Abstract :
A review is undertaken of what different commentators have written about the
evaluation of educational courseware in higher education. Speculation is
made on the reasons for the lack of such evaluations. The role of checklists
for evaluating online courseware is discussed despite the acknowledged
limitations. Checklists have been developed at Edith Cowan University
specifically for assessing aspects of online pedagogical learning materials in
higher education. These checklists are intended to be useful indicators of the
areas where online learning materials are strong and identify areas that may
be deficient rather than to arrive at a numeric score. The form of checklist
proposed is a valuable screening device to use before undertaking a contextbound
evaluation of courseware.
Contextual evaluations are a complementary and valuable alternative to
traditional forms of evaluation of educational courseware, such as checklists.
A case is also made in this article for using a checklist developed for assessing
aspects of online pedagogical learning materials in higher education. It is
argued that, when used in conjunction with a context-bound approach, such
checklists may be more useful in indicating the pedagogical quality of online
learning materials.
Quality of the instructional design remains an important consideration in
evaluating courseware. Continuing comments and dissent are invited on the
value of contextual evaluations of educational courseware to reinvigorate the
debate over appropriate ways of evaluating online courseware that will provide
helpful information for higher education
