Theme 4: Evaluating Educational Technologies

In this theme, we are going to look at how one should go about evaluating
Educational Technologies. We are going to look at this at both a micro, meso and
macro levels.

Questions we are going to address in this theme are:

• How does one know that educational software is good?

• What models can be used to assess educational software?
• Has ICT’s had a learning impact on schools?
• How can a monitoring and evaluation plan be developed for the
introduction of ICT’s in schools?
• What are the challenges that we are facing in South Africa

Assignment 2A

Considering:

• What you have learnt about the design of educational software

• What you know about Kirkpatrick
• What you know about learning theories
• What other rubrics you have seen

a) Develop a rubric that can be used to evaluate education software (20)

b) Use this rubric to evaluate any educational software that you can find (10)

The Impact of ICT

Impact evaluation is the systematic identification of the effects – positive or
negative, intended or not – on individual households, institutions, and the
environment caused by a given development activity. Impact evaluation helps us
better understand the extent to which activities reach the poor and the
magnitude of their effects on people’s welfare. They can range from large-scale
sample surveys in which project populations and control groups are compared
before and after, and possibly at several points during program intervention; to
small-scale rapid assessment and participatory appraisals where estimates of
impact are obtained from combining group interviews, key informants, case
studies and available secondary data.
Adapted from World Bank (2004).

Class Activity

In groups, discuss these questions:

 • Do you think ICT’s play a bigger role in society in developed countries (e.g.
USA, Australia) than in South Africa? Are there differences, and if yes, how
does it play a role differently?
• Do you think ICT’s have made an impact in South African Education? For
teachers? For learners?
• What factors are playing a role regarding the impact of ICT’s on
Education?
• Critique the Conceptual Framework for ICT (p8) of Monitoring and
Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects (Wagner et al, 2005). Is this an
adequate conceptual framework?

Assignment 2B

Read: Kozma, B: Monitoring and evaluation of ICT for education impact: a review
(In: Wagner et al, 2005. Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects.)

Kozma identifies several ways in which ICT’s can and should impact education. In
the context of his article, critically evaluate the GautengOnline and Khanya
projects in South Africa.

Maximum 800 words

(20)