The evaluation of distance learning and classroom training are equally important to ensure that effective learning occurs, even though the measures used for evaluating both types of training differ quite substantially. The reason for the difference lies in the vastly different infrastructure components required by each. Despite the infrastructure differences, it is the outcomes of training that matter most, since the outcomes determine if effective learning took place (Lockee, Moore, & Burton, 2002).
Several measures are employed to evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning training. Beyond Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation, training coordinators often utilize formative and summative evaluation methods. Formative evaluations
…show more content…
Instructional design issues include, among other, teaching strategy and assessment methods. Training evaluators consider instructional design issues to ensure maximum learning effectiveness in terms and alignment with training program goals. Other aspects evaluated during the formative evaluation include course clarity, clarity of learning objectives, practice opportunities, evaluation opportunities, and the use of examples that support learning. Interface design evaluations include among other, navigation, aesthetics, legibility, performance, and ease of use. Evaluators consider interface design issues because the best learning content will fail to produce effective learning if learners suffer from a poorly designed, confusing, or troublesome training interface. Evaluators could also consider ADA requirements for students with disabilities, which include the addition of audio, larger text and graphics, and subtitles and audio transcripts. Frequent assessments during the formative evaluation will help to eliminate learner issues during course participation (Lockee, Moore, & Burton, …show more content…
Outcomes include three categories, namely performance outcomes, attitude outcomes, and programmatic outcomes. Performance outcomes consider data from training course evaluations, like assessments and tests, in relation to course objectives. Student performance results are especially useful to determine if learning occurred and if learning objectives are achieved. Attitude outcomes evaluate the sentiment of learners towards the training program, the learning experience, and the hosting institution. Attitude data is collected through evaluations, interviews, questionnaires, observations, and focus groups. Programmatic outcomes study the impact of the training program by evaluating, among other, enrollment numbers, attrition rates, and faculty time, and it utilizes learner demographics and geographic information to determine market reach (Lockee, Moore, & Burton, 2002).
The implementation evaluation covers the broadest area the summative evaluation and is concerned with the total implementation of the distance-learning program. It includes various stakeholders, like trainers, students, supporting personnel. The implementation evaluation includes factors such as the reliability and stability of supporting technology, accessibility, and the effectiveness of student support services. It is also covers other aspects, including learner readiness and expectations, faculty readiness and performance,
Schiffma, S.S. (1991). Instructional systems design: Five view of the field. In G.J. Anglin (Ed.),
Our Session Long Project (SLP) for Module 1 transforms the evaluation essay into a job evaluation. The type of job evaluation used in this SLP identifies the responsibilities of the job and bases the individual’s performance on these responsibilities. What does this mean to the employee; it means that if they understand the responsibilities of their job they are better able to perform it to the satisfaction of the evaluator. However employees who are not informed of their responsibilities can invalidate your evaluation process very quickly and wreck havoc in any organization.
Anglin, Gary J. (1995). Instructional Technology: Past, Present and Future. (2nd ed.). In Barbara L. Grabowski, Message Design: Issues and Trends. (pp. 222-225). Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
DiClemente (2013) stated, “Although no evaluation is perfect, evaluation research can have a high degree of rigor” (DiClemente, Salazar, & Crosby, 2013, pp. 298). The result of a high degree of rigor can lead to the utilization by program planners and policy experts which would in turn could impact public health policy and promotion practice (DiClemente et al., 2013). This is obtained by a step by step, all equally important, process in what is known as the “Nine Step Stairway to Effective Evaluation”.
In his article, “Can You Be Education from a Distance?”, James Barszcz effectively weighs the pros and cons of online education compared to the traditional method, while effectively supporting his position with factual information and statistics. While distance education proves to be convenient for students, Barszcz asserts that it eliminates valuable experiences necessary in order to get the most out of the material being learned.
Curriculum and instruction is impacted by assessment, and whether in the design, delivery or data interpretation processes, aligning these apparatuses is most challenging part of being a teacher. Teachers are called to exercise an alignment between assessment and curriculum, use assessment to guide instruction, and deliver assessment that truly evaluates achievement. Two forms of assessment used in the classroom, formative and summative possess important components, that track them into purposeful, designated uses. Even more so challenging as a teacher in using these two assessments is understanding how they work separately, together, and exploring how they might be used with and for each other.
In order to give myself and my students the best chance at success in the classroom I will attempt to find out as much as I can about each one of them before I set up the learning environment. Current and comprehensive information on students’ likes, dislikes, experiences, skill, understanding and development is imperative to create the best possible learning environment (Daniels & Perry, 2003). Communicating openly and often with stakeholders to help gather good information requires positive collaboration with families, staff and most importantly the students themselves. Frequent, targeted assessment before, during and after learning also provides data that supports the design of teaching and learning experiences offering each student opportunities to be challenged and moved forward (Koppang, 2004). Although time and effort are necessary to obtain this information, it may help to prevent mismatched or misdirected teaching efforts that waste valuable resources, contribute ...
