Chapter 7

EVALUATING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY: 

EVALUATING ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN CLASSROOM USE

EVALUATION
        it is an important part of any process or any entity or item consumed by individual, to know how well it works, whether it is effective  or not, and to determine whether it benefits or brings complications to the person.
Evaluating the use of educational technology in class is important as evaluating the processes done in any project.
Educational Technology must:

• Be suitable for the teaching and learning situations
• Be motivational
• Promote learning
• Be at the right level or age of the learner
• Address the needs of the curriculum
• Help meet the learning outcomes.

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IS BEING EVALUATED
BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER

EVALUATING BEFORE INSTRUCTION

Before acquisition or before using any educational technology tool and software the teacher should ask himself/herself.

EVALUATING DURING INSTRUCTION

During instruction, the teacher should continue to observe and assess the effectiveness of educational technology being implemented in classroom use.

EVALUATING AFTER INSTRUCTION

This is the stage where teachers will finally decide whether the educational technology used in instruction is of help in the teaching and learning process.

EVALUATING SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

• Evaluating the software particularly the instructional software to be used in class is likewise important as evaluating technologies.
• Content
• Documentation and technical support
• Ability Levels and assessment
• Technical Quality and Ease of use

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION: EVALUATING ITS EFFECTIVENESS

      Evaluating Educational technology’s effectiveness is no easy task for this is linked with the students learning. Thus, evaluating the effectiveness of educational technology is connected with the assessment given to students.

It is therefore important that the teachers have to develop indicators that would measure not only the cognitive skills of the students but more importantly the psychomotor and affective domain.
Different assessment that may be given to the students

Traditional assessment-
Egs. Multiple choice, essay, short answer, true or false fill in the blanks, matching type.

Alternative Assessment
     Is non-traditional method which allows students to hands-on experiment?

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
      This is based on authentic learning method which allows students to do hands on experiments and activities.
Authentic Assessment helps students to develop real-world skills that make them life-ready which can be applied outside the school.

PROJECT BASED ASSESSMENT
      This based on authentic learning engages students in real world projects where they are given a significant task to fulfill

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
Portfolio assessment is considered as a long term assignment in which students can see and discover their own strengths and weaknesses which they can improve as they go along the process of learning.
After the students submit their requirements, projects and other assessments, the teachers evaluate all these and their learning process using Checklist, rating scales and rubrics.

Checklist- An evaluation tool that indicates specific criteria that allow students to keep track of the things they need to complete and perform.

Rating Scale- An evaluation that allows teachers to indicate the degree point/observation equivalent to the behavior or skills displayed by the learner.

Rubrics- rubrics defined as scoring guides which consists of specific pre-determined performance criteria and used in evaluating students work and performance.