P4:  Assessment/Evaluation of Ed. Tech. Staff Development Activities

 

John S. Stanford

EDT 648

April 11, 2003

 

Professional Development implementation methods are assessed to ensure that the professional development

sessions have merit, are providing requisite information and are meeting the needs of the faculty in a manner

that is appropriate and useful (Wilde 1996).  Many instruments may be used to gather such information such as

interviews, surveys, ratings scales, focus groups etc.  A proper needs assessment was recently conducted of

the Medical Science department at Western Michigan University by the technology coordinator, to determine

a baseline of faculty and staff professional development needs, as they pertain to educational technologies.  Results

of the assessment may be found at the Sample Needs Assessment link on this site.

 

A version of the Edmin survey instrument below was used for the preliminary assessment and will be used for  

summative assessments at the end of a session or semester.   These assessments may include a thorough inventory

of current software and hardware.  Faculty are directed to attend various professional development seminars

and workshops available on campus by the Instructional Technology Center or Center for Teaching and Learning,

professional development workshops available online, or at distant conference sites, based on information gathered

through the needs assessment.  Regular evaluations (by semester etc.) will be conducted to provide on-going

informal assessment, evaluation and feedback (Wilde 1996).

 

In addition to any formative assessments performed by the various workshop coordinators themselves, formative evaluations

will be done by the medical science technology coordinator for on-going informal assessment and evaluation and

are essential to be sure the various programs are meeting the needs of the faculty, to improve professional development

activities and to judge effectiveness of professional development efforts (NCREL 2003).  These assessments will focus on

the faculty members knowledge of the content presented and their ability to implement techniques and principles

into their teaching. Any areas of educational technology professional development not adequately met by the various

seminars and workshops may be followed-up with just-in-time support by the department technology coordinator.

Below are some sample survey items that may be used for on-going evaluation.

 

Survey Items

 

How effective were any particular skills you received?   Explain?

If you have begun to systematically apply the new skill, have you noticed any impact on students?

What kind of additional training or activities in this area would be useful to you?

Will you continue to use this skill after the development activities are completed?

 

What are some of the most positive aspects of the staff development activities in which you are participating?

Are there problems with the training?

Does the staff seem well prepared?

Are their instructional techniques appropriate to the topic and the audience?

What could be improved?

What procedures do the staff use for monitoring your progress?

Do they provide supportive, positive feedback?

What could be improved?

 

Instrument 1 adapted from :

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/miscpubs/eacwest/profdev/part4.htm#Professional

Assessment Strategies for Professional Development Activities, J. Wilde, EAC West, March 1996

 

 

This instrument is useful rubric to assess and focus on one or more specific staff development activities within the workplace.

Technology Proficiency and Use Chart

Proficiency Criteria

Novice Level

Intermediate Level

Advanced Level

Basic uses of word processing

*   Faculty creates, saves, retrieves, and prints file(s) to store information electronically

*   Faculty uses preset toolbars and templates for organizing word-processesed plans and reports.

*   Faculty manipulates electronic information using editing, formatting, and text analysis tools to generate plans and reports.

*   Faculty customizes toolbar selections for efficiency and organizes work folder(s).

*   Faculty designs macros to merge information from other applications into word-processed reports and plans.

*   Faculty helps colleagues create document template(s) according to contextual needs.

Instructional uses of software

*   Faculty relies on a specialist to align instructional software with learning standards for existing activity plan(s).

*   Faculty acts as an instructional aide to a specialist who implements activity plan(s) with students.

*   Faculty is assisted in aligning instructional software with learning standards for interactive classroom activities.

*   Faculty implements learner-centered technology activities with the help of a colleague acting as an instructional aide.

*   Faculty uses software to enrich and individualize content, with students defining areas of interest that meet learning standards.

*   Faculty assists colleagues in evaluating, selecting, and using software to foster specific learning outcomes.

Professional development uses of the Internet

*   Faculty uses a computer network to access announcements about and sign up for University-sponsored technology workshops.

*   Faculty uses the Internet to look up information and register for courses at a nearby university/institution.

*   Faculty uses e-mail to communicate occasionally with colleagues.

*   Faculty uses the Internet to engage in online courses and lead professional discussion forums.

*   Faculty contributes resource links and artifacts of practice to school’s Faculty listserv.

