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Performing an effective technology evaluation may seem like a daunting task, but with some guidance and a step-by-step approach, it's a task that can be managed by most school systems. Further, when you consider that the dollars you invest in determining if your technology plan "is working" are very small compared to the vast sums you might continue to invest in non-performing systems and ideas...well, the time and money spent on evaluation is a pretty wise investment.
Sun Associates specializes in assisting school districts to develop effective evaluation and assessment procedures for their educational technology technology plans. The following links provide some starting information, sample tools, and sample reports. For more information, please contact us.
Is It Working? Designing a Technology and Assessment Plan
Presentation from NECC 2000 on designing a technology evaluation and assessment plan
A Presentation on Technology Evaluation
This PowerPoint presentation overviews the basic concepts surrounding instructional technology evaluation and introduces Sun Associates' basic evaluation methodologies.
Information on the three basic steps of technology evaluation and assessment.
Background Resources for Technology Evaluation
It is critical that your evaluation effort be based in realistic expectations of what is possible -- both in terms of potential impacts of educational technology and what is possible to evaluate. Here are some resources which provide a useful background in both of these areas. This online bibliography comes from one of our administrator workshops on technology evaluation.
Evaluation is built around data. In terms of technology evaluation, how do you collect meaningful qualitative and quantitative data showing technology impact and use? This article covers data collection basics and put data collection strategies such as surveys into a broader assessment context.
Online surveys can be an efficient way of collecting data from a large number of teachers...particularly if your district has a well-developed network which offers all teachers WWW connectivity. Here are three examples of online surveys developed for our evaluation clients. We've eliminated the possibility of actually clicking "submit" and submitting these sample surveys, but in all other ways, they behave like a fully-functioning survey.
- A short professional development session evaluation survey (participant evaluation)
- A short survey for professional development leaders
- A technology usage survey for teachers
- An alternative teacher technology survey
- A parent survey on technology use
Note that these surveys are built upon a CGI script available as freeware from BigNoseBird.com (yes, it's a very strange name, but a very useful service!). Using their BNBFORM script, you can set up and operate a similar survey with a minimum of technical know-how.
As we discuss in our article on data collection, a meaningful evaluation will be comprised of data coming from several different sources. Aside from surveys, focus groups are one of the most common and richest data collection strategies. This article discusses focus group basics and provides sample questions from a teacher-focused group.
Building and classroom observations are the third -- and often most detailed -- legs of the "triangle" of data collection. These are sample templates which we have have used in several of our evaluation and data-collection projects.
A critical part of the Sun Associates evaluation process is the development of performance assessments for teacher or student use of instructional technology (and other aspects of technology implementation, such as teacher professional development). These assessments make use of indicators and benchmarks which are then organized into a rubric. Here's a sample.
The "final report" -- even if it's just a summary of the first year of an ongoing formative evaluation -- is often a watershed event for the school or district conducting a technology evaluation. The report serves to focus community attention on specific aspects of your technology integration work as well as to showcase the fact that you care enough about technology to critically assess what is and is not working. Most of our clients find that the final report serves to heighten and enhance awareness of technology in their schools and its impact on teaching and learning.
This is a sample of an evaluation project final report. This project utilized our standard formative evaluation methodology and centered around assessing the effectiveness of a district-wide technology staff development effort.
Fayette County (KY) Public Schools Evaluation
This report, based on data collected during the 1999/2000 school year, is a baseline for what will become an ongoing evaluation effort in Fayette County (Lexington, KY). This project uses our standard formative evaluation methodology and is the evaluation project featured in our article "How Do We Know It's Working -- Designing an Authentic Assessment for Educational Technology" found in the April, 2000 issue of Learning & Leading with Technology.
Warren County Public Schools (KY) Evaluation Final Report
This report, from 1996, was commissioned to provide a basic "audit" of where this district stood in terms of the integration of technology at the school and classroom level. Subsequently, this report was more of a summative evaluation than our typical formative work. Nevertheless, this project represents a detailed data collection and reporting effort which has continued to guide and inform the client's technology implementation.
Sun Associates' projects always start with a detailed project proposal. Here is a sample proposal showing how we generally outline a project to potential clients. Naturally, each proposal is unique to the client for which it is created. If you would like more information on how we could help you with a technology evaluation project, please contact us!
Back to our main Technology Evalation page
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Information on this site that has been produced by Sun Associates is Copyright 1997 - 2006 Sun Associates and is available for individual, one-time, use by educators. Duplication is prohibited without permission. All other material is the property of its authors and Sun Associates makes no warranty for its use or accuracy.
Last updated, July 10, 2007