EDTECH 503: Module 07 Reflection

Formative and Summative Evaluation of Instructional Design

Overview of Learning

Formative and summative evaluation are an important component of the instructional design process. The formative evaluation allows you to asses the effectiveness of your instructional design plan through three stages of evaluation. During each one of these stages of evaluation the opportunity to revise and improve the instructional design allows for a thorough evaluation of the instructional materials. The stages of formative evaluation are one to one, small group, and field trials. Each stage has specific guiding questions that can help the instructional designer in their evaluation of the instructional design plan. Smith and Ragan (2005) provide some very useful questions for each stage of this evaluation. Here are a few examples of those questions.

One to One:

Do the learners understand the instruction?

Can the learners interpret graphics in the text?

Can the learners read all the textual information?

Small Group:

Do the learners have the anticipated entry level skills?

How long does it take for the learners to complete the instruction?

What revisions are necessary to improve attitudes towards the instruction?

Field Trials:

Can the instruction be implemented as it was designed?

How do the teachers feel about the instruction?

Do the teachers and learners implement the instruction as designed?

After the completion of these stages and appropriate revision have been made then the instructional design plan should be submitted to an subject matter expert for summative evaluation. This person should provide feedback giving their expert opinion to the overall effectiveness of instruction in meeting the desired needs and learning objectives of the instructional design plan.

Reflection

While participating in the module discussion it was easy to see how students incorporated the structure provided by the class text. There was a lot of similarities between each post regarding the the types of questions that best fit each stage of evaluation. It was really interesting to see the resources that everyone had in regards to an SME. We are all very fortunate to be surrounded by supportive community.

I think the stages of formative evaluation would be very time consuming for me as a teacher, but  possible for someone whose primary role is an instructional designer. The role of instructional designer seems to fall squarely on the shoulders of teachers in my school where specific instructional designers do not exist. I know I have delivered many lessons to students without a formal evaluation process and have received a lot of the same feedback organically through my delivery. I do think that the practice of summative evaluation is present through the practice of collaboration with colleagues when developing lessons and lesson planning. I think the example questions stated earlier in this discussion will be valuable for me to help focus the evaluation of my lessons during instruction.   

References:

Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2005). Instructional design 3rd ed. New York, NY: Wiley.