Paul
I agree with Stuart Hunt's comments about there being no proof that current
procedures are the best. Indeed, we have probably all come across people who
are intelligent and successful yet "failed" in our educational systems -
and others who "succeeded" in academia but can't perform the most basic
tasks in the outside world.
On the other hand, we have to accept that resistance to change is likely to
come from influential people. Their obstacles have to be overcome no matter
how unfair they are. Further, it is reasonable to expect some evidence to
support your hypotheses.
Can you introduce change in a small way in the first instance? For example,
introduce PBL for part of the curriculum, and evaluate it against:
(1) previous cohorts' achievements in that topic; AND
(2) the current cohort's achievements in the other topics.
If standards in the test topic improve in comparison with previous cohorts,
yet in other topics there is no general improvement, there is prima facie
evidence that your new approach is the reason. This approach would delay
full implementation by perhaps a year, but is a more professional approach,
and less risky than diving in to uncharted waters.
Dave W Farthing
School of Computing
University of Glamorgan, UK
[log in to unmask]
"A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in
students." (John Ciardi)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: S G Hunt [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, March 15, 1999 2:43 PM
> To: Paul Probyn; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: Evaluating Educational Developments
>
> Paul
>
> I recognise this particular 'block' or resistance to change strategy.
> I have no really useful answer for you other than to ask in reply to the
> resistors: 'show me the data you have collected as to the effectiveness
> of what you do at present, and I will use this as the benchmark against
> which to measure the effectiveness of what I plan to pilot. I will use
> the same methodologies for evaluation that you use at present.' By this
> I do not mean exam results! It is too easy for people to claim 'it
> ain't busted so why fix it?', when there has never really been a
> rigorous challenge to HE styles of teaching and learning until external
> scrutiny obliges it. <snip>
> ----------
> * From: Paul Probyn
> * To: [log in to unmask]
> * Subject: Evaluating Educational Developments
> * Date: 15 March 1999 13:32
> *
> * <snip> We are trying to push
> * ahead with educational and curricular development across a number of
> * fronts, but there is always a not unnatural request that the effectsof
> * innovations should be evaluated. If we replace lectures by PBL, or a
> * subject-based curriculum by an integrated one, or formal practical exams
> by
> * assessed clinical rotations, how do we assess whether it is a success,
> * given that we do not have a control group, and there are so many other
> * variables which might be causing any change in results? <snip>
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