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  2. EDU T523

Formative Evaluation for Educational Product Development
EDU T523

Course Information

Description

“Lottery-Based Enrollment” Formative evaluation is a systematic process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting data for the purpose of improving educational programs and products. This course is designed for teachers, producers, researchers, museum educators, and educational product developers interested in methodologies and issues related to the evaluation of educational products. Through problem-based instruction, students will focus on evaluating one educational product throughout the semester. Students will identify the goals of the project, create an evaluation instrument to assess these goals, observe behaviors and gather user feedback, and convey the findings through both a written and an oral report. This semester, multiple organizations will serve as the learning lab for the course projects and students will choose from a pre-determined list of products to study. Although the projects are narrow in range, the skills are applicable across disciplines and kinds of educational products.
 

Class Notes

Non-HGSE Harvard students cross registering into Lottery-based Enrollment courses must email registrar@gse.harvard.edu to request to be added to the lottery event. Non-Harvard students are not eligible to enter the course lottery. Please see this page of the Office of the Registrar website for more information.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Letter Graded
Learning Goals 1. Cultivate a deeper appreciation for the role evaluation can play in improving the quality and effectiveness of educational products; 2. Expand interest in using evaluation as a tool for improving professional practice; 3. Acquire evaluation skills, including the ability to create instruments, analyze data, and interpret formative evaluation findings; 4. Increase understanding of what evaluation is, including the range of philosophies, approaches, and methods that can be applied when conducting an evaluation; 5. Develop the ability to advocate for the use of formative evaluation when developing educational technologies; and 6. Be able to apply the skills and knowledge gained through the coursework to the real-world setting of educational product development.
Career Focus Learning Design, Evaluation, Informal Learning, Museums