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Evaluation: IWitness

Designed for middle and high school students, IWitness is the Institute’s flagship educational website, offering multimedia lessons built around short clips of testimony.

To date, we have evaluated IWitness’ impact with over 1,200 students around the world.

IWitness Evaluation Summary

Evaluation findings show that IWitness helps students become responsible citizens contributing to positive social
change, as shown in the following table illustrating the Institute’s Theory of Change model, which posits that through
engagement with testimony, students will develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that make them more committed
to becoming responsible participants in society.

An analysis of data across six IWitness pilots in 2013-2015 shows that participating in IWitness creates significant
positive change in students, specifically on four key measures:

  1. Interest in historical topics
  2. Recognition that it is important to speak up against stereotyping around them
  3.  The belief that one person can make a difference if they see an example of stereotyping against a group of people
  4. Understanding that people have a responsibility to be active citizens in their communities

That is, even in different cities, with engagement in different activities, IWitness instills in students an interest in
history and a sense of civic responsibility. Furthermore as a result of participating in IWitness, students…

Data source: Data from 6 IWitness classroom pilots conducted in November 2013-June 2015. The above findings show the aggregate increases of 185 participating students, comparing pre and post results.
Value testimony and respond well to testimony-based learning
  • 79% of students reported that learning through testimony had a strong impact on them, and 76% feel that they benefited from using IWitness.
  • An overwhelming majority of students (81%) feel that the topics covered in IWitness are important to learn about.
Are developing knowledge and skills
  • More than 90% of the students who participated in an IWitness activity in the United States have a greater understanding of the issues going on in the world.
  • Students showed increases in problem solving skills (8%), their academic ability (6%), and their ability to use and find information when conducting research online, in a library, or using books (41%)
Are developing critical thinking
  • After completing an IWitness activity, students rating themselves in the highest category of critical thinking increased 14%.
Are developing empathy
  • Students showed increases in their recognition that people have a responsibility to be active citizens in their community (5%) and a belief that one person can make a difference if they see an example of stereotyping (13%)
Have a motivation to act
  • Students were more interested in civic engagement (a 17% increase for students rating in the top 10%) and had a greater motivation to make a difference in the world (a 6% increase in above average/top 10%).
Express commitment to participate as contributors to civil society

“I think this program will really influence me to think about how I act and what I say to people that are not like me or other people with different backgrounds.” – Chicago

“They showed me that a single person could change hundreds of people’s lives. It will influence me in the future to be bold in helping others.” – San Diego