Evaluating Courseware: Some Critical Questions

SUMMARY

Few would disagree that both the formative and summative evaluation phases of courseware design, implementation and use are of indispensable value in ensuring quality and effectiveness; indeed the techniques associated with formal evaluation have been the subject of an enormously significant research literature over the last few years. However, a lack of rigorous evaluation in practice, especially by development teams, has certainly played a part in the comparatively low level of integration of available courseware into teaching curricula. This paper identifies some critical questions with respect to the evaluation process in the design, development and use of courseware. It argues that certain fundamental difficulties in quantifying and judging effectiveness and learning outcomes might even lead one to abandon the very idea of formal evaluation, but also that being fully aware of those difficulties, and the pitfalls they represent, can in itself be an important step for developers and teachers in deciding on the calibre of a piece of educational software.