Higher Edu Program Eval Higher

Higher Edu Program Eval

Higher Education

Program Evaluation

The objective of this work is to explore the institutions' requirement of community colleges in evaluating their programs of instruction. Give of the 77 recommendations of "The American Association of Community Colleges 1988 Report: Building Communities: A Vision for a New Century." This work will further develop a set of questions that might be utilized in the effort to evaluate the recommendations chosen. Statistical methodology that might be used for analyzing these recommendations will be determined and an evaluation management plan developed.

Technological advances in the past few decades are astonishing and with these great technological feats have come challenges in all areas of life and most particularly in terms of educational challenges. Educational provision has in many ways failed to keep up with the rapid advances in technology applications which the individual in almost any field must know in order to be considered employable. In the work entitled Building Communities: A Vision for a New Century, a work published by the American Association of Community Colleges makes 77 recommendations which are focused on its' stated Mission of "We recommend that the theme "Building Communities" become the new rallying point for the community college in America. We define the term community "not only as a region to be served, but also as a climate to be created." (AACC, 2004)

In order that these communities are built there are many necessary provisions of education to be made. Five of the recommendations are stated as follows:

We recommend that every community college develop a campus-wide plan for the use of technology, one in which educational and administrative applications can be integrated.

We also propose incentive programs for faculty who wish to adapt educational technology to classroom needs.

We recommend that a clearinghouse be established at the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges to identify educational software of special value to the community college.

The community college-through technology-should continue to extend the campus, providing instruction to the work place and to schools, and scheduling regional teleconferences for community forums in continuing education.

We recommend that new uses of technology be explored. Specifically, community colleges should lead the way in creating electronic networks for learning, satellite classrooms, and conferences that connect colleges from coast to coast, creating a national community of educators who transcend regionalism on consequential issues. (American Association of Community Colleges, 2004)

Questions for Evaluation of the Five Teaching Technology Recommendations

In the initiative to evaluate whether or not a school is in alignment with the teaching technology recommendations the following questions are required to be asked of the school in focus:

1. Does the school have a plan developed in relation to teaching technology in the school's curriculum?

2. How are the aspects of education and administration integrated in this plan?

3. What incentives exist for teachers who integrate technological advances with the curriculum structure?

4. Are these incentives well-known by the teaching staff in the school?

5. What software is available on the school's computers?

6. Are teaching staff trained in using all of this software regardless of their area of study?

7. Are classes offered in the school and in the community to staff and community members making provision of the opportunity in learning these applications?

8. Are night and weekend classes offered as well as classes during different hours of the day in order to make provision of this education to all shifts of work within the community?

9. Does the school know of and take advantage of the clearinghouse for software that has been developed in advance of this evaluation?

In what ways has the school campus been extended within the community through provision of technological education into the business workplace and other schools in the community?

11. What type of regional teleconferencing is available for individuals in the community for the provision of technology education?

12. What new uses of technology is the school exploring or spearheading the exploration of?

13. What provisions of networking for learning has been developed in the community by the school?

14. Are satellite classrooms and conferencing available features in the school?

15. Are the educators within the school regionally focused or do they look beyond just the region in which they reside in terms of educational provision?

16. How many staff does the school employ on a full-time basis "specifically to support instructional telecommunication and computing"? (An Educator's Guide to Evaluating The Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms, 1998)

17. Does your District support an area-wide network?

18. What types of operating systems are used with your school's LAN[s]? (i.e. Novell, Windows NT, AppleShare/Macintosh / Other)

19. Has your school adopted an Acceptable Use Policy?

20. For each group below please stated the number of accounts provided by your school district to the different user groups and the particular services provided:

Dialup Internet Individual

Access E-Mail

Teachers

Students

Administrators

Local Patrons

Parents

21. What three instructional technology support services are not adequately provided for in your school? (Example: maintaining a LAN, setting up desktop computers, provision of training for computers, software installation on a file server, provision of a help-desk for teachers and students)

The following labeled Figure 1.0 and Figure 2.0 are examples of technology surveys stated in the work entitled An Educator's Guide to Evaluating The Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms (1998):

Statistical Methodology

Statistical methodology in relation to evaluation of educational provisions must be studies which are longitudinal in nature and may be qualitative as well as quantitative. Guidelines fall under a Federal Regulation as follows:

S.2969 Title: A bill to provide for improvement of Federal education research, statistics, evaluation, information, and dissemination, and for other purposes.

Under this bill the evaluations are stated to be required performed through "regional surveys."

Development of Evaluation Management Plan

The evaluation of the school, according to the above-referenced bill of Federal Regulation falls upon the school superintendents and administrators within each of the educational regions. In the effort to evaluate the school it is important that the superintendent garner the support and assistance of all teachers in the school so that efficient gathering of representative surveys is assured.

The surveys by which evaluation and analysis is to be conducted should be developed in collaboration with educators, business people in the community, as well as parents and other community members having the opportunity to provide their input in what precisely is within scope of the school evaluation.