Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Weeks five and six: Evaluation methods

Image: Twitter Bird by tashmahal

For this topic you will need to spend two weeks - this will take you up to the holiday break over Easter - 6 to 19 April 2009.
It is very important you explore the options for conducting evaluations carefully, and choose a method appropriate for your evaluation project, because in weeks seven and eight you will need to start writing your evaluation plan. Some of you may wish to use some of the holiday break to start organising this. Some people have already been talking about doing formative evaluations or needs analysis and there are other terms such as usability, effectiveness evaluation, impact and maintenance evaluation with which you need to become familiar. Talk to Bronwyn if you are not sure what sort of evaluation to do.

Things to do:

1. Read the short article evaluation methods in the eLearning Guidebook.
2. View the presentation by Professor Tom Reeves - Six Facets of Instructional Product Evaluation, (Google Books, 2008)
  • It is based on the book by Reeves, Thomas, C. and John G. Hedberg (2003), Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation, Englewood Cliffs: Educational Technology Publications - available in the Manukau Institute of Technology library. Remember you can make a request for a chapter - might I suggest you choose one which is relevant to the type of evaluation you wish to conduct. The Table of contents was sent out on email.
3. Find an article or two in the literature which fits with the type of evaluation you are interested in for your project. You will have access to the online databases at MIT.
4. Post responses to the following on your weblog:
  • Outline some information about the type of evaluation you believe will best suit your project with your reasoning.
  • Summarise the article(s) you have found (300 words) - full reference, evaluation design (paradigm, model, questions, methods), findings and how it aligns with the evaluation project you would like to conduct.

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