1. Describe the purposes for and various stages of formative evaluation of technology plan.
The purpose for formative evaluation is to find weaknesses in instruction. It also is used "to provide data for revising and improving instructional materials and revise the instruction so as to make it as effective as possible for larger number of students (Dick and Carey, 1996)." Formative evaluation really lets you take a step back and look at your instruction and decide whether or not it is an effective way of teaching and how you can change it in order to better suit your learners. When first implementing a plan of action, you need to take steps to make sure that you formatively evaluate your plan. This will help you look at it from many different ways using the six different steps included in formative evaluation. The 6 stages of Formative evaluation are design review, expert review, one to one, small group, field trials and ongoing evaluation. Each one of these stage is vital to the new technology plan and can truly help to make it the best plan possible. I plan to use many of these stages as I implement my technology plan.
2. Describe your instruments used in a formative evaluation.
One the main tools that is used by my district for formative evaluation is the STaR Chart (Texas Education Agency, 2006-2020). Teachers self assess their abilities in their technology use and the district can use this information to see where they, as a district, are lacking in technology and propose certain training to increase these lacking areas. Another instrument that could be used for formative evaluation is the use of surveys. Surveys can be used to see if teachers think new technology training is going well. Surveys can be used to see if teachers feel confident in their computer skills. Surveys can be used to see what else could be done in order to make teachers feel more confident in their technology. And surveys also can be used by administrators to see if they feel that the staff is effectively being trained in the areas that are being targeted. A final instrument that will be used is observation. Are teachers actually using the technology in their rooms? Are they allowing students to interact with it? Do teachers seem confident with their technology use? Even just observing teachers in the computer lab will give administrators insight as yo how effective teachers are with the technology that has been given to them to work with.
3. Collect data according to a formative evaluation plan for a given set of technology plan or instructor presentation.
To collect data I will be giving out surveys to teachers to see what they think of the changes I hope to present to the technology plan. I would like to know if they think that they will be effective, or if it is even something that they think will be beneficial to change. I will also have a section on my questionnaire that will allow teachers to put comments about what they feel needs to be changed about our technology plan. I will plan on using the same group of teachers that were used for my initial technology profile. I feel that these teachers are open to the new technology possibilities but also know me well enough that they would tell me the truth and not sugar coat how they feel. That is something that I truly value in these colleagues because it is nice to have people that I can trust. I know that these teachers will help me to turn out a great project for my technology plan. Before I give the questionnaire I will present the information that I am proposing for my changes to the technology plan so they will be able to assess my objectives and share their feelings on them.
Dick, W. and Carey, L. (1996). The Systematic design of instruction, 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins Publishing. Retrieved Apr 9, 2012 from http://classweb.gmu.edu/ndabbagh/Resources/IDKB/eval_techniques.htm.
The Texas Education Agency. (2006-2020). Retrieved February 26, 2012, from 2010 Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5082&menu_id=2147483665
Are the teachers you are selecting from your campus only or are they from various campus' throughout the district? I like that you are choosing colleagues that will give you great feeback whether good or bad. Will you allow any administrators to participate in the evaluation?
ReplyDeleteObservation is a powerful tool. So many teachers can/will say that they are using technology in their classrooms especially since it is part of their PDAS but observing them using it is a different story. Actually seeing if they are taking their students to the computer lab or using what technology they have available to them in their classrooms is a whole other story.
ReplyDeleteI am selecting teachers from different campuses. Some of them are technology facilitators, and some are just general teachers. I contemplated asking one of my admins, but at this time of the year (we give the STAAR test next Tuesday) I'm not asking them. They already have a lot on their plate. I will consider asking them after the test.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree Laura! Sometimes people will say whatever you want to hear but then not even use it when they are actually in the classroom. Just because it takes some time to learn these things, does not mean that you should punish the kids because you don't want to take the time. I think a lot of teachers feel that it is just too much work. I hope that this will change over time!