And here we are again.
At the end of a semester and the culmination of another class. LDT 506-
Evaluation of Learning Systems- you have been a worthy opponent! In the first
message to us before class had even started, Dr. Salik addressed how
challenging this class would be and I’ve found that his words were not
hyperbole. This course is much more demanding than any of the classes I had
previously completed in this program. However, it did not feel needlessly
challenging. Rather, this is vital information to anybody moving into the Learning
Design industry. More and more our world is relying on evaluative results to make
data-driven decisions. So, we as practitioners must be comfortable and adept at
conducting and analyzing evaluations and their results. This course felt like a
good primer to being learning the theories, techniques, and methods that we
will be employing moving forward. It was quite the learning experience!
Based
on the results of your self-assessment, on a scale from 1 to 6, with 6 being
expert, where would you place yourself as an evaluator at this time?
In my self-assessment at
the beginning of this course, I rated myself as a level 2- novice. However,
after completing the first readings for the course, I determined that perhaps I
could have rated myself as a 3- beginner, because many of the concepts in those
readings, I was already familiar with and had even dabbled in for work.
Now I’m finding myself
closer to a 4.5- which I would describe as competent. I think that in many ways,
I could even be considered proficient.
However, this course showed me several areas where I could use
improvement and I believe it would take further experiences and scaffolding by
an expert for me to become truly proficient.
What
conclusions have you drawn from your self-assessment, where are you weak and
where are your strengths?
I rated myself fairly
consistently in the assessment, but I believe that data analysis is the area
that needs more experience and development for me. I know now to be very
careful not to make fake equivalencies or decide that correlation is a direct result
of causation. But I do think I need to go through more real-life experiences of
analyzing data to make sure that I am able to interpret findings correctly. The
good news is that throughout this course, I have been working on developing an evaluation
at work and we are about to deploy it. So very soon I will have the opportunity
to analyze that data and present our findings.
Which
of the competencies on the self-assessment surprised you as being necessary,
and why did they surprise you?
Initially, I was very
surprised at the cultural sensitivities section. It had never occurred to me
that evaluations have so much cultural connation. This class helped me realize
that there are many political and cultural elements that can affect evaluation
results and that much research should be done into the culture in which you
will be conducting the evaluations before doing so. I rated myself slightly
lower in these sections because I feel that I’m not an expert in knowing appropriate
protocol in each culture, but I do know that I will respect everybody and do my
best to educate myself on the norms of the culture I am about to interact with
before beginning.
Based
on the results of your self-assessment, what actions might you take beyond this
class to gain more competence as an evaluator?
My answer to this
question is similar to my original answer. I believe I need more professional development
in data analysis and the tools used. Initially, I said I would take a class in
Excel. I still think that would be beneficial, but I also believe I will look
into a Google Data Analytics certification course. That is much more in depth
than I had considered previously, but I do think this would be a truly
beneficial learning experience for me as I move forward. Perhaps, I would be
more interested in being an evaluator in professional practice if I had more
confidence in my skills in understanding the data I receive back.
At the end of this
course, I will say that my initial thought is “Ok, this is not necessarily the direction
I want to pursue once I have finished my degree.” However, I know realistically
that I will need these skills in every job I pursue moving forward. I just think
that solely being an evaluator is not my desired goal. That being said, I am
incredibly grateful for this course and the knowledge I have obtained throughout.
I think this set a solid foundation for my future.
