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ECUR 809: Program Evaluation

Instructor: Marguerite Koole

Spring 2016 Online

ECUR 809, Introduction to Program Evaluation examines a variety of models for the evaluation of educational or other prgorams. The topics of this course include:

developing an awareness of the strengths and limitations of models and techniques
identify assessment techniques used in evaluation
understand and apply data gathering techniques
demonstrate the skill of creating data gathering tools
understand the process and procedures of data analysis
awareness of ethical responsibilities and political implications

We needed to show our new knowledge and understanding by completing five major assignments followed by a final evaluation plan.

Class Description: http://www.usask.ca/education/departments/ecur.php

Assignments

Assignment #1:

Choose a completed evaluation of our choice, explain in 500 words the model /process and identify the strengths and limitations of the evaluation approach.

Assignment #2:

From a simulated case study given to us from our instructor, we needed to choose a model that would be more appropriate to evaluation the program. The assignment needed to be one page and posted to our blog.

Assignment #3:

From our chosen program that we were evaluating, we needed to perform an assessment to determine the feasibility and direction of our evaluation.

Assignment #4:

Create a logic model for our chosen program that we were evaluating. The Logic model also need a description.

Assignment #5:

Design and test a short survey that included a variety of questions that was tested with colleagues.

Shifting Our Minds Survey

Final Assignment: Evaluation Plan:

Choose a program to evaluate and demonstrate the ability to use different tools and theories learned in the class.

Growing...

Since I have taken this class, I have spent a lot of my time evaluating programs that our school division has. We have had some financial constraints in our province which has made us look at many of our current programs and evaluate which ones are essential and which ones are not. Some of these programs includes subscriptions to online learning tools such as Mathletics, Reading A to Z, Rosetta Stones. As an Instructional Designer at the Distance Learning Centre, we are continuously evaluating courses and course options for our online learners. From ECUR 809, I have learned to also look at the ethical and financial impact that our division programs have. The CIPP model seems to be a good fit for many of the evaluations that we do however we have created a version of this model (CDAP) that fits the needs of our Distance Learning Centre.

Insights & Connections

Although this class was very challenging and I spent many hours learning and applying my knoweldge, the fact that I took this class directly after ERES 800 was perfect timing. Many of the concepts and theories from ERES 800 allowed my roots to grow deeper to allow my learning to branch out into the skills needed for program evaluation.

I chose a program to evaluate that was applicable and authentic and related directly to what I was doing as a learning coach. Our school division was on a journey of implementing 21st Century Competencies and we had a 3 year implementation plan. Each year the program changes somewhat so I felt that choosing this as my final topic was authentic and meaningful. I was able to carry out my work for this class into my role as a learning coach as we were discussing how we could improve our delivery methods. I was able to share my learning from ECUR 809 with my school team as well!