Workshop — Evaluation of education development projects

Evaluation is an old concept and, at least implicitly, all faculty members do it. So why should you attend a workshop on the subject? Here are a few reasons: (1) More NSF reviewers expect to see an evaluation plan in a proposal. (2) To ensure educational research progresses, we must know what works and how well it works. (3) Properly done, formative evaluation can direct you to more effective teaching. (4) Defendable data can help administrators make fair and quantifiable performance appraisals. This workshop will not make you an evaluation expert but it will enable you to collaborate more effectively with evaluation experts. You will be able to apply evaluation methods in your classroom and you will be able to read and comprehend evaluation plans for projects. After the session, you will be able to recognize basic terminology, list the importance of goals, outcomes and questions and describe how they comprise an evaluation plan. You will learn about several evaluation tools and be able to discuss some of their advantages, limitations and appropriateness. You will be able to list confounding factors in data interpretation and explain multiple interpretations.