We finally submitted the evaluation results for some feedback - and had a meeting discussing how the results could be collated for our evaluation report. This has probably been the most challenging course to stay focused on not only with the group work but also in regard to the time of year. We decided the report should be added to our pbworks site so that we could collaborate. This has definitely been an interesting exercise in education and online learning.

Identified in an earlier post literature such as Bates and Obexer influenced the methodology and ideas for our plan. The research was based on a framework outlining important components in an online environment (social presence, interaction, cognitive strategies, collaborative learning and learning centeredness). We felt this framework would be useful as a guide towards our own evaluation, although the aviation group was greater in number (49) to our 16.

Looking back at my notes, I acknowledge looking forward to when we will be able conclude and submit our final assessment.
November 15 we were fixing up suggestions made to our draft plan......the problems experienced with our email service being down was frustrating (drawing our submission date out further!)
I was experiencing problems formatting but Sue managed to sort it out.
It was with great relief to hit the send button for submission :)
Work commitments have occupied much of my time of late..... the difficulties experienced maintaining sufficient contact to move ahead with our assessment has been a challenge to stay on track.
Perhaps I shouldn't need it at this level, but an email to remind me what week we were at would have been helpful - a gentle prompt to check the course blog..... 
We had a very successful meeting with regard to re writing the questions - improving appropriateness/effectiveness, and to ensure fit to triangulate findings
Leanne was to organise students to complete survey and Gary to conduct interview.
I received an email from Sue today with the statistics of the online questionnaire completed, and suggested we have a meeting to organise how the results are going to be presented, and writing up our report.

Regular blogging has been a bit of an issue - there are certainly challenges for students who maintain a full-time position while in study.
Day time hours definitely suit me best:)
I recently handed out the students 'time management' diary, briefly discussing the necessity of planning and reflecting on tasks. I will note in reflection the use of their diary's to note down follow up information etc. helping themselves to keep on task.
It has been & is, interesting working collaboratively on our evaluation plan - sharing of ideas and gaining different perspectives. I think we planned to have more regular f2f meetings, which I think would have improved the cohesiveness of our project.... we have experienced a few hiccups with technology issues which has put a bit of pressure on the timing of collecting data. Looking forward to our feedback and analysing results.

Term Break

Evaluation plan submitted, now have some areas to work on. Good to receive feedback. 

Still feeling frustrated with knowing where to set up changes in regard to the evaluation plan, so that others in the group can work effectively together :S

Spoke to Sue to clarify a few ideas - spending too much time on re doing format, and where able to access updated information.................

The evaluation project is proving to be more of a challenge than I thought :( Technology problems!
I understand the importance of backing up work that has been created but I thought the information created initially whilst working on our wiki could be copied for back-up.... silly me. So my lesson is to create first... (somewhere reliable?), save and then paste into the wiki :S (it's still quicker than writing in free-hand...)
Much frustration has been experienced these last 2 weeks... something that must be considered with instruction/guidance for the students in readiness for online learning.
Making time to blog regularly aside from the technology angst, students are also very demanding this time of year, or is it just that it's a busy semester? 
I've been trying to organise my thoughts in regard to triangulation and the methodology for our evaluation. Making clear decisions on exactly what to evaluate is quite challenging - with regard to the eLearning guidelines, there are many areas one would like to follow-up, however,  with the limited amount of time we have decided to focus from a Learner centred approach, identifying if the use of eLearning is the best way to achieve the intended outcomes and whether or not the learning objectives are clearly defined to assist them with their learning activities. Bates and Obexer (2005) identify moving away from the teacher being the 'centre of instruction' towards the learner taking on a more active role in the process of their own learning. They add that  Beaudoin (1999),  sees the teachers role as 'mentor, facilitator, and guide through the transformative process of learning'. 
The course we are evaluating is designed with such principles, and so choosing the Pragmatic-Mixed Methods Paradigm approach we aim to triangulate our findings using 3 different methods to collect data -  a questionnaire, focus group and expert review - to gain feedback to the actual effectiveness of the course.

Methodolgy

We had a meeting last week for our project. Our wiki page was becoming too cluttered and we needed some firm decisions and direction so we could move ahead. It was great to have a f2f meeting as the discussion board was also not really working so well - the organisation of the information coming through was confusing. Some good ideas and questions to add to our wiki were discussed and sue was to set up a 2nd wiki so as not to lose the inital info but for something clearer to follow. Anyway, a further meeting, minus me, lead us to some direction as to what we could be individually working on and I was handed the Methodolgy. Having read various literature, it seems the more I read the more I need to read, to get a better understanding. To come to some clear decisions as to what it is exactly we are evaluating/areas we want to focus upon can seem never ending. During an archived wimba session I was catching up on with Tom Reeves, Sandra commented upon the limitations of the individual to be setting up the right questions for the evaluation. A good point, as we are not necessarily experts at this or even analysing the results as effectively as one with greater experience in this field. I think the answer was that this is probably budget dependent. He also suggested to collaborate with people within the institution - particularly if they have such skills in evaluating. Great listening to his ideas and experiences as i tried to make notes. I thought it quite astonishing when he relayed an experience of a successful online course delivery having been implemented for 20 years, was then dropped when the lecturer retired - too difficult/time consuming to continue with/or adjust to as new lecturers - returned to previous didactic teaching methods! Regarding methodology for evaluation it seems a triangulation approach is a practical approach. The multiple methods evaluation model identifies a set of guidelines - applying an eclectic approach. Using different approaches/measures gives a more effective understanding and accuracy of the points in question (Reeves & Hedberg, 2003). Methods to be used will include: A user review by means of a questionnaire (providing quantitative data - wider audience) A focus group - to clarify results in questionnaire (qualitative data) Expert review using the heuristic evaluation instrument (qualitative data) The Heuristic Evaluation Instrument ...for eLearning Protocols, http://it.coe.uga.edu/~treeves/edit8350/HEIPEP.html, presents sample questions that could be asked over a range of 20 areas. This paper is referred to on p158 of Chapter 7 (link via Tom Bowie's individual wiki) Through our discussions the heuristic evaluation would be an effective source of data highlighting what's working or areas that can be improved.