One way for me to assess your learning is through assignments.  Another way, is by checking your understanding of the weekly reading assignment and your ability to connect and integrate the readings from week to week.  In a face-to-face class, we would check for understanding on the readings through in-class discussion,  quizzes, and midterm and final exams).  In on-line classes, checking for understanding is often done through a series of weekly quizzes on the reading material.  My preference for this course, is to use the forum discussions in your groups to demonstrate and deepen your understanding of the readings, the assignments, your questions about evaluation in general, and evaluation questions specific to your work environment.We will use discussions for the next few weeks and then, based on the quality of the discussions, I will decide if we need to add in quizzes to check for understanding of the course information or if we can stay with discussions only as a way to demonstrate and deepen understanding of the course content.

Here are some questions to start your discussion for this week (you don't need to discuss them all, and you are not limited to these questions, but you do need to have a discussion based on the readings and the assignments).  Be sure to review the guidelines for minimum quantity and quality of discussion posts in the syllabus.

• Chapter 2 lists several purposes for evaluation:  
  • What do you think about these purposes?  
  • How do they fit/not fit with your previous view of evaluation?  
  • Which of these purposes are in place in the evaluation strategy in your workplace/class?  
  • Which of these purposes do you think are not in place in your workplace/class?  Why do you think this is?  What would be the benefit of included one or more of these in the evaluation strategy in your workplace?
    
• For each of the four levels of evaluation:
  • What is the purpose?
  • What is the benefit of evaluating at this level?
  • Who benefits from the data gathered?
  • What are examples you have seen of this level?
  • Do you evaluate at this level? Why or why not?
    
• Through the case study assignment, you are being asked to use a real life course (if possible) as the basis for many of your evaluation assignments this semester: what, if anything, excited or worries you about this?