Guidance on learner-centred evaluation
Pedagogic evaluation asks: how and why is a tool or intervention valuable? In which situations, and for which learners?
Pedagogic evaluation seeks to establish whether a given tool or intervention has value in a real learning situation, and answer questions such as: How and why is it valuable? In what situations, and for what learners, is it of particular value?
There are many ways of carrying out a pedagogic evaluation, but a learner-centred evaluation would typically involve a variety of learners using a tool for an extended period in a range of authentic contexts, with any appropriate support mechanisms, and would involve dialogue with the learners to understand their views and experiences.
These resources to support learner-centred evaluation have been produced as a result of the work carried by the Learners' Experiences of e-Learning studies and projects. Download the documents
Resources
Guidelines on Learner-Centred Evaluation
This offers an overall introduction to the topic, some brief exercises to help you think through the issues, and the following guidelines:
- A guideline on developing learner-centred evaluation questions
- A guideline on gathering and analysing data from learners
- A guideline on purposive sampling
Recommendations for researchers and course evaluators
This briefing paper, designed for more experienced researchers and evaluators, is based on the outcomes of phase one of the Learners' Experiences of e-Learning work, which included a comprehensive literature review.
Learner profile
A pro-forma for collecting baseline data from learner participants. This was developed by the Phase Two projects to cover information required from all participants, and is offered for use by other evaluation projects. Please inform the support and synthesis project if you plan to use this tool (levellearning@waitrose.com).
These models represent good practice in informing and gaining consent from learner participants and are designed to be adapted for use by evaluation projects. However, they are not a substitute for proper scrutiny of research by an ethics committee, steering group, or equivalent body.
Further resources
References, relevant projects, and research/evaluation tools.