Projects

Ulster County BOCES
2010 to 2011

CCT will serve as the evaluation partner for Mid-Hudson BOCES Consortium's program to provide training and support to teachers in the development of online courses.

Key questions to be addressed by the evaluation are:

  1. The quality of the course content created. Are the courses developed through this project of high quality when measured against established indicators?
  2. The effectiveness of the teacher professional development. Does the professional development sequence motivate teachers and provide them with the skills and resources they need to follow through on the goals of the training?
  3. The extent of use of the courses created. Do teachers deliver the courses subsequent to their training?

Outcome 1: The quality of the course content created
Program evaluators will use a rubric to rate the content of each course developed through this project. All course materials will be gathered when they are complete, and evaluators will rate them using the rubric as a guide. The rubric will be shared with teachers during the training, and they will be encouraged to ensure that clear evidence relevant to the indicators is included in their course materials to ensure that scoring will require minimal inference.

Outcome 2: The effectiveness of the teacher professional development
Because of the formative nature of the evaluation, indicators of effectiveness will be positive participant reaction to the training, participant awareness of the features of effective online courses, and changes in participants' preparedness to develop and lead online courses. A combination of observations, surveys and interviews will be used to gather these data.

Outcome 3: Overall use of courses created
Evaluators will gather data to determine whether and to what extent the courses developed during the workshops are implemented in participants' schools and districts in either of these ways. Evaluators will interview a small number of teacher participants and key district-level decision-makers during the final quarter of the project funding period. These interviews will gather data on whether and to what extent online courses made available through this project are being used, either in whole or in part, within the district, and any local policies or practices that may have encouraged or impeded uptake of the courses.

STAFF

Katherine Culp (PI)
Andrea Rizzo