Instructional Design is a systematic approach to design, evaluation and management of instruction. It helps to facilitate learning in an effort to improve. There are many models that have been developed to assist in the design of instructional materials. This paper will compare three: ADDIE, ASSURE and Kemp with a focus on online learning.
Distance learning, sometimes called e-learning, is a formalized teaching and learning system specifically designed to be carried out remotely by using electronic communication. People could find out distance learning on the internet or searching form the school, sometimes teachers would introduce the best or the most credibility distance learning web. Such as class.com and University of Phoenix, etc. Distance learning is less expensive and is not constrained by geographic considerations; it offers opportunities in situations where traditional education has difficulty operating. Students with scheduling or distance problems can benefit, as can employees, because distance education can be more flexible in terms of time and can be delivered virtually anywhere. Under the unified leadership of the distance learning education, the modern distance learning education work gradual increase the number of school has now reached a certain scale. However, not every school or any distance learning education has clear idea for the modern education. Many people have differences understandings and it formed a big deviation. It can be said, for the purpose of developing the distance learning education and the hopes has not formed a consensus, which leads to very often difficult to form in the actual work force.
In a K-12 setting, distance learning or traditional learning requires careful planning that must take place in order for the educational process to work for the students. When we look at both forms of education there are still pros and cons to both. Although online learning has made a major impact in the world of education, many people have not accepted this form of education. One of the reason for their concerns is that students cannot get fast answers to their questions about the assignment from the teacher. Another concern is that the students cannot perform effectively in a group collaboration that is taking place online. Also, students may not effectively do their homework from an online program. Lastly, some families do not have the technology at home for online learning.
Menchaca, Michael P., and Teklu Abate Bekele. "Learner and Instructor Identified Success Factors in Distance Education." Distance Education 29.3 (2008): 231-52. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.
O'Malley, John, and Harrison McCraw. "Students perceptions of distance learning, online learning and the traditional classroom." Online journal of distance learning administration [Online] 2.4 (1999). Web. 10 Jan. 2014
Distance Learning is a system of pondering in which lessons are announced or classes are executed by correspondence or over the internet. Distance learning has become very popular for older adults who wish to go back to school and complete their education or increase their education, but it can be beneficial to many students. Online learning allows flexibility which gives you the opportunity to continue your daily routine or commitments. Many courses can be completed in a shorter amount of time, and you do not have to stay on campus or commute daily with online courses. It is a great way to obtain a higher education.
There have been many critics that strongly advocate against the use of distance learning in elementary schools. With the increased availability and choice of new technology, comes many new concerns about the quality of instruction and the threat it may pose to the already established methods of teaching. Many believe that this new teaching method may replace the existing classroom all together, and won’t give students the adequate face-to-face contact they need. Most critics fear that “ineffective face-to-face teaching methods could be made even worse when they become technology based” (Truell, 2001, p46). The computer and internet have become dominant distance learning technologies, and hold the potential to take away from the human aspect of learning, so students do not learn the proper social skills they need to develop early on. Children need to learn to interact with one another, and function properly in a social setting, they learn this primarily within the classroom, and if these classroom settings are altered by distance learning, then they will no learn how to function in the normal social school setting. Many critics also say that all schools do not have the appropriate technological support and infrastructure to make distance learning programs effective for students. Since all schools do not have the tools and financial means needed to establish and support effective distance learning programs, they would not be able to keep up with the advancing technology in education, and therefore their students would not receive the same advantages as other students in the schools around them (Ravaglia & Sommer, 2000). Greenwood (1998) states that schools using distance learning are just contracting out their educational responsibilities and that such courses result in the elimination of teaching jobs. He feels that by using distance learning to teach students, they are minimizing the teacher’s job of actually teaching the students and designing lesson plans, and therefore slowly eliminating the need for teachers in the classroom at all. It is thought that there is more emphasis being placed on teaching than learning, and as a consequence schools are using distance education as merely a means to extend the classroom walls . While the critics of distance learning feel that this is just a way for schools to educate students, and relieve themselves of their responsibilities, there has been even more substantial evidence that these programs improve the elementary curriculum, rather than replace it altogether.
Online learning, also known as distance learning or online learning, has become a new and successful means of receiving an education in a highly technologically enhanced environment (Regan, Evmenova, Baker, Jerome, Spencer, Lawson, & Werner, 2012). Kaymak and Horzum (2013) defined online learning as using Internet technology to gain knowledge and skills through the use of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools. Allen and Seaman (2013) stated that about 6.7 million students attending colleges and universities across the United States were successfully enrolled in at least one online course in 2011. There is an increased interest in online learning that continues to grow as a result of the amplified demands from the work place and the escalating availability of nontraditional educational options and providers (Allen & Seaman, 2008).