Why is evaluation important to you and how do you define it?
For me evaluation is a method of trying to gather information on a certain educational programme or course to allow us to make statements/ judgements on it. A major goal of any evaluation activity is to influence future decision-making.
If you look at the ADDIE model of instructional design – I think most educational providers do Summative Evaluation, but tends to leave out the formative part. I think looking at this model – the formative evaluation is very vital in evaluating, especially the first three stages of Analysis, Design and Development.
In my personal opinion – evaluation would be important to allow us to know whether what we are teaching meets the students expectations, are we meeting the industry needs, up-to-date with technology etc। Also evaluation is carried in our institute to see the teaching effectiveness.
What sort of evaluations mentioned on the presentation are familiar to you already and why?
Observation
I have been evaluated may times through observation, this is where your manager or HOD would like to come and sit in you class and observe your teaching and evaluate your teaching and give you a feedback।
Questionnaires
Most of the times the students get questionnaires ti fill in to evaluate the teaching – the lecturer and as well as the course content।
I have heard of discussion forums and Expert reviews, but have not done such evaluations myself as yet।
Why is quality important in eLearning?
Quality is very important because you are not physically present to answer any ambiguous or unclear instruction or information. So quality in terms of being precise and clear with all the materials in e- learning is very important.
Quality of the content will determine the success of the students.
About Me
- Krishan
- Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand
- I am originally from Fiji, came to NZ in 2002. Studied and working here in Auckland. Enjoying life to the fullest. Trying to keep blogs of things happening around me... Regards Krishan
Krishan you make some very valid points. Certainly materials with well written instructions is a very important aspect of quality. It is so easy to get lost online is it not? I agree with you about the predominance of summative evaluation. And sometimes it is far too late to keep the students in a course. There is nothing more disruptive or soul destroying than a class of disgruntled students. Do you agree?
ReplyDeleteObservations which you mention are an excellent technique for evaluating skills, and I still shake when thinking of being watched while I undertook nursing tasks.
In evaluation of multimedia including web-based courses, observation is a good way to evaluate the clarity of how materials are presented and laid out. By observing how students navigate through, and also how they use the materials, the bugs can quickly be located and fixed. What may seem to us to be an obvious pathway or icon to click is not always so to others.
Can you think of other factors associated with quality apart from the instructions for using content, which can assist success of students.