Description

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With the rapid proliferation of distance education and e-learning courses, the need is growing for a comprehensive, professional approach to evaluating their effectiveness. This indispensable book offers a road map to guide evaluation practice in these innovative learning environments. Providing practical, step-by-step guidelines and tools for conducting evaluation studies—including how to deal with stakeholders, develop surveys and interview protocols, collect other scientific evidence, and analyze and blend mixed-methods data—the work also features a template for writing high-quality reports. The "unfolding model" developed by the authors draws on Messick's influential assessment framework and applies it to program evaluation. Two case studies of actual programs (a distance learning course and an e-learning course) demonstrate the unfolding model in action.

About the Author

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Valerie Ruhe is an Evaluation Studies Specialist at the University of British Columbia. Previously, she was an Assessment and Evaluation Consultant at the Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota. She has 10 years of professional program evaluation experience in distance education, K-12, and higher education.

 

Bruno D. Zumbo is Professor of Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology, and of Statistics at the University of British Columbia. He is widely published in research methodology, validity, and validation processes, as well as statistical science and program evaluation methodology. His work has had wide-ranging influence across many fields in the social, educational, and health sciences.

Praise For…

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"Ruhe and Zumbo have written the premier text for evaluation of distance education and e-learning. This is the first theoretically grounded, comprehensive guide for conducting rigorous process and outcome studies of one of the fastest-growing segments of curriculum development and education. It will be valuable to those involved in evaluating innovative educational practices and programs, today and for years to come. The book is unique in presenting both evaluation theory and practice, making it an excellent course text and practical resource."--Christina A. Christie, PhD, School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, Claremont Graduate University

"I found this book intriguing and worthy of thoughtful discussion by students, practitioners, and theorists. It provides a good introduction to program evaluation in the context of distance education and e-learning, and to the authors' unfolding model. I will definitely use this book in the four graduate courses I teach on evaluation and qualitative inquiry. The book will help our Instructional Psychology and Technology students sort through the issues, form their own theories, and refine their practices. Students need this kind of deep discussion of the role of stakeholder values, how to respond dynamically to continual changes in technology, and how to integrate evaluation into the design process to enhance their distance education and e-learning processes and products."--David Dwayne Williams, PhD, Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology, Brigham Young University "A much-needed text. While there are resources available to aid in the design of e-learning materials, there is very little out there focusing on how to document their effectiveness. This book presents an approach to evaluation and also provides the theory that underlies that approach. Graduate students in evaluation and instructional technology will find it a useful resource because of its balance of theory and practice. Anyone involved in designing or evaluating e-learning or technology-supported instruction needs to take a look at this book!"--Dianna Newman, PhD, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

"This book should have a significant impact on the field. Distance education is no longer on the periphery of teaching and learning; rather, it is now widely practiced and applied. This book is well written, clearly explained, and relevant to all those who are interested in best practices in distance education and e-learning."--Michael Simonson, PhD, Instructional Technology and Distance Education Program, Nova Southeastern University

"Distance education and e-learning are complex, dynamic entities....To achieve an accurate evaluation of courses offered within this context, practitioners will require an equally complex, dynamic tool. Ruhe and Zumbo's unfolding model for distance education and e-learning provides an excellent example of one such tool and their book provides a useful guide for implementing it....Practitioners eager to identify contextual particularities and measure dynamic variables will value Ruhe and Zumbo's Unfolding Model."
— Teaching Theology and Religion