"WebGrader" is an online instrument developed to evaluate and assess oral competency in the basic course. It is the result of a 15-year study, using Morreale and Hackman's (1994) work as a general model, and "The Competent Speaker" speech rating criteria in particular (Morreale, Moore, Taylor, Surges-Tatum, & Hulbert-Johnson, 1990; Morreale,…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a content analysis model for assessing students' cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions. It adopted a fully mixed methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative methods were employed sequentially for data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, the design was a…

This case study examined the educational software evaluation processes of pre-service teachers who attended either expertise-based training (XBT) or traditional training in conjunction with a Software-Evaluation checklist. Forty-three mathematics teacher candidates and three experts participated in the study. All participants evaluated educational…

Earlier studies have suggested that higher education institutions could harness the predictive power of Learning Management System (LMS) data to develop reporting tools that identify at-risk students and allow for more timely pedagogical interventions. This paper confirms and extends this proposition by providing data from an international…

Pathfinder is a graphic theoretic technique used to analyze proximity data. This study evaluates its validity: (1) for representing and comparing individuals' navigation through a computer-based hypermedia environment; and (2) for generating an empirically-derived path that represents a set of individual navigational paths during computer-assisted…

Discussion of educational evaluation focuses on five topics critical to evaluating adaptive learning environment systems: (1) the system being evaluated; (2) standards, both engineering standards and standards for assessing learning outcomes such as task transfer; (3) gathering appropriate data; (4) processes for gathering data; and (5) rules for…

Project SIRA (System for Instructional Response Analysis) used a systems approach to develop a complete range of programs and techniques both for evaluation of student performance and for evaluation and revision of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) lesson material. By use of the PLATO computer-based instructional hardware system at the…

This paper presents the evaluation results of the "Exploring with Technology" grant funded during the 1992-1993 school year by the Florida Department of Education. The grant proposed to integrate a variety of technological applications with the social studies curriculum. The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the process evaluation…

Web server logs contain a great deal of information about who uses a Web site and how they use it. This article discusses the analysis of Web logs for instructional Web sites; reviews the data stored in most Web server logs; demonstrates what further information can be gleaned from the logs; and discusses analyzing that information for the…

The Computer-Assisted Data Analysis (CADA) Monitor is a set of conversational-language interactive computer programs that permit relatively inexperienced persons to perform relatively complex statistical data analysis. The Monitor leads the user through an analysis on a step-by-step basis providing the necessary direction, information, and…

MICROPIK is a multiple-alternatives, criterion-referenced model for evaluating CAI (computer-assisted instruction) software and microcomputer hardware against selected curricular objectives. The model provides decision-modeling control over diverse interactive patterns that occur when computer hardware, courseware, and instructional objectives are…

Many universities currently encourage the use of online materials to enhance on-campus courses. Assessment of the impact of these technology-enhanced course initiatives is necessary to give insight into the best practices--those that faculty should be encouraged to use based on student need. Assessment studies of this type will enrich the…

Discusses the use and advantages of integrated learning systems (ILSs) in elementary and middle grades, and reanalyzes 30 evaluations of ILSs by using effect size statistics. Research problems are described, including poor evaluation designs and inadequate data collection and analysis; and a table summarizes the ILS research reports and…

Describes the development of a science-based computer simulation for sixth graders on global warming that integrated research, writing, speaking, science lab, and computer skills. Highlights include teacher/librarian collaboration; problem-based learning; building knowledge; design and planning; creating Web pages; gathering, organizing, and…

This pilot study was conducted in order to determine whether a virtual classroom can be assessed, and whether it can be done using already proven techniques for classroom environment assessment. Study participants were 20 graduate students in education enrolled in three different courses offered at a distance via the World Wide Web. Each of the…