Checklists for the Evaluation of Educational Software: Critical Review and Prospects

SUMMARY

The article reviews critically the strengths and weaknesses of checklists for the evaluation of computer software and outlines consequences for their practical application. Specific problems of checklists are analysed. These concern reliability, validity, appropriateness of criteria and overall predictive power for evaluating instructional quality and efficacy of computer‐based learning environments. An approach based on an instructional design (ID) model (Ellis et al.,1993) and a comprehensive framework approach (Bangert‐Drowns and Kozma, 1989; Tergan et al.,1992) are suggested to cope with problems of validity and predictive power of software evaluation. This is followed by a discussion of prospects of the checklist approach for the evaluation of advanced technology‐based learning environments. Special consideration is given to requirements of multimedia and hypermedia‐based learning.