partner: Surrey)

The objectives of the project management workpackage include:

• Setting up the EVIVA project website for internal communication and documentation;
• Liaising with the European Commission on contractual and financial matters and making contractual arrangements with the partners;
• Coordinating and monitoring the project workflows, including liaison between partners to communicate the status of the project programme and milestones;
• Organising and conducting five project meetings;
• Preparing reports for the European Commission.

WP 2 – Quality Assurance (STC)

The overall objective of this workpackage is to set up and apply a ‘Plan-Do-Study-Act’ (PDSA) cycle for assuring quality throughout all project activities during the project lifespan.

A PDSA cycle involves:

• Plan: Develop a plan for establishing objectives and processes for assuring that WP products and results meet their specifications and quality process;
• Do: Execute the plan implementing the quality assurance processes;
• Study: Monitor the quality assurance processes, evaluate feedback against objectives and specifications, and adjust the plan accordingly;
• Act: Review planned adjustments, taking steps to improve the work package products and results.

WP 3 – Development of Evaluation Methods (UAM)

This WP makes a major contribution to preparing the Evaluation Studies (WP 6), which constitutes the core of the EVIVA project.

The main objective of this WP is to develop appropriate research methods for the evaluation that will then be used to answer the research questions of this project (regarding the efficiency of VLEs, learning processes, user experience and acquisition of digital competence), based on pedagogical argument and the consortium’s expertise in developing research and evaluation designs. This includes the analysis of prior research and initiatives relating to the evaluation of such VLEs in general and the evaluation of ICT-based forms of learning specifically in interpreter training. Furthermore, the WP includes decisions regarding how the different VLEs are used during the evaluation and the content that is required for the purposes of the evaluation. The work in this WP lays the groundwork for and generate significant input for WP4, 5 and 6.

WP 4 – Preparation of VLEs for the Evaluation Studies (Bangor)

Whilst access to the types of VLEs that have been specified as being relevant to EVIVA is available to the consortium through previous projects, the VLEs require adaptation and preparation for their use in the evaluation study, and this is the objective of WP 4. In the case of the 3D virtual environment (available from the IVY project), given the particular novelty of this environment, this also means further development and refinement, based on IVY user feedback. Another dimension of the adaptation is the development of tools for monitoring and tracking user behaviour, especially in the 3D environment.

Whilst final decisions on the specific uses of the VLEs will be taken in WP 3, the evaluation of the following VLEs is planned:

• the 3D virtual environment available from the IVY project;
• video-based environments such as the VLE available from the BACKBONE project (based on pedagogically enriched video corpora as source texts for interpreting students) and from the BMT2 project (for clients of interpreters);
• a videoconference-based environment (subject to further decision).

WP 5 – Preparation of content for the evaluation studies (StC)

This WP focuses on a) the adaptation of digital content available from the IVY and BACKBONE projects to suit the needs of the evaluation studies and b) the preparation of additional content for the purposes of the evaluation. Point a) mainly includes the annotation of selected IVY and BACKBONE content as a basis for assessing the performance of interpreting students in relation to source-text difficulties and to the VLE in which they work. Point b) includes the expansion of the IVY and BACKBONE content to cover further language pairs (for the evaluation of how students use the VLE to work with ready-made content) and the creation of content for role plays (in the 3D and videoconference-based environments).

WP 6 – Evaluation Studies (Surrey)

This WP conducts a series of empirical studies with the specified target groups to answer the project’s research questions regarding the efficiency of the chosen VLEs, learning processes, user experience and acquisition of digital competence. The overall approach is a SWOT analysis to highlight the specific affordances and weaknesses of each VLE, using the methods developed in WP 3. The evaluation is conducted in relation to three relevant types of VLE, focusing on the learning opportunities they provide for:

• interpreting students to practise interpreting using ready-made digital content;
• clients of interpreting services to learn about interpreting using ready-made digital resources;
• both groups to learn collaboratively through role-play simulation and live interaction in VLEs.

WP 7 – Dissemination (Surrey)

Dissemination activities take place throughout the lifetime of the EVIVA project. The overall objective in this WP is to disseminate the EVIVA outcomes to the target groups of the project, i.e. interpreting students and interpreter training communities, communities of potential interpreter service users and designers of VLEs. Dissemination will continue throughout the project life and beyond, thus supporting the longer-term impact and sustainability of the project results. Specific objectives across the target groups include:

• Supporting and promoting the education and training of interpreters and those who use their services;
• Providing information relating to the findings of the project in terms of the efficiency and affordances of VLEs, user experience, and how this is linked to the design of the VLEs;
• Disseminating best practice;
• Initiating collaboration across institutions and targeted sectors.

WP 8 – Exploitation (Bangor)

WP 8 highlights the exploitation potential for the project outcomes both in the final phase of the project lifetime and beyond. The findings of the project and experiences gathered especially during the evaluation studies in WP 6, the seminar with VLE designers (a task of WP 4) and the dissemination activities in WP 7 are used as the basis for the widest possible promotion of the work conducted in EVIVA with regard to the use of VLEs in the context of educating and training interpreters and their clients, and beyond.

One of the objectives of this WP is therefore networking and community building aimed at the development of long-term collaboration with relevant user communities and forging links with relevant institutions and organisations. Another important objective is to achieve an integration of the EVIVA solution into different institutions and educational settings.