The design of evaluation for learning

✍ Scribed by J. C. Clift; B. W. Imrie

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 705 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0018-1560
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00149136

✦ Synopsis

The last decade has seen a major increase in the use of course evaluation in universities. Some writers, such as Goldschmid, have suggested that the encouragement of staff to evaluate their courses should be a major objective of Higher Education Units if they are to have an impact on the improvement of teaching in the universities: Unfortunately, the failure of course evaluation to affect the quality of educational courses and the continuing resistance to its use is now well documented in the literature. This paper discusses some of the possible reasons for this continuing resistance to the use of evaluation and suggests an approach that attempts to reduce the effects of these constraints. It describes a procedure which views evaluation as a learning situation in which staff and students learn how to handle and improve the contingencies of a course. The "intentional evaluation" paradigm stresses the need for a formative programme -one which recognises the importance of the interactions between teacher, student and course content. Of particular importance is the learning function of such evaluation studies in improving the professional competency of teachers.