Evaluation The 3 musketeers and Ivan Moore

1. EvaluationThe 3 musketeers and Ivan Moore Drawing on the work of Ivan Moore (educational consultant, University of Manchester)

2. Why evaluate? • What do we know about the role of evaluation in teaching and learning? • What kinds of evaluation do we currently use?

3. Evaluation for accountability (measuring results or efficiency) Evaluation for development (providing information to help to improve practice) Evaluation for knowledge (to obtain a deeper understanding of some particular area of practice such as student learning or change management) Chelimsky (1997) Summative Formative Research The purposes of evaluation

4. Principles of evaluation • An integral part of our teaching practice • An ongoing process, so that we learn from systematic reflection • Should be participatory • Should enable us to make appropriate modifications along the way • Should enable us to make judgments on specific sessions, but also to draw out wider implications

5. Useful evaluation resources • http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/contents.html • http://www.materials.ac.uk/guides/evaluating.asp

6. Evaluation To Date • There have been a number of different evaluations used to date • Discuss in groups of 3 the relative merits for each type of elevation and the value of the information provided (remember PIE) • Prepare to feedback to the group

7. When should we evaluate? • At the beginning of a course • Uncover students' motivations, expectations, skills and abilities in order to take account of them in course design and teaching practice • During the course • to focus on your student's learning, identify gaps, provide support materials and ‘adjust’ teaching in response to feedback • At the end of the course • to inform any redesign for the next running of the course • All 3 can be used or a combinaition

8. Purposes of evaluation • Mike Prosser • Quality Assurance • student satisfaction • the mean score is important as a measure of quality • Quality Enhancement • Student conceptions/how they experience the course • The deviation is important: more focused view

9. Mike Prosser • Is the learning environment/teaching approach having any influence on student conceptions/approaches? • A student experience survey is more important than a student satisfaction survey

10. Approaches • Off the peg questionnaires • Learning Styles (Honey and Mumford) • Motivated Strategies for Learning • Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) • Approaches to Study Inventory • Course Experience Questionnaire (Ramsden)

11. The Course experience questionnaire(P. Ramsden) • Designed as a performance indicator • 24 statements relating to 5 aspects • 1 overall satisfaction statement • Research-based • Drawn from statements made by students in interviews • Students with positive responses take a deep approach

12. The five sub-scales • Good teaching • Clear goals and standards • Appropriate assessment • Appropriate workload • Generic skills

13. Designing an evaluation questionnaire • In groups – 30 minutes Outcomes based design • Agree up to 4 goals/objectives for your group • For each, design 4 statements that will help to determine if the goal is being achieved • Record the goals and statements on a flip chart

14. Evaluation exercise • Design an evaluation plan for the course which you have designed. Include an account of the specific areas on which you would like feedback, the resources that you will need and the timescale for the evaluation. • Reflect on how your think this evaluation plan would aid you in planning improvements in the course.

15. Goal-free evaluation • In pairs • Choose another pair on which to focus • Devise up to 5 questions that you might ask students to answer that might provide information on what they are experiencing • Record your questions • Compare them with the other pair • Discuss what information you might receive from these questions • Draw up your conclusions for feedback

16. Context-free evaluation • Since the beginning of the year: • What skills, if any, have you developed? • What helped you to develop these skills? • How have you changed the way you study? • What prompted you to make these changes?

17. Other methods • Focus groups • Structured interviews • Continuous feedback • What did you find most difficult/confusing today? • What things did you find helped you learn last week? • What should I: • Start/stop/continue?

18. The minute paper – Classroom Assessment Technique (Angelo and Cross 1992) (my favourite!!) • What was the most useful of meaningful thing you learned during this session? • What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind as we end this session? • What was the ‘muddiest’ point in this session? • OR • What would you like me to stop doing? • What would you like me to start doing? • What would you like me to continue doing?

19. Other instruments • Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) • Honey and Mumford’s LSQ • Sternberg’s thinking styles • Felder’s Index of Learning Styles • Weinstein’s Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) • Entwistle’s Approaches to Study Inventory