Week Three: Methods of evaluation and projects

Snow at home in August 2011 by bronwynannh

Well it is easy enough to see that I will be playing in the snow this week. Luckily all the neighbours' wee lambs are tucked up safely in their big shed. My sheep are playing the hungry card, poor things.

Progress reminder
By now you should have your introduction on your blog and have contributed to the Activity two - evaluation and quality discussion forum.

What's on this week?
 This week we are looking at methods of evaluation - needs analysis, usability, effectiveness, impact and maintenance - described by Professor Tom Reeves and Professor John Hedberg in their 2003 book on evaluation - Interactive Learning Systems Evaluation. Englewood Cliffs: Educational Technology Publications - Chapter Three. Also, on Google books is a preview of the book. The information is summarised in the different Resources accompanying Activity Three.

Online meeting

 Evaluation methods will be discussed in the online meeting this week: 16 August - 19:00–20:00 on Wimba. Make sure you test the link well in advance of the session. Please take note of the telephone call number and student pin code so you can enter via your telephone if all else fails. Access via eMit - Online meetings/Wimba Classroom. Please text me if you have difficulties (contact details can be found via the Lecturer link on eMit).

Activity Three
The information about this week's activity and the resources accompanying it can be found via Course Activities/Evaluation Methods.

• Use the resources to find out about different types of evaluation.
• Explore the literature about evaluation which is relevant to your context. A lot of material is compiled in the References section of the wiki, and you may also wish to find your own.
• Post a summary of the key ideas to your blog.
• Examine the range of potential evaluation projects on offer (a link to them is available on eMit in the Projects discussion forum), and either choose one of these or advertise your own.
• Organise yourselves into groups for the evaluation projects - use the Projects discussion forum to join a project group and to negotiate your methods of working collaboratively.

I hope you find a project to suit you. If you have an idea for your own evaluation project, make sure you email me with the overview - using a similar structure to the one used for the list of potential projects. This information will be used to inform your evaluation plan. Have a great week, and I hope to meet lots of you on Tuesday evening.