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Evaluation and Quality Management
See Itslife Library for other reading
See General Teaching Skills section for general sources which may well contain this topic
GENERAL EVALUATION / QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Click into quality describes itself as a website which is 'Designed by specialists in quality in the learning and skills sector. These guides and tools offer support and guidance to all those with a responsibility for quality, whatever their role may be. The flexible package is a compilation of materials on the key quality themes and offers a practical, user-friendly approach. There is a focus on adult and community learning (ACL) but the website will be of use to providers of adult learning in a wide variety of organisations and contexts.' Has a set of publications which ate very useful at: http://www.qualityacl.org.uk/quality/publications.aspx
Well worth using, at http://www.qualityacl.org.uk/quality/index.aspx
evaluation: theory and practice @ the encyclopaedia of informal education
Evaluation is part and parcel of educating - yet it can be experienced as burden and an unnecessary intrusion. We explore the theory and practice of evaluation and some of the key issues for informal educators. From the excellent informal education site
Evaluation Cookbook Gives descriptions of methods that can be used to evaluate the use of learning technology in higher education, but has much general relevance. Includes "recipes" for different evaluation methods and useful information for planning, running and reporting on your evaluation. From the Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative, and at http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/cookbook/
Evaluating Soft Outcomes and Distance Travelled (Institute of Education) Soft outcomes are outcomes from training, support or guidance interventions, which unlike hard outcomes, such as qualifications and jobs, cannot be measured directly or tangibly. Distance travelled refers to the progress that a beneficiary makes towards employability or harder outcomes, as a result of the project intervention. The acquisition of certain soft outcomes may seem insignificant, but for certain individuals the leap forward in achieving these outcomes is significant. A useful contribution to the field. Download (pdf 196k)
Evaluation Studies A complement to the Evaluation Cookbook providing a practical guide to strategies and techniques. Also from the Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative, and at http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/evalstudies/cont.htm
'FAST' free online assessment tool Why you may ask is a resource with the name 'assessment' in it included in the 'evaluation' section ? In US education, what we call evaluation in the UK is often called assessment .. so that's why ! Bruce Ravelli, an instructor of sociology at Mount Royal College, Calgary, Canada, has developed a student assessment tool known as the Free Assessment Summary Tool, or FAST. FAST "allows students to anonymously submit feedback about their course and/or instructor. The data goes directly and only to individual teachers. It allows instructors to open an active, ongoing dialogue with their students about the course, content, instruction and the learning process." Rather than relegating evaluations to the end of the semester, instructors can use the tool to get and apply student feedback throughout the course term. The tool lets instructors build their surveys on the Web; results are returned in Excel format for ease of data manipulation and tabulation. For more information about FAST and to use the tool, see http://www.getfast.ca/
Geoff Petty on evaluating Download (MS Word 46k)
Inspection-related web sites - all of the agencies involved in the delights of inspection for the post compulsory sector have their own detailed web sites, where you can view your own inspection reports, but where much of the guidance and information given to inspectors is posted for anyone to view. To get the inside line try these sites :
Ofsted http://www.ofsted.gov.uk
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) http://www.qaa.org.uk
Northern Ireland Education and Training Inspectorate (eti) http://www.deni.gov.uk/inspection_services/welcome/index.htm
OfSTED Good Practice Database - part of the QIA Excellence gateway, with many examples collected as part of inspections.
Here you'll find hundreds of Good Practice Examples drawn from inspections in colleges, workplaces and adult learning centres throughout England.
At http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=goodpracticedatabase
organizational learning - principles, theory and practice @ the encylcopedia of informal education In recent years there has been a lot of talk of 'organizational learning'. Here we explore the theory and practice of such learning. We examine some key theorists and themes.
Quality Leadership and Management Toolkit Designed to assist post-16 learning providers with quality assurance and to support staff development. The toolkit is based on the principle of the LSC that the primary responsibility for quality lies with the provider. http://www.lsda.org.uk/research/projectoutcomes/index.asp?section=0a
Support for Success - A useful site, which is part of the QIA web site at: http://excellence.qia.org.uk/page.aspx?o=s4s
Stories from the front line - The impact of inspection on practitioners (2003) Sandra Rennie, Bradford College. Yorkshire and Humberside Learning and Skills Research Network. This document tells the inspection story from the perspective of those inspected, and 'explores the impact of ... inspection arrangements on practitioners in further education (FE) colleges.' It is a really good example of a worthwhile and potentially high impact piece of practitioner research. The conclusions include:
The image of inspection in all three colleges was that of a battlefield or theatre
rather than of a consultancy.This image affected practitioners negatively and influenced their expectations of the outcomes of inspection.
Senior managers, in their approach to preparing for inspections, further reinforced these images, rather than using inspection as an opportunity for promoting self-evaluation and reflection.
The cultures of the colleges varied but none of them appeared to be based on the notion of collegiality or on the ethic of continuous improvement.
Sickness, stress and increased staff turnover were reported in all cases during
and as a result of the inspection process.In the short term, the inspection experience did not seem to fulfil the function of improving teaching and learning.
The grades that colleges received did not reflect the reality of the college
experience for these practitioners and there was little evidence to show that
colleges generally used them from one inspection to another to help improve their practice.It was not just the large amounts of extra work that stressed teachers so much but also the expectation that they compromise their integrity and their commitment to teaching by producing what they saw as unnecessary and invented paperwork.
Inspection will continue to be a stressful experience for practitioners until a culture of self-evaluation and continuous improvement is embedded at all levels and all sections within the college.
UK Evaluation Society exists to promote and improve the theory, practice, understanding and utilisation of evaluation and its contribution to public knowledge and to promote cross-sector and cross-disciplinary dialogue and debate. This website provides information about the activities of the UKES and news about other evaluation activities, jobs, contracts, events, resources in the UK and internationally. http://www.evaluation.org.uk/Pub_library/Good_Practice.htm
User-friendly evaluation (National Science Foundation) A handbook which discusses quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, suggesting ways in which they can be used as complements in an evaluation strategy. As a result of reading this Handbook, it is expected that practitioners will increase their understanding of the evaluation process, as well as gain knowledge that will help them to communicate with evaluators and manage the actual evaluation. Download (pdf 370k)
Vocational Learning features yet again with the teachers section of the vocational learning website. It is useful to managers and practitioners in schools, colleges and training providers. You will find a wealth of case studies, shared practice and teaching resources relevant to the day-to-day management and delivery of vocational courses such as VCE and GCSE in vocationally related subjects. Relevant materials relating to evaluation can be found at these links
http://www.vocationallearning.org.uk/
EVALUATION OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGY
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