Week 3 Reflection

1. Chapter 10 discusses evaluation in instructional design and provides you with two evaluation models, the CIPP and Kirkpatrick models for evaluation. Search for at least two other models used for evaluation and summarize these models. Describe how you would use them to evaluate your instruction. According to Michael Scriven, “evaluation is the process of determining the merit, worth, and value of things, and evaluations are the products of that process.”  Why is important for educators to be concerned with evaluation?  The reason is that states and districts need a way to identify effective administrators and teachers.  The way to identify effectiveness in our schools is by measuring students’ growth by measuring their gains. Teachers cannot rely alone on how their students perform on state assessments to show their effectiveness. What about primary level teachers whose students do not take state assessments?  All educators need to reflect frequently on their instruction and evaluate it more than just once a year when STAAR testing comes around.  The two models for evaluation that I found were the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model and  Ralph Tyler’s Evaluation Model.  I chose these two models because they focus on educational evaluation and many of the other models seemed geared toward business training evaluation. 

The Marzano Model consists of four domains:

·         Domain 1:  Classroom strategies & behaviors

·         Domain 2:  Planning & preparing

·         Domain 3:  Reflecting on Teaching

·         Domain 4:  Collegiality & Professionalism

By following these domains which provide clear strategies and measureable goals educators can ensure they obtain their main goal as an educator:  Student Achievement.  What attracts me to the Marzano Model is according to the Marzano Center the main features of the model are as follows:

• Identifies the direct cause-and-effect relationship between teaching practices and student achievement .

·         Helps teachers and leaders make informed decisions to yield the greatest benefits for their students.

·         Makes steady, measurable increases in student achievement an achievable goal.

The Ralph Tyler Evaluation Model is also referred to as the Objective Model. Tyler identified four questions that must be asked for effective classroom instruction. They were:

·         What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

·         How can learning experiences be selected which are likely to be useful in attaining these objectives?

·         How can learning experiences be organized for effective instruction?

·         How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated?

The Tyler Model is a goal-based model.  Before any data is collected Tyler stated that goals (learning objectives) must be established.  Next, the educator needs to establish useful learning experiences (activities).  Then, organize learning experiences to have a maximum cumulative effect. Lastly, evaluate the curriculum and revise those aspects that did not prove effective.

  

2. Reflect on what other questions that instructional design evaluation should address besides whether the instructional design leads to comparable amounts of learning and learner satisfaction as traditional methods. What else would be useful to know?

Items useful to know are: how will data be collected, how the data will be used, and what you will do with the findings.  By reflecting on these items you will better be able to measure your objectives and be able to use the information you collect.

3. Chapter's 12 & 13 focus on project management and how to manage projects when resources are scarce. You have been assigned to develop a series of professional development sessions focusing on technology use in the classroom for teachers during a time of economic decline. How will you use Situational Leadership to facilitate this project and manage scarce resources? 

Use of technology in the classroom does not require you to go out and buy equipment or software.  I would develop my professional development series around what the teachers at the school already had access to The title could be, “Classroom Tech Trends, From Beginning to End.”  Each workshop in the series would focus on different times in the course of the school year teachers could implement technology in their class.  . So many teachers have found ways to use technology in their classrooms that I would form a team of teachers to help me develop the series and find what instructional technologies we could share. Even before a student steps into the classroom there are many ways to start integrating technology in preparing the management of your classroom. For example, when students came visit me at Meet the Teacher Night this year I had their parents sign up to receive text messages from me through Remind101, a smart phone app. From both ends this cost the parents and I no extra money. We use what we already have.  Another smart phone app teachers can use is called Class Dojo. Teachers upload their students’ names to the app and use their phone throughout the day to record classroom behavior, both positive and negative.  By having the Class Dojo website opened on the teacher computer students are alerted by dings when the teacher catches someone exhibiting appropriate behavior or inappropriate behavior. The students don’t know which student the ding is going off for but they try their hardest to get recognized for good behavior. The teacher can send parents an email with information on how their child behaved in class each day. Other workshops could focus on how students can use their smart phones or tablets in class.  Not all students would have to bring in a device. You could split up the students into groups based on how many students have access to these devices. These activities would work best for older students since primary level elementary school children would not bring these types of devices to school. Using QR Readers on a scavenger hunt is a great example of using what is already available to integrate technology in your instruction.  The possibilities are endless and I could go on and on.