Welcome to the Discussion Group
Janet Schofield (schof@vms.cis.pitt.edu)
Mon, 17 Mar 1997 11:39:38 +0000
Dear Colleagues:
As moderator of the assessment/evaluation on-line discussion I
would like to welcome all conference participants who have subscribed.
I would like to suggest the following procedure. I have developed a
set of four possible topics for discussion that I hope you will find
interesting. (They appear a bit later in this message.) However,
I would also like to invite you to suggest alternate discussion issues
if you would like to do that. Because the time frame for our
discussions is relatively short, I would suggest that anyone who wants
to propose an additional discussion topic do so by the morning of
March 19 at the latest. That will let me see how many additional
suggestions there are. To keep our discussion focussed, I think we
need to limit ourselves to a relatively small number of topics. We
can certainly drop some of the topics I have suggested if needed to
accodmodate issues of great concern to others. Also, as moderator, I
can try to find the "common ground" in disparate suggestions if lots
of ideas flow in.
The topics that I would suggest are:
1. What are the major issues facing evaluators on projects in the area
of technology and education that are unique to work in this area, or
at least that are more common, more important, etc. in this area than
in many others?
2. What are some ways of productively handling the issues referred to
in question 1 above?
3. What are appropriate and practical measures of both success and
problems in technology and education projects? Are there any
characteristics of such measures that can be delineated, even if the
specific measures themselves must necessarily vary with the specific
goal of the project?
4. What conditions would most enhance improvement in either the
technical adequacy or the ultimate usefulness of evaluations of
technology and education efforts?
It seems to me, given the very short time frame of our on-line
discussion, that it makes sense to start our consideration of at least
one or two of these issues before Wednesday. So let me invite any of
you to get the ball rolling. If you have comments on any of these
questions please indicate which question it is (1,2,3, or 4) in the
title line of your message to help others orient themselves to the
focus of your comment. On Wednesday first thing in the morning once I
see which of my topics generates the most interest and how many new
topics have been suggested I will suggest a plan for organizing the
rest of our time.
I look forward to seeing you all here in Pittsburgh in a few
weeks and to our on-line discussion in the mean time.
Janet Schofield