Researching and evaluating e-learning
Although the uptake of e-learning has been rapid within further and higher education, there are still many questions about how learners interact with them, what the student experience is like and fundamentally – what works? This course will provide you with a toolkit of evaluation approaches and techniques which you can use to evaluate e-learning projects and innovations.
The course is highly participative and is designed around frequent opportunities for you to practise and receive feedback on your developing knowledge and skills. You will be supported through a series of scheduled individual and group activities by selected key readings, specially developed course resources, and experienced course tutors. You will need to set aside 4 hours per week in order to participate effectively in the course and will need to be able to access the Internet at least three times a week.
Expected outcomes
By the end of the course, we expect that you will be able to
- articulate the functions and purposes of your evaluation
- specify clear research questions
- choose from a variety of methodological approaches to evaluation
- select appropriately from a range of data collection methods.
You should leave the course with a plan for evaluating an innovation which is valid, rigorous, locally appropriate and achievable.
Course participants
This course will be of interest to teachers and developers from further and higher education that have a particular project in mind. This might be evaluating the implementation of an institutional e-learning strategy or gathering student feedback on a new blended module. It is suitable for people working in a range of contexts, including:
- Project staff evaluating the outcomes of funded initiatives such as CETLs, Higher Education Academy Subject Centres and other funded projects
- School or faculty based staff evaluating their own courses or whole school based curriculum developments
- Staff undertaking reviews of the provision of institutional learning resources and support systems
- Staff and educational developers working alongside teaching staff on evaluation or supervising projects as part of a PG Certificate or Diploma
Learning and teaching activities
Each course participant is expected to play an active part in the course. Each weekyou will be expected to work through some guided readings, record your thoughts, share your work with others in your group, discuss your work and that of other members of your group, analyse and summarise your findings. The course activities make use of online text based discussion forums. The course tutors are experienced staff and educational developers and skilled online tutors and will support you through this process of communicating online until you feel comfortable and confident interacting in such an environment.
Past participants on OCSLD online courses have valued the supportive online communities that developed as a result of collaborative work. Previous participants have said:
The most valuable thing for me about the course was the exercises: you learn so much more by doing something. And of course working in Blue Team and benefiting from the views and experiences of other team members.
The course is structured around four main learning activities, each taking about a week. At the end of each week’s learning activities you will be asked to update your own personal plans for your evaluation. As the course progresses you will receive peer feedback on these and they will be showcased at the end of the course.
You will be provided with a course text: Bennett, J. (2003) Evaluation Methods in Research. Continuum Books.
Assessment
Currently, the course is not formally assessed or accredited, however we do offer a certificate which confirms that you have participated in each of the course’s main learning activities.
