Formative evaluation of instructional development

Summary In this paper we have tried to describe the research pertinent to the activity of formative evaluation. While the number of good examples of formative evaluation is expanding, the level of research into the process is relatively limited. Perhaps a compromise to the difficult task of accumulating research data on formative evaluation might be suggested. When formative evaluation activities have been successful in terms of program effects and staff satisfaction, then detailed technical reports might be made available to the evaluation public. Formative evaluation might improve as a consequence of the technology developed in the course of finding solutions to development data problems. Both the increase in technology as a result of dissemination of successful procedures and the pursuit of experimental research on the process of evaluation might ultimately remove formative evaluation recommendations from the realm of seers and clairvoyants and thrust it closer to, if not into, the domain of scientific application. This article is the second ERIC/AVCR Annual Review Paper, preparation of which was supported by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Media and Technology, Stanford University, Stanford, California. The authors acknowledge with appreciation the assistance of Laura Spooner and Bea Kass.     

Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems

The theory of formative assessment outlined in this article is relevant to a broad spectrum of learning outcomes in a wide variety of subjects. Specifically, it applies wherever multiple criteria are used in making judgments about the quality of student responses. The theory has less relevance for outcomes in which student responses may be assessed simply as correct or incorrect. Feedback is defined in a particular way to highlight its function in formative assessment. This definition differs in several significant respects from that traditionally found in educational research. Three conditions for effective feedback are then identified and their implications discussed. A key premise is that for students to be able to improve, they must develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during actual production. This in turn requires that students possess an appreciation of what high quality work is, that they have the evaluative skill necessary for them to compare with some objectivity the quality of what they are producing in relation to the higher standard, and that they develop a store of tactics or moves which can be drawn upon to modify their own work. It is argued that these skills can be developed by providing direct authentic evaluative experience for students. Instructional systems which do not make explicit provision for the acquisition of evaluative expertise are deficient, because they set up artificial but potentially removable performance ceilings for students.     

Learning from web-based instructional systems and cognitive style

Two of the principal issues, which have been addressed in assessments of the benefits of web‐based instructional systems, are firstly, whether the segmentation of information provided by the web structure aids users in apprehending the interrelationships between the units of information featured in the web. Secondly, whether providing the user with an overview of the web system assists in facilitating his/her learning. It is suggested in the present study that these two issues may be more effectively understood by a consideration of an individual's cognitive style. Fifty participants were assigned to one of two web‐based instructional systems featuring information on the subject of psychological ethics. The information in one of the web systems was segmented to a greater degree than the information in the other. Half the participants using each web system were given an overview of the system and half were not. After a given time using the system, participants were tested on the information from the web. The findings suggest that cognitive style and segmentation had an effect on performance, although the provision of the overview had little effect. The results are discussed in terms of a consideration of cognitive style in the design of web‐based instructional systems.     

构建新型教学评价观

传统学业评价的目的是甄别学生优劣。新型学业评价的目的是促进学生的发展;传统学业评价以目标取向评价为主,新型职业教育学业评价是以过程取向评价为主、目标取向和主体取向评价为辅,三者相结合的综合评价。     

教学系统设计方法在培训领域中的应用

教学系统设计方法在国内外企业培训领域中占有主导地位。本文阐述了教学系统设计在培训领域的应用方法和过程,并对如何在培训中实施教学系统设计做了具体深入的分析。另外,本文也探讨了随着社会的发展,教学系统设计在培训领域的应用中出现的问题,并对此给出了作者的几点看法。