Evaluating Teaching and Learning at a Distance Definitions

1.    . Effectiveness is when evaluators conduct interviews and focus groups to determine what impact the availability of the ICN had on classroom education.

2.    Measures of efficiency are defined as measures of efficiency are closely related to measures of activity, and often administrative records can be the source of efficiency information.

3.    Accountability is when evaluators check records, interview staff, and visit classrooms to determine if the status of the development of the ICN, both as a physical system and as a tool used by teachers to deliver courses to distant learners. The accountability focus shifted during the project as its activities shifted from construction to implementation and finally to maintenance.

4.    Measures of activity are measures that count the numbers of events, people, and objects. Administrative records often provide data for activity questions.

5.    The six components of evaluation is teaching and learning, developing a community of learners, the instructor, the student, implementation of the course, and technology use.

6.    It is important to know that an evaluation plan must provide accountability, effectiveness, impact, organizational context and unanticipated outcomes.

7.    Measures of program aims is when some distance teaching programs specify their aims in terms of what and whom they intend to teach, and evaluation information is collected to establish the extent to which these aims were met.

8.    Measures of outcomes are measures of adequate learning are usually considered the most important measures of outcomes of distance education activities.

 10. Measures of organizations are important to evaluate in a distance education institution in terms of its internal organization and procedures. Evaluators sometimes are asked to monitor the process of course development or program delivery to help an organization be more efficient.