Evaluation instrument  2 adapted from NCEL Sample Technology Proficiency chart:  http://www.ncrel.org/tplan/handbook/sup10.htm

 

This is a much broader instrument revised to assess a more comprehensive view of staff development activities and the level of training

received or needed in each area.

 

Educational Technology Professional Development Training  Assessment and Evaluation Chart

 

Identify the quantity of training you feel you have received in each of the following areas.

A = extensive B = lots C = some D = minimal E = none A B C D E

 

A

B

C

D

E

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Advanced Input/Output Devices Scanner, digital camera, thermal printers, laser printers, slide scanners

 

 

 

 

 

Telecommunications Modem, e-mail, bulletin boards, internet access

 

 

 

 

 

TV/Audio/Video Educational TV, Laserdisc, VCR, Camcorder, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Word Processing  Word, Word Perfect, ClarisWorks, Simpletext

 

 

 

 

 

Database/Spreadsheet  Excel, Filemaker Pro, Access

 

 

 

 

 

Authoring/Multimedia Development Hyperstudio, Director

 

 

 

 

 

Portfolio Development

 

 

 

 

 

Networking/Network Management

 

 

 

 

 

School Management Budgets, scheduling, personnel

 

 

 

 

 

Student Management Grading, attendance, student records

 

 

 

 

 

Desktop Publishing  Pagemaker, QuarkXpress, Print Shop Deluxe

 

 

 

 

 

Interactive Video

 

 

 

 

 

Curriculum Specific Applications

 

 

 

 

 

Basic Operating System Techniques Mac OS, DOS, Windows '95, Win ’98, Win NT/2000 Win XP

 

 

 

 

 

CD-ROM/Multimedia Applications

 

 

 

 

 

Electronic Research Online, CD-ROM based, databases

 

 

 

 

 

HTML/Web Page Development/Course Management Systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revised from Form: TNAS 2.3mm 2/3/98 3 copyright ©1998 EDmin Open Systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Identify the quantity of training you feel you still need in each of the following areas.

A = extensive B = lots C = some D = minimal E = none A B C D E

A

B

C

D

E

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced Input/Output Devices Scanner, digital camera, thermal printers, laser printers, slide scanners

 

 

 

 

 

Telecommunications Modem, e-mail, bulletin boards, internet access

 

 

 

 

 

TV/Audio/Video Educational TV, Laserdisc, VCR, Camcorder, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Word Processing  Word, Word Perfect, ClarisWorks, Simpletext

 

 

 

 

 

Database/Spreadsheet  Excel, Filemaker Pro, Access

 

 

 

 

 

Authoring/Hypermedia Development  Hyperstudio, Director

 

 

 

 

 

Portfolio Development

 

 

 

 

 

Networking/Network Management

 

 

 

 

 

School Management Budgets, scheduling, personnel

 

 

 

 

 

Student Management Grading, attendance, student records

 

 

 

 

 

Desktop Publishing  Pagemaker, QuarkXpress, Print Shop Deluxe

 

 

 

 

 

Interactive Video

 

 

 

 

 

Curriculum Specific Applications

 

 

 

 

 

Basic Operating System Techniques Mac OS, DOS, Windows 95, Win ’98, Win NT/2000 Win XP

 

 

 

 

 

CD-ROM/Multimedia Applications

 

 

 

 

 

Electronic Research Online, CD-ROM based, databases

 

 

 

 

 

HTML/Web Page Development/Course Management Systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revised from Form: TNAS 2.3mm 2/3/98 3 copyright ©1998 EDmin Open Systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instrument 3

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:

 

Instrument  1 adapted from :

 

Assessment Strategies for Professional Development Activities, J. Wilde, EAC West, March 1996

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/miscpubs/eacwest/profdev/part4.htm - Professional

(accessed online March 19, 2003)

 

Instrument 2 adapted from:

Evaluation instrument adapted from NCEL Sample Technology Proficiency chart:  http://www.ncrel.org/tplan/handbook/sup10.htm

(accessed online March 19, 2003)

 

Instrument 3 adapted from:

Form: TNAS 2.3mm 2/3/98 3 copyright ©1998 EDmin Open Systems, http://www.edmin.com/

 

Evaluating the Success of Professional Development, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, (accessed online March 27, 2003)