> Survival Kit

Survival Kit

How much do you know about what you have to do to carry out the evaluation?

1. Define the outcomes, as you see them, from the task/activity/program
2. Cross check your interpretation with others who might be able to help
3. Try to define the skills that might be needed to do the most basic evaluation. Cross check with colleagues.
4. What type of report is wanted? Detailed, big, small? Is a report needed?
5. Talk to the educational resource and support unit in your institution. It can have many different names but it will have people who are specialists in some of the standard approaches to educational evaluation.

When you have worked through each of theses issues, you will probably to go back and talk to colleagues a direct course of action.

What access do you have to people with more knowledge about data collection?

1. Check out anyone who has a social science background - psych, sociology etc.
2. Again, check the education resource and support unit. How much help can they give?
3. Ask them how they would handle the task - Does it feel OK to you?

How much time do can you, at a pinch, allocate to the evaluation?

1. One day per fortnite? How much can you do in that time?
2. Again talk to your colleagues about what they think.

If you still feel unsure and frustrated at the end of this process - Do not despair.

Have a go at a simple evaluation. Even as simple as asking the students to simply write down what they liked and disliked about your classes. Use the section on content analysis to get a feel for how you might look at the data.

Next time you will have concrete information from which to build a useful, easy to handle evaluation tool.