Evaluating online learning in higher education : what are students learning, and how can we measure it?

Evaluating online learning in higher education : what are students learning, and how can we measure it? PDF Author: Angela O'Donnell
Publisher: Stylus Publishing (VA)
ISBN: 9781579220754
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
In the excitement about the possibilities that instructional technology has opened up for teaching and learning, and in the ensuing discussion of start-up and infrastructure costs, and concerns about access and equity, too little attention had been paid to what students are learning through online courses and on the evaluation of such technologically-mediated courses. This volume provides an overview of strategies for assessing the contribution of technology and illustrates these with specific examples. The contributors provide an evaluation framework together with specific examples derived from an extensive instructional technology initiative at a large university. They present a general overview of how to evaluate technology and indicate the importance of the institutional context for technological innovation. The address the nature of potential learning outcomes and illustrate such evaluation methods as multiple iteration strategies, comparison designs, and within-class strategies. Among the pedagogies discussed are virtual and Web-controlled labs, simulations, video, and Web-based research tools. This book addresses the challenges of assessment in technology-based instruction in higher education, and places them within the context of costs.

Evaluating online learning in higher education : what are students learning, and how can we measure it?

Evaluating online learning in higher education : what are students learning, and how can we measure it? PDF Author: Angela O'Donnell
Publisher: Stylus Publishing (VA)
ISBN: 9781579220754
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book

Book Description
In the excitement about the possibilities that instructional technology has opened up for teaching and learning, and in the ensuing discussion of start-up and infrastructure costs, and concerns about access and equity, too little attention had been paid to what students are learning through online courses and on the evaluation of such technologically-mediated courses. This volume provides an overview of strategies for assessing the contribution of technology and illustrates these with specific examples. The contributors provide an evaluation framework together with specific examples derived from an extensive instructional technology initiative at a large university. They present a general overview of how to evaluate technology and indicate the importance of the institutional context for technological innovation. The address the nature of potential learning outcomes and illustrate such evaluation methods as multiple iteration strategies, comparison designs, and within-class strategies. Among the pedagogies discussed are virtual and Web-controlled labs, simulations, video, and Web-based research tools. This book addresses the challenges of assessment in technology-based instruction in higher education, and places them within the context of costs.

Assessing for Learning

Assessing for Learning PDF Author: Peggy L. Maki
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000979024
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
While there is consensus that institutions need to represent their educational effectiveness through documentation of student learning, the higher education community is divided between those who support national standardized tests to compare institutions’ educational effectiveness, and those who believe that valid assessment of student achievement is based on assessing the work that students produce along and at the end of their educational journeys. This book espouses the latter philosophy—what Peggy Maki sees as an integrated and authentic approach to providing evidence of student learning based on the work that students produce along the chronology of their learning. She believes that assessment needs to be humanized, as opposed to standardized, to take into account the demographics of institutions, as students do not all start at the same place in their learning. Students also need the tools to assess their own progress. In addition to updating and expanding the contents of her first edition to reflect changes in assessment practices and developments over the last seven years, such as the development of technology-enabled assessment methods and the national need for institutions to demonstrate that they are using results to improve student learning, Maki focuses on ways to deepen program and institution-level assessment within the context of collective inquiry about student learning. Recognizing that assessment is not initially a linear start-up process or even necessarily sequential, and recognizing that institutions develop processes appropriate for their mission and culture, this book does not take a prescriptive or formulaic approach to building this commitment. What it does present is a framework, with examples of processes and strategies, to assist faculty, staff, administrators, and campus leaders to develop a sustainable and shared core institutional process that deepens inquiry into what and how students learn to identify and improve patterns of weakness that inhibit learning. This book is designed to assist colleges and universities build a sustainable commitment to assessing student learning at both the institution and program levels. It provides the tools for collective inquiry among faculty, staff, administrators and students to develop evidence of students’ abilities to integrate, apply and transfer learning, as well as to construct their own meaning. Each chapter also concludes with (1) an Additional Resources section that includes references to meta-sites with further resources, so users can pursue particular issues in greater depth and detail and (2) worksheets, guides, and exercises designed to build collaborative ownership of assessment.The second edition now covers: * Strategies to connect students to an institution’s or a program’s assessment commitment* Description of the components of a comprehensive institutional commitment that engages the institution, educators, and students--all as learners* Expanded coverage of direct and indirect assessment methods, including technology-enabled methods that engage students in the process* New case studies and campus examples covering undergraduate, graduate education, and the co-curriculum* New chapter with case studies that presents a framework for a backward designed problem-based assessment process, anchored in answering open-ended research or study questions that lead to improving pedagogy and educational practices* Integration of developments across professional, scholarly, and accrediting bodies, and disciplinary organizations* Descriptions and illustrations of assessment management systems* Additional examples, exercises, guides and worksheets that align with new content

Evaluating Online Teaching

Evaluating Online Teaching PDF Author: Thomas J. Tobin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118910362
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Create a more effective system for evaluating online faculty Evaluating Online Teaching is the first comprehensive book to outline strategies for effectively measuring the quality of online teaching, providing the tools and guidance that faculty members and administrators need. The authors address challenges that colleges and universities face in creating effective online teacher evaluations, including organizational structure, institutional governance, faculty and administrator attitudes, and possible budget constraints. Through the integration of case studies and theory, the text provides practical solutions geared to address challenges and foster effective, efficient evaluations of online teaching. Readers gain access to rubrics, forms, and worksheets that they can customize to fit the needs of their unique institutions. Evaluation methods designed for face-to-face classrooms, from student surveys to administrative observations, are often applied to the online teaching environment, leaving reviewers and instructors with an ill-fitted and incomplete analysis. Evaluating Online Teaching shows how strategies for evaluating online teaching differ from those used in traditional classrooms and vary as a function of the nature, purpose, and focus of the evaluation. This book guides faculty members and administrators in crafting an evaluation process specifically suited to online teaching and learning, for more accurate feedback and better results. Readers will: Learn how to evaluate online teaching performance Examine best practices for student ratings of online teaching Discover methods and tools for gathering informal feedback Understand the online teaching evaluation life cycle The book concludes with an examination of strategies for fostering change across campus, as well as structures for creating a climate of assessment that includes online teaching as a component. Evaluating Online Teaching helps institutions rethink the evaluation process for online teaching, with the end goal of improving teaching and learning, student success, and institutional results.

Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition

Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Second Edition PDF Author: Rogers, Patricia L.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1605661996
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 2612

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Book Description
Offers comprehensive coverage of the issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of distance learning.

Encyclopedia of Distance Learning

Encyclopedia of Distance Learning PDF Author: Howard, Caroline
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1591405548
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 2418

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Book Description
"This encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive coverage of the issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of distance learning. More than 450 international contributors from over 50 countries"--Provided by publisher.

Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education

Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education PDF Author: Charles Secolsky
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317485548
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 738

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Book Description
In this valuable resource, well-known scholars present a detailed understanding of contemporary theories and practices in the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation, with guidance on how to apply these ideas for the benefit of students and institutions. Bringing together terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances, this second edition facilitates informed decision-making while connecting the latest thinking in these methodological areas with actual practice in higher education. This research handbook provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers, and faculty with an integrated volume of theory, method, and application.

Evaluating Student Learning in Higher Education: Beyond the Public Rhetoric

Evaluating Student Learning in Higher Education: Beyond the Public Rhetoric PDF Author: William H. Rickards
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119316693
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Evaluation has played a fundamental role throughout the history of higher education. It has been key to institutional missions and for accountability concerns for public funding policy and fiscal oversight. In the last 30 years, there has been focused attention on the quality of education and student learning. Campuses have stepped up their initiatives to evaluate educational outcomes—and communicate these to their constituencies—just as regional, state, and national efforts have emerged regarding assessment of learning outcomes. In this context, various methods and approaches to evaluative inquiry have emerged to support efforts to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of instructional practice and curriculum for higher learning. This edition examines perspectives on evaluation studies addressing higher education learning—from program- to institution-based studies and critiques of practice—to document successes and identify significant challenges that face evaluators and the collaborating educators in the continuing development of higher education. This examination represents both an investigation into the particular insights that evaluative inquiry contributes to the scholarship and practice of higher education and a reflection on the evaluation expertise that can be applied across contexts of professional practice and program development. This is the 151st issue in the New Directions for Evaluation series from Jossey-Bass. It is an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Measurements in Distance Education

Measurements in Distance Education PDF Author: Amy J. Catalano
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351859099
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description
As more postsecondary faculty become engaged in designing online learning environments, research conducted on distance education program quality becomes increasingly important. Measurements in Distance Education is a concise, well-organized guide to some of the many instruments, scales, and methods that have been created to assess distance education environments, learners, and teachers. Entries are organized according to the qualities these measures attempt to gauge—such as engagement and information retention—and provide summaries of each instrument, usage information, the history of its development, and validation, including any reported psychometric properties. Offering more than 50 different surveys, tests, and other metrics, this book is an essential reference for anyone interested in understanding distance education assessment.

Usability Evaluation of Online Learning Programs

Usability Evaluation of Online Learning Programs PDF Author: Claude Ghaoui
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1591401135
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
Successful use of information and communication technologies depends on usable designs that do not require expensive training, accommodate the needs of diverse users and are low cost. There is a growing demand and increasing pressure for adopting innovative approaches to the design and delivery of education, hence, the use of online learning (also called E-learning) as a mode of study. This is partly due to the increasing number of learners and the limited resources available to meet a wide range of various needs, backgrounds, expectations, skills, levels, ages, abilities and disabilities. The advances of new technology and communications (WWW, Human Computer Interaction and Multimedia) have made it possible to reach out to a bigger audience around the globe. By focusing on the issues that have impact on the usability of online learning programs and their implementation, Usability Evaluation of Online Learning Programs specifically fills-in a gap in this area, which is particularly invaluable to practitioners.

Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education

Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education PDF Author: Alenoush Saroyan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000978036
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
This book is intended for faculty and faculty developers, as well as for deans, chairs, and directors responsible for promoting teaching and learning in higher education. Intentionally non-technical, it engages readers reflectively with a process for developing teaching and details the planning necessary to apply this process to teaching within disciplines.The book centers on McGill University’s week-long Course Design and Teaching Workshop that the contributors have offered together for more than ten years. It follows the five day format of the workshop–covering the analysis of course content, conceptions of learning, the selection of appropriate teaching strategies, the evaluation of student learning, and evaluation of teaching–in a way that reflects the spontaneity of the debates it has engendered and the workshop’s evolutionary changes. The structure shows faculty members conceptualizing new courses or re-examining their teaching of existing courses, and translating the insights gained from the workshop to specific disciplinary content and learning outcomes. In addition four previous participants of the workshop write about its influence on their personal thinking about the practice of teaching.The final two chapters describe the structure and evolving role of McGill’s Centre for University Teaching and Learning. The authors describe its objectives in fostering an evidence-based teaching culture and providing a practical support structure with limited resources. They highlight achievements in disseminating teaching expertise across their campus, and their vision for the future role of faculty development.This book provides faculty developers and administrators with valuable non-prescriptive models and challenging ideas that promote faculty development in general and university teaching in particular. It engages faculty members in the process of course design in a way that is learning centered and can lead to deep student learning.