Importance of evaluation to me
I guess it’s a comfort blanket. If a course is evaluated it validates my delivery and give me confidence as a teacher in my materials and assessment instruments.
I would define evaluation in my context at Manukau Institute of Tech as;
· The course evaluation taken by all students at completion
· Pre and post moderation of assessments – this gives me a peer review
· Usability of my teaching methods – am I setting up barriers to learners
· If team teaching feedback from members of my team in development of teaching resources, delivery methods and assessments
· Feedback by students during the course
· Retention of students during the course
· My marking of student assessments – gives me feedback on teaching and course resources
· Student results
Methods used that are familiar
Observation – formative teaching review done at my request by a peer
Questionnaires – completed by students – partly in a checklist form with a range over 5 levels (poor – excellent) supported by comment area where students are prompted to respond to areas they particularly found helpful and areas where they felt improvement could be made – these form part of my personal evaluation and lead to any application for promotion on my part. These evaluations are conducted if:
· A new course is being delivered
· A lecturer is new to delivering an existing course
· Self-selection by lecturer (two courses per semester are mandatory)
Why is quality important in elearning?
I think quality is important in all learning. Is eLearning any different?
One significant factor is the cost effectiveness/ROI (as the commitment of resources will usually be higher than conventional methods) so an institution needs to be assured of the effectiveness over other methods of delivery.
eLearning feedback from the students is constrained by the lack of F2F context – if a class group is dissatisfied with their learning delivery then the feedback is fairly immediate (not many turn up to the next lecture). Email contact with a dissatisfied student is flinging a ball into the void!
eLearning – we are still learning the level of effectiveness – anecdotally it seems that there is a reduced completion rate in comparison to F2F – so an increased emphasis on a quality environment is an attempt to improve these statistics.
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4 comments:
Jennifer you have listed a great range of situations where evaluation is carried out in your organisation. All this, as you say, helps you ascertain the quality of the teaching and learning at the organisation.
Your statement, "I think quality is important in all learning. Is eLearning any different? ", opens up an opportunity for debate, and I am going to put this question on the course blog as a discussion question.
You mention ROI as one factor which is possibly why there is such a flurry around quality issues in eLearning. Perhaps the personality of a lecturer in a traditional lecture situation can carry the course, even if the learning the students actually do is limited.
For example, I know of cases where lecturers who were quite minimalistic in their approaches got great evaluations at the end of a course - probably because they were good looking, bubbly, did not overload the students (actually underloaded them), gave poor feedback and let them out of labs (which students normally found challenging) early. Students were able to get good grades easily as they were marked generously, and they did not find the course challenging.
In my opinion, it is probably a case of getting the balance right - high quality resources to learn from, good educational design, clear instructions and structure and a high level of support.
I also believe that when learners are motivated and prepared to put in the work, they will end up more satisfied with their contribution to an eLearning course, and they will learn more and as a result will be satisfied with the course overall.
What do you think?
Hi Bronwyn,
I guess it depends on the student's motivation - on a continuum - passport stamp to genuine learning experience. The passport stamp became apparent when I (as a student) was in a lecture when marked maths assignments were distributed (C's get degrees) was a common comment! Motivating students is the hardest task for me - I really struggle with this as so many factors come into play. I have been told that it's the students priviledge to fail - but against the scenario of requiring a 75% pass completion rate, I must engage them.... I also need to set their motivation against mine (although I'm sometimes running behind I would resent time spent doing a course just to 'get the badge' - life's too short not to get the most out of a learning experience) many students don't feel that way (or maybe don't have the luxury of that attitude. A real minefield...
Cheers
Jennifer
(Self) evaluation is indeed something that happens or should happen continuesly. Even when you drive back home after a day work, just reflect on how things went and how you can improve. Not everybody is into the continues learning/improving. Besides evaluating the course/elearning, students should be thought how to evaluate their own learning as well!
It might be scary to hear 'improvements', but if you can't accept that how can you actually learn?
Helga
Hi Jen, Bronwyn has asked us to comment on your point that quality is important in all learning and whether e-learning is any different.
I certainly agree that quality is important in all learning, but have speculated that perhaps it may be even more important for e-learning. We have discussed in other forums the distinction between an on-line facilitator and a f2f teacher and whether one may simply be an expert facilitator vs the need for the other to be a subject expert. I believe that an engaging classroom teaching presence can cover for a multitude of inadequacies within the teaching material itself. I know that I have deviated from prescribed material before in front of a class because it was not up to standard and have led the students down a more appropriate (e.g. factually correct, clearer, more realistic) path - this is not to comment on whether I believe I am particularly engaging or not! However, with e-learning, what you see is what you get. The student may or may not engage with a facilitator but their impressions will be formed by the quality of the material presented. And remember, you never get a second chance at a first impression. Material that is uninspiring, incorrect, boring, i.e of poor quality, will turn students off very quickly and they may be lost before the facilitator can influence the situation.
Just some early thoughts on this.
Cheers
Gordon
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