Standards-Based and Responsive Evaluation
Standards-Based and Responsive Evaluation

Author: Robert E. Stake

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2003-10-30

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1483303713

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"We can be grateful that Dr. Stake decided to cap his distinguished career by sharing his ideas in writing. This is a book that evaluators will want to have in their personal library. It tells us a lot about our field, highlights contrasting ways of evaluating without pitting one against the other, and manages to remind us why many of us chose this line of work in the first place." --EVALUATION AND PROGRAM PLANNING Authored by a master writer and evaluator, Standards-Based and Responsive Evaluation explores the many conceptual choices an evaluator needs to make when doing an evaluation, devoting attention to stakeholders, weighing ethical risks, and writing a useful report. The book begins with the main strategic choices an evaluator needs to make between approaches: quantitatively,by explicating criteria, needs, standards, and performances, or qualitatively, by studying the activity, aspirations, problems, and accomplishments of the participants and critical observers. After reading the text, students will have a better appreciation of evaluation as a process that needs to be custom-fit to the situation. Throughout the book, Stake presents evaluation as a series of choices for the reader: - To remain independent or to join with program staff or stakeholders - To value personal experience as evidence or to shun it as biased - To aid development formatively or to assess the existing program summatively - To use issues, goals, gains, efficiency, or problem solving as the key conceptual structure - To invest small or large in trying out and validating data-gathering procedures - To support the standards and ethical codes of professional associations Standards-Based and Responsive Evaluation will prove an essential text for program evaluation courses in education, nursing, social work, psychology, sociology, communication, and anthropology. Experienced researchers and professional evaluators will also find this an invaluable reference for a more experiential, interpretive approach to evaluation work and policy setting. Key Features: - Provides readers with the tools they need to make choices while practicing evaluation - Employs quotations, poetry, and cartoons to help the reader "experience" the concepts of evaluation - Includes boxed examples from a variety of cases, giving readers the opportunity to compare an actual evaluation situation with one in which they may be engaged - Allows readers to access extensive examples of evaluation reports, coding excerpts, and more, through a complementary Web site appendix

Changing Education
Changing Education

Author: Harvey R. Dean

Publisher: Pitsco

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9780965726115

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CHANGING EDUCATION chronicles how an education revolution was born of one man's near failure as a student, his experiences as a teacher, & his innovations outside the classroom. Harvey Dean's solution for today's state of education, the Synergistic System, is a tool through which his desire to help make school relevant for students has been realized. Through a hard look at the numbers, & with a finger on the pulse of growing teacher frustration, he addresses the challenges we face by schooling 21st century students with 19th century methods, while detailing how an easy-to-transfer "systems" approach to teaching has revolutionized over 1200 classrooms across the country. "In an age when students are learning less & disliking classwork more, Harvey Dean has developed a system that not only makes learning enjoyable, but also makes learning relevant to students' lives."--Rep. Jim Ryun. ISBN 0-9657261-1-8. Price $21.50. To order contact Pitsco, Inc., P.O. Box 1708, Pittsburg, KS 66762, call 800-835-0686, or FAX 800-533-8104.

The Synergistic Classroom
The Synergistic Classroom

Author: Corey Campion

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2020-10-16

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1978818432

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Among the many challenges confronting the liberal arts today is a fundamental disconnect between the curricula that many institutions offer and the training that many students need. Discipline-specific models of teaching and learning can underprepare students for the kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration that employers now expect. Although aware of these expectations and the need for change, many small colleges and universities have struggled to translate interdisciplinarity into programs and curricula that better serve today’s students. Written by faculty engaged in the design and delivery of interdisciplinary courses, programs, and experiential learning opportunities in the small college setting, The Synergistic Classroom addresses the many ways faculty can leverage their institutions' small size and openness to pedagogical experimentation to overcome the challenges of limited institutional resources and enrollment concerns and better prepare students for life and work in the twenty-first century. Taken together, the contributions in this volume invite reflection on a variety of important issues that attend the work of small college faculty committed to expanding student learning across disciplinary boundaries.

