1 curriculum design 9 approaches to evaluation instructor: prof. mavis shang erin 9610002m 97/06/12
TRANSCRIPT
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Introduction* Curriculum evaluation:• Is the curriculum achieving its goals?• What is happening in classrooms and schools where it is
being implemented?• Are those affected by the curriculum (e.g., teachers,
administrators, students, parents, employers) satisfied with
the curriculum?• Have those involved in developing and teaching a
language course done a satisfactory job?• Does the curriculum compare favorably with others of its
kind?
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Introduction
* Evaluation may focus on many different aspects :
• curriculum design• the syllabus and program content• classroom processes• materials of instruction• the teachers• teacher training• the students
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Introduction
* Evaluation may focus on many different aspects :
• monitoring of pupil progress• learner motivation• the institution• learning environment • staff development• decision making
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Introduction
* The scope of evaluation :
Focus from test results to the need to collection
information and make judgments about all
aspects of the curriculum, from planning to
implementation
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Purposes of evaluation
* Weir and Roberts (1994):
• Program accountability :
to examine the effects of a program or a project
• Program development:
to improve the quality of a program or a project
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Purposes of evaluation
1. Formative evaluation
To find out what is working well, and what is not,
and what problems need to be addressed
Ongoing development and improvement of the
program
Some typical questions (p. 288)
To address problems and to improve
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Purposes of evaluation
1. Formative evaluation
Example 1:
* situation: task-oriented communicative methodology
* problem: teachers are resorting to a teacher-dominated
drill and practice mode of teaching during the
implementation
* solution: provide videos to model teaching strategies
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Purposes of evaluation
1. Formative evaluation
Example 2:
* situation: to implement integrated skills
* problem: different perceptions of what the major
points in the course (after few weeks)
* solution: to held meetings to review teachers’
understanding and to clarify the weighting as
well as to provide peer observation
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Purposes of evaluation
1. Formative evaluation
Example 3:
* situation: implement conversation skills for low-level,
and the pronunciation is not a major element
of the course
* problem: students have serious pronunciation problem
(after four weeks)
* solution: refocus one section of the course which
includes pronunciation component
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Purposes of evaluation
2. Illuminative evaluation
To find out the different aspects of the program and to
provide a deep understanding of the processes of the
teaching and learning without any change
Some typical questions (p. 289)
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Purposes of evaluation
2. Illuminative evaluation
Example 1:
* situation:
1) teach many reading skills for students
2) teachers are interested in what the students’ major
focus of the course
* evaluated way: conduct a short questionnaire
=> understand students’ opinion and need
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Purposes of evaluation
2. Illuminative evaluation
Example 2:
* situation: teacher is interested in teacher-student
interaction learning
* evaluated way: to invited colleague to do the
classroom observation => assess what happened
during the course
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Purposes of evaluation
2. Illuminative evaluation
Example 3:
* situation: teacher wants to know how students carry
out group work and prepare students for
group-work task
* evaluated way: record and review the recordings
=> know what kind of roles for each member in a
group and make sure students participate actively
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Purposes of evaluation
2. Illuminative evaluation
classroom action research or teacher inquiry
Block (1998) : interview learners regularly
Richards and Lockhart (1994): do classroom action
research (classroom observation, learner journals, and
interviews) => useful to confirm and make explicit
some things
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Purposes of evaluation
3. Summative evaluation
To determine the effectiveness of a program, its
efficiency, and to some extent with its acceptability
Used “after” a program
Some typical questions (p. 292)
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Purposes of evaluation Different measures of a course’s effectiveness and
each one can be used for different purposes
a) Mastery of objectives:
“How far have the objectiveness been achieved?”
ex: speaking skills
Objective: In group discussions students will listen to and
respond to the opinions of others in their group
BUT it does not provide the whole picture of them
effectiveness of a course
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Purposes of evaluation b) Performance on tests:
◎ Formal tests
◎ Weir (1995): it is helpful for teaching and learning
◎ Brindley (1989): informal tests
BUT Weir (1995) stated that summative evaluation and
progress-sensitive performance tests for use are
necessarily
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Purposes of evaluation c) Measures of acceptability:
◎ satisfactory achievement of the objectives and
good levels of performance on exit tests
≠teachers and learners’ opinion
◎ should be considered some factors: time-tabling,
class size, choice of materials, or teachers’
teaching styles
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Purposes of evaluation
d) Retention rate or reenrollment rate:
◎ whether students continue in the course
◎ the percentage of students who reenroll for
another course at the end
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Purposes of evaluation
e) Efficiency of the course:
◎ How to develop and implement the course efficiently
◎ some problems may occur during the course:
* the time (planning and course development),
* the needs (material and teacher training),
* the time needed (consultations and meetings)
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Issues in Program Evaluation Weir and Robert (1994, 92) proposed:
a need for both insider and outsider commitment and involvement to ensure adequate evaluation
a central interest in improvement, as well as the demonstration of the “product value” of a program or project or their components
An associated commitment to a deeper professional understanding of the processes of educational change, as well as the results of that change
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Issues in Program Evaluation Weir and Robert (1994, 92) proposed:
Systematic documentation for evaluation purposes both during implementation and at the beginning and end of a program or project’s life
A willingness to embrace both qualitative and quantitative methodology appropriate to the purpose of the evaluation and the context under review
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Issues in Program Evaluation1. The audience for evaluation
◎ to identify who the different audiences are and what
kind of information they are most interested in
Ex: new textbooks
* Officers in the ministry: money
* Teachers: the sufficient materials
* Outside consultant: interaction and language practices
* Vocational training centers: school leavers’ English
◎ Evaluation has to satisfy all interested parties.
