Choosing & Using Technologies in Education & Training
This checklist is intended to help you plan by identifying questions you should ask yourself and information you should acquire as part of your planning process.
A sound evaluative framework should be adopted to inform the progress of the project from its early stages and to provide a basis for decisions about the full and continuing implementation of the project.
| SUCCESS FACTORS | CHECKLIST |
|---|---|
| 1. An evaluation process has been designed and documented. | 1.1 What process will you
use to design the evaluation? How will you document it
and communicate it to project participants?
1.2 What aspects of the project do you want to evaluate? 1.3 What form will the evaluation take? (e.g summative, formative, through a formal trialling process, by informal discussion with project workers, by assessment against project milestones). |
| 2. Performance indicators for the project have been identified. | 2.1 How will you judge the
achievement of the project? (e.g. by criteria related
to usefulness, ease of use, cost effectiveness for
learner and provider, organisational acceptability,
psychological acceptability to staff and learners).
|
| 2.2 How will you judge whether the project has achieved its educational and organisational aims? | |
| SUCCESS FACTORS | CHECKLIST |
| 3. A decision has been made whether the project will include a trial implementation, and, if so, whether its success will determine the future of the project. | 3.1 Will the project
include a trial phase? If so, what is its purpose? (e.g.
ensure application is functional, check and add to
information about learners’ needs, test the
suitability of the chosen technology/ delivery method,
estimate demand check learner support procedures,
ascertain unexpected problems).
3.2 What scale of trial is needed to obtain a useful result? 3.3 Who will be the guinea-pigs in the trial? (e.g. real learners, organisation staff, industry participants or other participants in a field test). 3.4 What aspects of the project will be trialled? (e.g. technology application, materials in other media, student support arrangements, professional development, any new administrative or management arrangements). 3.5 Will the trial use materials in developed or prototype form? What degree of development will be needed to achieve satisfactory information from the trial? 3.6 How will trial participants be selected to obtain best results from the trial? 3.7 How will the trial be evaluated? (e.g. formative, summative, external, internal, quantitative, qualitative methods). 3.8 Will the trial include testing of a user interface if this has been specially developed? 3.9 What options for action are available to you at the conclusion of the trial? (e.g. continue implementation as planned; extend, reduce or modify implementation; abandon the project; change suppliers; repackage materials). 3.10 What results from the trial will direct you to which of these options? |
| SUCCESS FACTORS | CHECKLIST |
| 4. Project milestones have been identified at which progress will be assessed and decisions made about continuation, refinement, alteration or abandonment of the project processes. | 4.1 What are the critical stages at which to assess progress? (e.g. after formation of the project team, upon development of detailed action plan, halfway through the development stage, at the end of the trial, at identified stages of full implementation, etc.). |
| 5. A decision has been made about what action should be taken in the event that it is decided to halt the project at any stage. | 5.1 What events or
findings would halt the project? (e.g. budget
blowout, change in industry requirements, change in
technology availability, unexpected findings about
learner needs, change in curriculum).
5.2 What impact would the wind-up of the project have on potential learners, your organisation, other stakeholders, relationships between stakeholders? How could you minimise damage? 5.3 What are your options for action? (e.g. halt the project altogether, scale down activity, amalgamate with another project, call a temporary freeze while further options are considered). 5.4 Who needs to be informed about a change of plan? (e.g. project partners, funding bodies, industry associations, community members). 5.5 How will you document the change of plan? Is any follow-up action needed at a specified date in the future? |
| SUCCESS FACTORS | CHECKLIST |
| 6. A decision has been made whether evaluative material will be used outside the project. 6.1 Are there benefits to your organisation or other project partners in making evaluative material public? (e.g. by publication in a journal, or made available to inform planning of other projects). | . |
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