The Synergistic Relationship Between Student Empowerment and Creativity in the Middle School Classroom
The Synergistic Relationship Between Student Empowerment and Creativity in the Middle School Classroom

Author: Sheri LaRowe Cooke

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 578

ISBN-13:

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The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the interplay of classroom environment relationships between seventh and eighth grade teachers and their students, and its effects on student empowerment and students' creativity in their academic work. After an extensive review of the literature, student empowerment was defined as the presence of the following characteristics: student choice/ownership, student voice/decision-making, goal-setting, self-efficacy, self-evaluation, risk-taking/initiative, independence/autonomy, and collaboration. A creative product was defined as an artifact which displays originality, functionality, and elegance/aesthetics. The case study design of this study included the gathering of data such as student surveys, teacher and student interviews, classroom observations, and student work samples. Findings are communicated through a discussion of themes and patterns. A theory for the enhancement of student empowerment and creativity is presented, with a discussion of the implications for the synergistic relationships among the constructs studied. It was determined at this case study site that democratic classrooms which include trusting, positive teacher/student relationships are likely to result in students being empowered to make choices and decisions that drive their own learning. This empowerment is a vital element in the creative process. The context, or environment, is a critical component. A change to the environment, including the relationships within the environment, will change the levels of empowerment and creativity within the environment. A theoretical model, EREC - Environment, Relationships, Empowerment, and Creativity - is proposed, highlighting the overlapping systems relationship among the four constructs. Pedagogical implications emphasize the need for positive school and classroom environments where collaboration and independence are fostered, where playfulness is valued, where feelings are acknowledged and supported, and outside controls and curricular restraints (such as standardized curriculum and assessments) are kept to a minimum. Implications for the research community indicate that further examination is warranted on why some students resist efforts toward empowerment. More information is also needed to fully describe informal relationships between teachers and their students, outside of classroom interactions.

Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry
Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry

Author: John K. Gibson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-01-08

Total Pages: 670

ISBN-13: 111911554X

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A review of contemporary actinide research that focuses on new advances in experiment and theory, and the interplay between these two realms Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry offers a comprehensive review of the key aspects of actinide research. Written by noted experts in the field, the text includes information on new advances in experiment and theory and reveals the interplay between these two realms. The authors offer a multidisciplinary and multimodal approach to the nature of actinide chemistry, and explore the interplay between multiple experiments and theory, as well as between basic and applied actinide chemistry. The text covers the basic science used in contemporary studies of the actinide systems, from basic synthesis to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and computational techniques. The authors provide contemporary overviews of each topic area presented and describe the current and anticipated experimental approaches for the field, as well as the current and future computational chemistry and materials techniques. In addition, the authors explore the combination of experiment and theory. This important resource: Provides an essential resource the reviews the key aspects of contemporary actinide research Includes information on new advances in experiment and theory, and the interplay between the two Covers the basic science used in contemporary studies of the actinide systems, from basic synthesis to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and computational techniques Focuses on the interplay between multiple experiments and theory, as well as between basic and applied actinide chemistry Written for academics, students, professionals and researchers, this vital text contains a thorough review of the key aspects of actinide research and explores the most recent advances in experiment and theory.

Computing and Intelligent Systems
Computing and Intelligent Systems

Author: Yanwen Wu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-08-30

Total Pages: 549

ISBN-13: 3642240917

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This six-volume-set (CCIS 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Computing, Information and Control, ICCIC 2011, held in Wuhan, China, in September 2011. The papers are organized in two volumes on Innovative Computing and Information (CCIS 231 and 232), two volumes on Computing and Intelligent Systems (CCIS 233 and 234), and in two volumes on Information and Management Engineering (CCIS 235 and 236).

Evaluating Learning Environments
Evaluating Learning Environments

Author: Wesley Imms

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-09-27

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 9463005374

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The recent trend in innovative school design has provided exciting places to both learn and teach. New generation learning environments have encouraged educators to unleash responsive pedagogies previously hindered by traditional classrooms, and has allowed students to engage in a variety of learning experiences well beyond the traditional ‘chalk and talk’ common in many schools. These spaces have made cross-disciplinary instruction, collaborative learning, individualised curriculum, ubiquitous technologies, and specialised equipment more accessible than ever before. The quality of occupation of such spaces has also been encouraging. Many learning spaces now resemble places of collegiality, intellectual intrigue and comfort, as opposed to the restrictive and monotonous classrooms many of us experienced in years past. These successes, however, have generated a very real problem. Do these new generation learning environments actually work – and if so, in what ways? Are they leading to the sorts of improved experiences and learning outcomes for students they promise? This book describes strategies for assessing what is actually working. Drawing on the best thinking from our best minds – doctoral students tackling the challenge of isolating space as a variable within the phenomenon of contemporary schooling – Evaluating Learning Environments draws together thirteen approaches to learning environment evaluation that capture the latest thinking in terms of emerging issues, methods and knowledge.