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Pedagogy

Evaluating e-learning courses

Evaluating online courses can be a challenge, but you can certainly develop template to evaluate the structure and quality of some online courses.

We offer a service to clients for evaluating their courses against a number of metrics, and it’s never an easy process, although it is without doubt a valuable one!

I quite like the OCAT (Online Course Assessment Tool) from Western Carolina University, which is now in it’s second version.

http://www.wcu.edu/WebFiles/PDFs/facultycenter_OCAT_v2.0_25apr07.pdf

For me, personally, and a business person, the three ratings of Evident, Not Evident, and Not Applicable are far too politically correct.  It’s a bit like telling Students they are Competent, Nearly Competent, or Not Yet Competent.  Perhaps with University staff anything more critical than “Not Evident” would be politically incorrect.  As a business person however, I have little respect for people who want to live in Ivory Towers, and our evaluation rating are a lot more critical (in the truest meaning) than this.  As a manager, as a business, anyone commissioning an evaluation of online courses needs to know the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It’s about student (customer) service, and providing value for money.

I also like Criteria for Evaluating 
the Quality of Online Courses by Clayton Wright from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (and I once spent a great couple of weeks there exploring Edmonton, Alberta, and the Dinosaur Provincial Park and the amazing Royal Tyrrell Museum.

I think this is more of a document one could give to staff before carrying out a review or evaluation of courses.  It’s more accessible and friendly, and appears to refer to some Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as well as pedagogic focus.

Click to access evaluatingcourses.pdf

Stuart Mealor
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Stuart Mealor

Stuart is interested in all things e-learning, with specific interests in Moodle, e-learning strategy, and business development. His experience in education over 30 years, MBA in International Business, and knowledge of e-learning systems implementation, together with graphic design background, give him a unique skill set for e-learning projects.

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