Evaluation

VI. Evaluation - Analyze - Justify - Resources

= = =**EVALUATION** =  The evaluation stage of Instructional Design becomes the point where you "stop designing and start doing!" (Rogers, 2002). This is the time when you take a look at what your students are actually learning. It is also a time to re-design or re-teach if objectives are not being met. At this stage, as the instructional designer, you are given the chance to evaluate yourself. If after looking at rubrics, portfolios, tests, or papers, you feel as if objectives have not been met, this becomes a time to re-think your students prior knowledge, or look at the scope and sequence of the lessons and decide if you are evaluating the correct things. The designer is given the chance to engage in his/her own formative assessment.

Evaluating student learning is a continuous process in Instructional Design and begins with the evaluation of the learner characteristics and needs and continues throughout the learning process of the lesson. The instructor is constantly evaluating learning before, during and after the lessons. Evaluation requires many revisions of the lesson based on observations by the teacher (formative) or more formal assessments such as tests, products created, or use of technology skills at the end of the lessons (summative). However, Rogers (2002) elaborates that "teachers....will rarely perform a summative evaluation on a single course but may in fact evaluate a whole program or subject area during periodic curriculum review processes."

In order to understand the evaluation stage of ID, you have to understand the difference between Formative and Summative Evaluation. The following chart from Northern Arizona University identifies the differences between these two different evaluations. || ===**Summative Evaluation**=== ||
 * ===**Formative Evaluation**===
 * Formative evaluation is a type of evaluation that is done along the way. Through formative evaluation, the instructor is given the chance to "form" opinions of the types of learning that the students are engaged in. Through formative evaluation, the instructor is able to assess his/her own instructional design and evaluation methods. In addition, formative assessment is used in the classroom during the instruction and practice period to gauge student learning.

The instructor is given an opportunity to "test run various aspects of instructional materials" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010). Examples of situations in which you might perform your own formative evaluation would be to ask a peer to read you essay and offer constructive criticism or to look over a poster that you've created and see if it is visually pleasing. In addition, we often ask our peers to critique our own work and see if we've missed any errors. Formative evaluation is"like having someone look over your shoulder during the development phase to help you catch things that you miss, but a fresh set of eye might not" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).

There are times in which you might want to evaluate your teaching and instructional design through the eyes of your target audience. For example, if you are At times, you might need to have this help from a target audience. If your lesson's audience is eighth grade students, these students should take place in the evaluation process. You might have students give you a midpoint evaluation or fill out a survey regarding your instructional techniques.

Various definitions of formative assessment, as given by Northern Arizona University include:  Formative evaluation can take the form of learner assessments, communication with students, and periodic evaluations given to students. || Summative evaluation is different because it is conducted at the end of the instructional period. In terms of a classroom, summative assessment would be the test at the end of the unit. Northern Arizona University further defines summative evaluation as being able to "provide information on the product's efficacy (its ability to do what it was designed to do)" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).
 * Evaluation that "is typically conducted during the development or improvement of a program or product (or person, and so on) and is conducted, often more tha once, for in-house staff of the program with the intent to improve" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).
 * Evaluation with the purpose of "validat[ing] or ensur[ing] that the goals of the instruction are being achieved" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).

Summative assessment allows the learner to gauge their own learning (i.e.: what grade did I make on this unit test?), but "more importantly, by looking at how the learner's did, it helps you know whether the product teaches what it is supposed to teach" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).

While formative evaluation tends to be more of a commentary/qualitative source of data, summative is "typically quantitative, using numeric scores or letter grades to assess learner achievement" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).

Summative evaluation can include analysis of formative assessments, student examinations, surveys, and interviews with students. || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> So, one may ask what the difference is between formative and summative evaluation. As quoted by Northern Arizona University, Robert Stakes quips, " When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative" (Formative vs. Summative, 2010).

"Formative evaluation, evaluation that occurs from feedback while the instruction is in progress, provides data for revising and improving the instructional materials that were used and those that are yet to be used" (Teaching Tips, 2010). When trying to decide on whether or not a strategy might be useful, it might be helpful to gather formative feedback "to determine how students use the materials, how much assistance they need, etc" (Teaching Tips, 2010). <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> "Summative evaluation, evaluation that occurs at the end of the instructional effort (unit, course, etc.), provides data on the effectiveness of the instructional effort as a whole. This is the evaluation that provides information on how the whole instructional unit enabled the learner to achieve the objectives that were established at the outset." (Teaching Tips, 2010).

"Formative assessment is done periodically to "form" a picture of what the student is learning. Summative assessment occurs at the end to "sum" up the learning. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> media type="youtube" key="xSnnrfNO-o0" height="385" width="480"<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Lloyd Rieber (2010), a Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia, explains the concepts of formative evaluation. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Since "the primary aim of assessment is to foster learning of worthwhile academic content for all students," (Porter, 1995) it is critical that teachers take the chance to evaluate the formative and summative scores during and at the end of the unit. Without the assessment results, it is impossible for a school community to "determine how well they are meeting instructional goals and how to alter curriculum and instruction so that goals can be better met" (Porter, 1995). The school must use these results to gauge the content and format of assessment to "match what is taught and how it is taught" (Porter, 1995).

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VI. Evaluation - Analyze - Justify - Resources