Evaluation
“The process of determining the adequacy of instruction and learning” (Seems & Richey, 1994, p. 54).
Prior to the start of this program, I treated and applied the concept of evaluation primarily to employee performance and rarely thought about the impact evaluation could have on making instructional materials more efficient. Having taken courses like Program and Product Evaluation and creating various materials, I realize more than ever that a program or piece of instructional material is rarely ready to go on the first attempt and that it is through continuous and constant evaluation that materials improve and meet the goals that are defined in an ever changing and evolving instructional strategy. Evaluation can definitely seem looming and tedious at times, but it is always worth it as instruction can always be improved and changes realized and implemented. Learners are always changing too. Therefore, instruction should follow that path.
Problem Analysis
"Problem analysis involves determining the nature and parameters of the problem by using information-gathering and decision-making strategies" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p.56).
For this assignment, I evaluated the problems associated with the Math Emporium not being cleaned each night by the contracted janitorial service assigned to the facility for Design for Learning. I analyzed several different possible solutions and was able to identify an instructional solution to explore based on known factors that were almost certainly directly impacting the reasons why the space was not being cleaned to specification. I found this assignment to be very informative and eye-opening because it was the first time I had looked at a problem from that level of detail and considered multiple solutions to explore, from a monetary perspective and from an instructional perspective.
Criterion-Referenced Measurement
"Criterion-referenced measurement involves techniques for determining learner mastery of pre-specified content" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p.56).
This quiz along with many others were created to help my learners gauge what they learned after completing each section of a course I created for Applied ID Theory. I found each quiz that I created both challenging because I had to establish a certain criteria for each that was different from the others, based on the information that the learners were being assessed on, and fun because each topic allowed me to apply a certain level of creativity to how they were designed that was positively received when the course was evaluated.
Formative and Summative Evaluation
"Formative evaluation involves gathering information on adequacy and using this information as a basis for further development. Summative evaluation involves gathering information on adequacy and using this information to make decisions about utilization" (Seels & Richey, 1994, p.57).
This image represents the results I received when I surveyed students who had taken Math 1114 to get their perspectives on the overall adequacy of implementing light board videos as part of their instructional materials. This data was incorporated into the research paper I submitted for Project and Report and was used to assess and evaluate how to improve videos like this for further use in other courses. Looking back on this experience, I found it to be a true learning experience, especially when considering the need for incentives to persuade participants to fill it out. Overall, I enjoyed collecting this information and gathering it together to see how the answers averaged out.
This report presents the results of an evaluation of the proctor training session, held as part of the Math Emporium’s lab staff pre-semester training based upon survey and observational data collected at the conclusion of the full two-day training on August 3, 2022. The report includes background information, the rationale for conducting the evaluation, the purpose behind the evaluation, the addressed key questions, the evaluation’s stakeholders, the evaluation instruments, the methods for collecting the data, sampling procedures, logistics and timeline, limitations, and most notably, the findings, interpretations, and recommendations. This was my first true experience conducting such an elaborate evaluation with the goal of gathering information on adequacy. Overall, I found this project to be very informative and beneficial in properly evaluating this program. Following this evaluation, changes were made the training that the lab operators received, which positively impacted them and allowed them to better prepare for their role at the Math Emporium.
Long-Range Planning
"Long-range planning that focuses on the organization as a whole is strategic planning... Long-range is usually defined as a future period of about three to five years or longer. During strategic planning, managers are trying to decide in the present what must be done to ensure organizational success in the future" (Certo, et al, 1990, p.168).
Throughout my time at the Math Emporium as the operations manager, there have been several situations in which I have been asked to participate in longer range planning, especially when it came to how the Math Emporium might evolve in its later stages of life. This document illustrates one example in which I was asked to create a plan for how the Math Emporium may be redesigned for the future. Long-range planning is full of unknowns that need to be explored and potentially re-explored. Administration associated with planning for the future of the Math Emporium ended up not going in the direction of this document. However, what it did do was allow for one possibility to be brought to paper and considered.