Reporting

Evaluation of eLearning for Effective Practice Guidebook

Evaluation is the cornerstone of quality.

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The empty book by Bidrohi

Evaluation literature

Prior to preparing a report, you will need to explore the evaluation literature. The information will enable you to compare your findings with others' work. Sample articles and a list of journals are provided in the References section.

Activity Eleven

Activity

Activity Eleven - Discuss examples of evaluation literature that can be used in your report. Search for and select suitable articles or reports to discuss on the eMIT forum. (Hint: it is advisable to find evaluation studies that use a methodology similar to your project.) Annotate the articles - include enough information to be useful later on if you refer to the research in the Discussion section of your report. The following prompts may assist: Which evaluation theories underpin the research? What methodologies were used - design, sampling methods, sample sizes? What were the main findings and recommendations? How similar or different to your results are the research findings in the articles?

Activity Twelve

Activity

Activity Twelve - Prepare a draft discussion about your evaluation results, report this to the class and invite feedback. Collaborate to prepare a draft report with discussion of your findings – add to your project wiki. For your discussion - think about how your findings have answered the evaluation questions. Explain why the results obtained from the data you collected and analysed have or have not answered the evaluation questions. Refer to the evaluation literature you have annotated to compare your findings to others' research. What recommendations can you make to assist the decisions you listed in the evaluation plan? Report your draft discussion to the class and invite feedback. For example, if you were evaluating the design of an online course, you may comment on the key features of the design that students and staff found useful for learning, and mention similarities or differences from the research literature - it might be common that students dislike using discussion forums, or that navigation and the clarity of instructions are key areas which 'trip' students up when learning online.

Preparing an evaluation report

There is anevaluation report template available. Copy and paste the template into your document, and use the headings as a guide for writing the report. You may wish to continue to use the project wiki which you used for your plan, or you may wish to switch to Google docs. Information about submitting the final report is further on.

The organisation of the report can vary depending on your context and creativity, and organisational requirements - just make sure all the information is included. The main thing is to make it look professional. Include a title page, table of contents, List of Tables and List of Figures – the headings in the template have styles included to get you started with the table of contents. Please remove any identifying information before submitting the report.

Submit the report by providing a link on your blog to the document. If submitting a draft, and wish to obtain feedback from the lecturer before submitting to the class (recommended), provide access only to the lecturer at first - if using Google docs you will need to give the lecturer editing rights to the document. Send an email to notify the lecturer that you are ready for feedback on your draft report.

Tips

• It is best to eventually use a web-based platform for your final report so you can link to it on your blog - however, in some cases confidentiality considerations may prevent this. The format of the document is not an issue, as long as the rest of the class can access it.
• Ensure identifying information is removed (unless permission has been sought) if your report is published on the web.
• Web-based platforms you can use: Google documents (publish as web page) - maintains formatting if final doc is uploaded as a pdf, Scribd - maintains formatting, or Dropbox - can use for Wrod docs (use public feature - or you can restrict access by only including members of the class).

Activities Thirteen and Fourteen

Activity

Activity Thirteen - Evaluation reporting – preparation of a draft report. Access the evaluation report template and add to your chosen document application - Word processing application, project wiki, Google docs. Prepare the final sections of the report – conclusion and recommendations, executive summary and reference list - collaborate in your groups. Invite feedback - I suggest you email the lecturer and others in the class to alert them. Adjust sections of the Evaluation plan so they are suitable for the report - rewrite in third person, past tense, and include feedback from the marker. The sections are: Introduction, Background and rationale, Aim or Purpose and Evaluation questions, Decisions, Methodology. Adjust Results (Assessment Two) and add to the report. Make sure the Appendices are in order.

Activity

Activity Fourteen -Finalise the evaluation report (Assessment Three), and your reflections about the evaluation process on your blog (Assessment Four). Submit the final evaluation report in pdf format. You can email this to the lecturer, and link to the report on your blog. Summarise your reflections about the evaluation process for Assessment Four on your blog. Notify the lecturer and the rest of the class when this is ready. Sit back and relax - you did it.