A course should always be evolvling based on technology, changes in curriculum requirements and assessment / evaluation. I like the idea of a peer (fellow instructor) evaluation. I think that could be valuable.
You need multiple methods of evaluation
Multiple evaluations are better than one source of evaluation.
Multiple evaluations are necessary in evaluating my course and guides me on how to make course improvements. Additionally, I need to take into account my stakeholders, their comments and insights.
We as instructors, need to continually address how we evaluate students and how we "close the loop" with our instruction. We need to look at different ways to evaluate such as peer evalutions, portfolios, etc. We also need to use different ways to reach learners of all abilities.
What happens with software development also happens with the development of online courses. That is the revision cycle. There are changes that will often be necessary, whether it's how the information is presented or what type of information is added, changed, or deleted. Using multiple forms of qualitative and quantitative feedback from students and from peers also help make the results of the revision cycle that much more effective and successful.
I am looking forward to implementing the ideas given for multiple evaluations.
I should attempt to look at incorporating a couple different evaluation methods.
Multiple evaluation of your course will give you a well rounded picture of you course . Using these evaluaations cant help you make changes to the course. Continuing this practice and compairing previous evaluations will shown improvements. you should be able to see if the change also increased knowledge in the grades of your participants .
Course evaluations require multiple types of data. Course grades are not the only means of evaluation.
Student feedback, experience, and instructor discussions have led us at our school to recommend multiple changes to courses where material was not necessary, outdated, or just needed adjustment in the order of presentation. It should never be stagnant and instruction/material/courses should be changed often.
Concept maps are useful to the visual learner. Introducing them to the online learning environment could enhance the learning experience.
I do not use any pre and post testing, but I think that may be a great way of priming students learn to objective as well as inform progress.
I have learned ways to post evaluate my on line courses and make them better. I learned that is requires different sources such as students, other educators as wello as reviewing the curriculm.
Course review is a continuous, iterative process that requires the use of multiple tools to capture the considerations of multiple stakeholders.
I learned how import is using different methods of evaluation to improve my course and close the loop.
I learned that it is necessay to have multiple evaluations to effectively biuld a course
I learned that performing a syllabus scan will allow you to determine if the content and what you are teaching match. This is also an important tool to use to match industry and institutional needs to the syllabus of the course.
I like the thought of reaching out to parents or other partys to get feed back. This is a slipperly slope as well reaching out to parents as they often do not see or hear the whole story or process from their children. Reviews are very important and we will continue to change and think of new ways to poll for new views.
Having students maintain a portfolio of the major assignments is helpful in evaluating the course, but may also be beneficial to the student in reviewing the concepts they have learned throughout the class. It can also be used as a comprehensive study guide. Pre/Post test are wonderful indicators of students progress in the subject over time as well.
