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2. Traditional evaluation conducted by generated a comprehensive
an external agency (U.S. Congress, picture of the project with a
Office of Technology Assessment, comprehensive evaluative
1995) outcome that is not possible to
obtain by a single evaluation
Method - Observation of science
methods class, review of project alone. Also, this evaluation was
publications and software for evaluating an undergraduate
and interviews of project elementary teacher preparation
investigators. program involving interactive
multimedia technology in science
Findings – Strong faculty education methods, and should
development and research not be applied without needed
effort, theoretical foundation, adaptations to evaluating
incentives for faculty involvement, educational technology programs
“expensive infrastructure.” that involve other subject
3. Context evaluation conducted by disciplines in other grade levels.
external evaluators (Kumar and
Altschuld, 1999) Final Thoughts
Methods - Onsite and in-school In terms of program evaluation in
observations, document reviews educational technology, an argument
and semi- s t r u c t u r e d could be made that models for evaluating
interviews of faculty, staff and educational technology in a single
administrators on university discipline like science have limited fit to
campus, school administrator the spectrum of disciplines in education
interviews, university teacher programs. Obviously when it comes to
education students and evaluating educational technology with
graduates’ interviews. reference to a wide variety of subject
disciplines, there is no one universally
Findings - Strong administrative accepted model of program evaluation.
support, technical support, As factors embedded in the context
conducive organizational of the educational setting prescribe
environment, a critical mass of the adaptation and implementation
interest by project participants in of educational innovations, program
the project, mutual permeation evaluation of “educational innovations
in science and education should involve not only whether change
departments, methods students occurred but also issues such as why
perception of project benefits change did or did not occur as a result
to understanding pedagogy on of a program and its meaning to the
campus and in teaching situations participants. These issues can be addressed
in schools. by expanding evaluation plans to include
It is obvious that the findings of the context in which an innovation is
the three distinct evaluations embedded” (Altschuld, Kumar, Smith and
summarized above have Goodway, 1999, p. 66).
6 Indian Journal of Educational Technology
Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021