MIT 530: Evaluation and Change in Instructional Development
MIT 530. Evaluation and Change in Instructional Development (3). Introduction to evaluation techniques associated with educational evaluation media and materials, courses, curricula, students or other elements in educational programs. Various units of the course will focus upon particular evaluation techniques.
Product
Context and Conditions
These three artifacts were the projects completed for MIT 530: Evaluation and Change in Instructional Development. Dr. Sue-Jen Chen was the instructor for this course taken in the spring of 2008.
Scope
Pender County Schools (PCS) is a school district in southeastern North Carolina that serves roughly 7,900 students. Five hundred professional employees (teachers, instructional coordinators and administrators) serve the student population in fourteen traditional schools, one alternative school and one early college high school.
Pender County school District was aligning its five-year technology plan with the that of the North Carolina State Board of Education strategic plan. Our team conducted a needs assessment project in order to determine strategies for professional development of district teachers. Additionally, a change management plan was created to plan the implementation of the strategies recommended in the needs assessment report.
Role
While creating the needs assessment report, I worked as a part of a four-person team. We shared responsibilities and I participated in each of the instructional designer roles.
The change management plan was a solo project. Based on the data and recommendations of the needs assessment report, I drafted a change management plan which identified stakeholders, resources and constraints, as well as strategies for effective change.
Reflection
This was my final core course in the program. I felt that this project helped unify the work that I had done in the other core courses. Conducting the data collection was my favorite part. It felt like detective work - following clues and uncovering the truth. My sense of competency with the tools and techniques outlined in Rossett's work "training needs assessment" was strong and fulfilling. Also, I enjoyed the creative side of drafting the change management plan, which was a solo project.
If I had to do these projects over again, I would focus more on the scope and project management techniques. Within the group, we waited too long to designate a project manager or group leader. Because of this, the project was behind schedule and rushed. Since this time, I have sought to establish a formalized communication plan, timeline and leadership structure in each of my projects.