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Issues in Program Evaluation1. The audience for evaluation
◎ For example
* Students:
What did I learn? Do I need another course?...
* Teachers:
How well did I teach? What did my students learned?...
* Curriculum developers:
Is the design of the course and materials appropriate?...
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Issues in Program Evaluation1. The audience for evaluation
◎ For example
* Administrators:
Was the time frame of the course appropriate?...
* Sponsors:
Was the cost of the course justified?...
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Issues in Program Evaluation1. The audience for evaluation
◎ Three audience are identifiable for all summative
evaluation of language courses (Shaw and Dowsett, 1986):
* other teachers in the program
* managers of the institution or program
* the curriculum support or development
◎ carefully identified different audience and the
result should be appropriate for each audience
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Issues in Program Evaluation2. Participants in the evaluation process
◎ Two types of participants:
* insiders: teachers, students, and anyone else
Ex: formative evaluation: teachers
summative evaluation: students
Why insiders are important?
=> They are the direct participants for a curriculum
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Issues in Program Evaluation2. Participants in the evaluation process
◎ Two types of participants:
* outsiders: consultants, inspectors, or administrators to
provides teachers with some perceptions with
independent observation and opinion
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Issues in Program Evaluation3. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation
◎ Quantitative measurement:
* something can be expressed numerically
=> collect information from a large number of
people and analyze statistically
* more fair but some limitations
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Issues in Program Evaluation3. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation
◎ Qualitative measurement:
* something can not be expressed numerically and rely
on subjective judgment and observation
=> collect information from classroom observation,
interviews, journal and so on
* more holistic and naturalistic but hard to analyze
◎ Combine both Quantitative and Qualitative
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Issues in Program Evaluation4. The importance of documentation
◎ Relevant documentation:
a) Course statistics:
b) Relevant course documents
c) Course work
d) Written comments
e) Institutional documents
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Issues in Program Evaluation5. Implementation
◎ to review the process of evaluation
1) Scope 5) Representativeness
2) Audience 6) Timeliness
3) Reliability 7) Ethical considerations
4) Objectivity
◎ to decide how to make use of the information obtained
(see p. 299)
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations 1. Tests
1) institutionally prepared tests
2) international tests
3) textbook tests
4) student records
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations1. Tests
◎ Advantage:
1) direct measure of achievement or performance
◎ Disadvantages:
1) hard to make sure the tests are a direct of teaching or are
liked to other factors=> further investigation
2) “reliability and validity” problems
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations2. Comparison of two approaches to a course
* two different versions of the course
=> compare the effects of two or more different teaching
conditions
◎Advantage:
1) control all relevant factors and investigate strictly
◎Disadvantage:
1) teachers’ load (maintain the difference at the same time)
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations3. Interview
* could get many different views of the course
* structured interview is more useful
◎Advantage:
1) obtain more deeper (in-depth) information
◎Disadvantages:
1) time-consuming
2) could not be generalized
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations4. Questionnaire
* could get wide range of teachers’ and students’ comment
◎Advantages:
1) easy for administer
2) generalization
◎Disadvantages:
1) questionnaire design (elicit unbiased answers)
2) difficult to interpret the information
=> follow-up investigation
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations5. Teachers’ written evaluation
* use structured feedback form
◎Advantages:
1) good position to write the comment
2) provide information quickly
◎Disadvantage:
1) only teacher’s point of view
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations6. Diaries and journals
* provide a narrative record of things
◎Advantage:
1) provide relatively detailed and open-end information
◎Disadvantages:
1) hard to decide how to use the information
2) need cooperation and a time commitment
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations7. Teachers’ records
* reports of lessons taught, material covered, attendance,
students’ grades, and time allocation
◎Advantage:
1) provide a detailed account of some aspects of the course
◎Disadvantages:
1) some information will not be relevant
2) some information will be subjective (teachers’ view)
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations8. Student logs
* ask students to provide their opinion of the course
◎Advantages:
1) provide students’ opinion of the course
2) give insights that teachers may not be aware of
◎Disadvantages:
1) need cooperation and time commitment
2) no benefit for students to attend this activity
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations9. Case study
* to do how student made use of lesson plans throughout a
course, or trace the progress of a particular learner
◎Advantages:
1) provide more detailed information
2) provide a rich picture of different dimensions of
courses
◎Disadvantages:
1) the subject may not be representative
2) time-consuming
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations10. Student evaluation
* written or oral feedback on the teachers’ approach, the materials used, and their relevance to the students’ need
◎Advantage:
1) easy to obtain information which contains a wide range
of topics and a large number of learners will be involved
◎Disadvantages:
1) subjective and impressionistic
2) difficult to interpret or generalize
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations11. Audio- or video-recording
* provide some examples of different teaching styles and
lesson formats
◎Advantage:
1) provide many teachings and record information
◎Disadvantage:
1) recordings are hard to set up
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Procedures used in conducting evaluations12. Observation
* by other teachers or a supervisor (give a specific task and
provide procedures to the observer )
◎Advantage:
1) observers can focus on many things in class
◎Disadvantage:
1) need preparation and explicit guidance