Conducting Quality Program Evaluations
- Online and asynchronous
- This course will require between 7-10 hours of work per week
- Workload Rating: Standard
Course Description
Educators plan and implement programs as a way to address the needs of students and their communities. These needs may be rooted in learning, recreation, behaviour, school culture, and health and well-being to name a few. Typically, classroom and school-based programs are spearheaded by individual champions or working groups. Their focus is typically on program activities and the challenge of implementation. Rarely do they have the time or resources to learn, in any systematic way, how their programs are working or how they might be improved. This is an issue, especially when decisions have to be made about whether programs should be supported, expanded, continued, or allowed to end. In this course, you will explore and apply the theories, concepts, and logic that inform the practice of program evaluation.
Learning Outcomes
The primary learning outcomes for GDE/PME 828 are to:
- Understand the history and purposes of educational evaluation
- Understand the factors and practices that contribute to a quality evaluation
- Understand current models of evaluation and the needs they serve
- Study supplementary knowledge, principles, skills, and experiences that could include examination of the program field that underpins the evaluation itself
Assessments
Activity 1 & 2: Introduce Yourself & Making Connections posts
Intro Module - Ungraded
Activity 3: Articulating My Understanding of Program Evaluation post + Peer Responses
Intro Module - 10%
Activity 1 & 2: Demonstrating Understanding (10%) & Connecting Understanding (10%) posts
Module 1 - 20%
Activity 1 & 2: Scholarly Reading & Connecting Understanding posts
Module 2 - 10%
Activity 3 & 4: Focus on an Evaluation Theory & Broadening our Theoretical Focus posts
Module 2 - 20%
Activity 1: Developing Evaluator Competencies post
Module 4 - 10%
Activity 2: Peer Review of Evaluation Proposal post
Module 5 - 10%
Activity 1: Finalizing Your Proposal post
Closing Module - 20%
How does this course support learners outside K-12 teaching contexts?
This course focuses on how the theory and practice of program evaluation could allow program personnel to better meet the demands of administering and managing programs to better serve the needs of their clients. Course readings, learning activities, and assignments are highly relevant and applicable across diverse professional contexts.
Each student’s professional practice and goals are unique. We highly encourage students to reach out to their course instructors at the start of the term to discuss the relevance and application of course learning and assignments to their own learning goals and context of practice.