Evaluation in Instructional Design
Evaluation in instructional design is very important. Unfortunately I learned this the hard way awhile ago (see Why are they clicking there?). Since then I’ve struggled to try to figure out why evaluation is so often put off to the last minute with whatever resources are left. I think the reason comes down to pride and naevity. As a designer I just assume that whatever materials I’m creating are good and that if they work with my learning style they will work with my users style too. Perhaps there is an issue of difficult at play here too. Evaluation is more work. Well, I’ve found that by evaluating often it is actually much less work.
In his book Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug says that it is important to realize that you can do lots of small but effective evaluations without a lot of planning or money. To add backup to his claim, I’ve found several tools that help make evaluation easy and cheap.
Tools that I have found very helpful for evlauation…
* iPod with a voice recorder - digital voice recorders are very helpful when conducting interviews. However, don’t spend $250. buying one if you already have an iPod. Griffen Technology’s iMic turns any existing iPod into a digital voice recorder.
* SurveyMonkey.com - a great site that allows you to make and track surveys. It is free until you need a lot of respondants (in which case the price is very reasonable).
* TAMS Analyzer - a free program for conducting analizing qualitative evaluations.