Weeks Six and Seven: Planning evaluation methodology

Daffodils in Bournville by ell brown

Over the next two weeks, 5 to 18 September you will continue planning your evaluation project, and will explore and prepare the evaluation design (methodology) - sampling methods, instruments, triangulation, and methods you will use for the analysis of data. Activity six and seven are relevant for these two weeks. Remember to look on Wikieducator (you can also get there via Course activities in eMit) in the Planning section for more detailed information about the activities. You will notice I have changed things around a bit. I am currently working on the other two sections which will go up - Results and Reporting.

Online meeting
This week we are very privileged to have a wonderful guest speaker, Professor Tom Reeves who will speak about evaluation and the connection to good design.  The online meeting this week is on Thursday 8 September 2011 12:00 - 13:00 using a guest Wimba link, not the usual classroom.  I will post more details about the link on eMit, email and on Wikieducator. I hope you will be able to make it. Apologies for getting the day wrong earlier.


Activity six:

• Collaborate in your groups to design the methodology for the evaluation – add to your project wiki.
• Use the resources to further develop your evaluation plan.
• Add the methodology section to your project wiki.

Activity seven:

• Continue developing the plan and request feedback.
• Prepare other sections of the plan to complete a draft plan – limitations, logistics and time line, budget, references and appendices.
• Finish writing the Introduction.
• Add to your project wiki and request feedback on the project forum. 

Using the project wiki

Remember, the beauty of using a wiki to develop your plans is that it becomes very much a work in progress - enabling you to keep revisiting and reworking the plan as your ideas unfold. You can expect your ideas to change all the way through as you develop the plan - if they don't I will be worried.  So don't expect to get each section perfect before moving on to the next section. When you prepare the methodology you will probably have to go back to the other sections and change some things. This is easily done on a wiki, and it is easier to see how each section is fitting together doing the development in this way.
The finished plan is due in the week 26 September so keep working towards achieving this date. You can do it! Please do get in touch if you are stuck or getting sticky. I am happy to Skype with you individually or in groups.

Week 4: Evaluation planning

Crocus by Sids1

 The most popular day and time for online meetings appears to be Thursday evenings 19:00-20:00. The next meeting will be on 25 August at 19:00 hrs in the Wimba classroom. We will discuss evaluation planning and your project ideas. Remember to make a time to skype with the lecturer if you wish to discuss your evaluation projects.

Activity Four
You will begin developing your evaluation plan over the next few weeks, and a series of activities will be carried out, starting with Activity Four. For this activity you will need to describe the background and rationale, goals, and decisions - on your project wiki using the evaluation plan template (on eMIT in Course Activities).

• Email the lecturer with the name of your group, and the members so that a Group space can be allocated with the project wiki. 
• Decide on the type of evaluation - formative or summative - based on the Reeves and Hedberg model, or another one you wish to use (please discuss this with the lecturer).
• Explore the reasons for your evaluation project, goals and the decisions to be made - begin the plan.Add the evaluation plan template to your wiki space in your group. 
• Remember to post your ideas about your evaluation project on your blog.

Resources to help with this are available on WikiEducator in the section - Evaluation Processes - also via Course Activities in eMit. Have a great week.