Sorry to be so late with this post....... but briefly:
Why is Evaluation Important to me and how do I define it?
I would define evaluation is being a means to measure effectiveness of learning. Also to check that goals are being achieved and if not, why?
In the past when I have designed and delivered courses, most of the evaluation I have carried out has been to merely measure the effectiveness of the material and how it was received by the students. The feedback obtained has enabled me to go back and tweak various aspects, thus improving on previous ideas and adapting accordingly which has proved to be invaluable. A boring but necessary topic for example, can be improved on and measured at the formative stage before it falls at the last hurdle. But that is easy when ownership of a course sits in the lap of one person, which of course is quite often not the case. Institutions are primarily seeking results and achievements and I believe evaluation is an important part of ensuring success, especially within elearning environments where important feedback to tutors is delayed, the results of which unfortunately are quite often evidenced by drop-out or non-achievement.
What Sort of Evaluations Mentioned on the Presentation Are Familiar to You Already and Why?
My experience within various organisations is that evaluation is more than often done at the end - when frustration and disappointment with a course had already set in. The key here it would seem would to have not only learned from the feedback for the future, but to put into practice some ongoing evaluation process that addresses this problem.
The model demonstrated in the presentation would be a good guideline I think. Quite often though analysing feedback only leads to published statistics which become both meaningless and historic.
Why is Quality Important in eLearning?
I have learned from previous papers on this course that transferring a face to face course to an online learning environment takes a lot of time and effort. Attempting to 'sell' the benefits of elearning can be difficult and often met with resistance from many. Ensuring quality within elearning would overcome some of the difficulties and promote this type of learning for the future. Development time put aside for this type of learning should I feel, include evaluation as well as testing of resources.
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Hilary you have made some very important observations about evaluation from your own perspective. I agree totally with your statement: A boring but necessary topic for example, can be improved on and measured at the formative stage before it falls at the last hurdle."
Certainly it is very important to find out what the users of the material we provide think about the material. Sometimes I wonder though if they are honest enough in their feedback - for fear of offending. Would they be comfortable saying a topic is boring or a lecturer is boring in the formative stage?
Therefore the methods used to obtain feedback are so important and as you say can prevent lack of success. "variety is the spice of life!"
Good you have seen how necessary it is to evaluate early on "before the rot sets in". That way problems can certainly be pre-empted and student levels of satisfaction kept higher.
And sooo... careful evaluation processes at each stage of innovation is the key as you say.Referring once more to the ADDIE model of design and development.
Analysis: what need is there for the resource/course?
Design: How will they use it?
Development: what are they doing when using it?
Implementation: What will they learn when using it?
Evaluation: how will they provide feedback?
which stage is most important in your situation I wonder?
Bronwyn
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