Benefits of Evaluation Systems in Online Learning Management - Essay Example

? Quality Assessment and Evaluation Models al Affiliation) Quality Assessment and Evaluation Models Online education is a popular educational learning method that is offering a favorable learning environment for learners globally (Weston, 2007). Due to the quick development of technology, new ways and patterns of living and learning have also changed. In the past few years, online education has become widely available for the online learners. In the modern world, most of the students are attending universities through the help of online courses. By comparing the traditional education, learning process that requires students to meet face to face with their instructors for their courses online education tends to be the most reliable learning management system (Unrau, 2003). The swift development of the online education program, tutors have the task and responsibility to assure quality and effectiveness of online education. For online education to be a successful program, the designers have the duty to ensure that the learning management structure is reliable and flexible. This ensures that the student’s interests are inspired and activated for them to acquire knowledge and skills effectively and efficiently. Although, the online learning system has benefits to both instructors and students, its establishment and management have faced by various challenges. However, there various efforts that have been put in place to make sure consistent and effective quality of the curriculum especially for the online education. The online education management has put in place the Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF), quality matters and the Online Course Evaluation project. The Integrative Learning Design Framework is a constructivist design process where views from all the participants and their feedback of the design, development and the implementation process are considered. The ILDF has four phases the exploration phase, enactment phase, evaluation phase and the reflection phase. In the exploration phase investigation is done on the extent to which the online learning program would be designed and implemented. However to do so there are a number of factors that should be considered like the needs of the Students and the instructors, both teaching and learning challenges and the cultural, social and organization factors that would hinder the design development and implementation. The enactment phase this phase depends on the information gathered from the exploration phase and all the determinants are considered the prototype is designed (Monroe, 2010). The evaluation phase is the next stage in ILDF where the designed prototype is analyzed whether it is user friendly and valid to handle the challenges of the instructor and learner challenges. The reflection phase is where the participants analyze the experiences they went through during the designing process. Benefits of evaluation systems in online learning management Due to globalization, there has been an influx of online courses offered by international schools. However, most of these institutions do not offer quality education systems. There is also the presence of fakes who use the internet to offer online course to unaware online learning students. With the help of the evaluation techniques, the online designers are able to put away these counterfeit. Through the evaluation systems, the designers and participants of the implementation of the online system have pointed out the various grounds that affect the online system counterfeits. Through online learning system, learners are now using videos to make the learning system more effective. According to research, the brain of humankind is able to capture more details with the help of videos. Online has become more effective especially on the ground of effective communication between the professors and the students. The online learning system is been used by both students and teachers to make their work easier in the education background. Through online the teacher is able to communicate with the student through videos and pass the required information. Students also use the internet to air their problems about their lecturers. Through online learning system students are given the opportunity to choose their courses from other schools world wide. The students also have the chance to find themselves courses that are not available in the area they are located. Online learning is beneficial to students in the rural areas where there are few education facilities that tend to be technologically poor hence offering few courses. Through the evaluation of the systems it has made the system more effective ensuring its success. Online learning system has made the student learning system more effective and flexible to the students. Due to the access of the internet, the students are able to attend the classes and courses at any given period and whenever or wherever there is the access of the internet. Due to flexibility individuals who are working as they take their courses are able to access their supplementary courses through the access of the internet. Through online learning individuals are able to get their degrees. Researchers are able to determine that with the help of the evaluation systems flexibility of the online system has been enhanced. Online learning, the students are able to access the learning materials for 24 hours. This makes it easy for students to review and read their previous lectures, discussions and other important details relating to their course. According to research, some students who do not understand had spoken material in face-to-face classroom due to distractions and boredom (Williams, 2007). Quality matters program is the leader of eminence assurance for the online education program which has been globally recognized for its peer based approach to effective development in online system and student online courses (Williams, 2007). The Quality Matters Program has a number of features that makes it an effective evaluation system. It has a faculty centered and an ongoing improvement model that ensures the quality of the online courses is up to standard. Availability of rubrics that are used for the application of the quality standards to the online course design. Online learning system is a relatively new scheme in the education system which is quickly expanding in a number of participants and programs (McDavid, 2006). According to researchers in the year 2007, about 42 states in the North America had adopted the online learning system in universities. Some of the students had already enrolled in the supplemental course where students took one or two courses online. Other students had enrolled in the significant full time program where they took all their courses online. Through the evaluation of the online education with the help of the internet and the websites that allow the program to be implemented. However, these evaluations may encounter a number of technical and methodological challenges that can affect the implementation of the online learning system. There are various challenges that affect the online learning program the students face the problem of not realizing what is happening in other fields of distant learning. Lack of internet connection hinders the students and instructors from adopting the online learning system. According to research results, students who are available for these online course and programs are from developed countries (Ghaoui, 2003). This type of education is only available to students who have internet access. Additionally, there is also the presence of institutions in under developed areas that offer online courses to some of the students. The students have to be within the vicinity of the colleges and universities to access internet services. In most institutions, the students will have to through cyber cafes in the school. This is a major setback since not all the potential students have access to school. There are also high cases of poverty in underdeveloped countries that have become a barrier to education. Most students do not have access to average education systems. On the other hand, the evaluation systems have come in handy in countries offering online education programs. They can be used to regulate and control the level and quality of education being offered to the students. Another challenge is that not all countries have access to control management institutions. The set education laws and regulations do not govern the online education systems (Ghaoui, 2003). This has in the past become a major setback to the provision of education in the under developed states since there are not strict laws governing the institutions. According to research, the evaluation systems depend on the level of development of a country. This is because the strictness of the set rules and regulations depends on the level of development of individual countries. Technology hitches are also a major problem to the provisions of online education services (Gertler, 2011). They are prone to hackers and crackers. Entry of unauthorized persons into the systems may lead to change of data or shutdown of education systems. Some of the online systems offer education services to computer science students who later hack their way into the institutions database. They may alter information on performance and results to help their friends. This is a major setback in evaluation of online services since evaluation systems are open to threats. The online learning and evaluation systems are expensive to its users. In most cases, they have to endure operation, internet and installation costs. This setback has put most of the financially unstable institutions out of the grid due to incurred cost. References Gertler, P. (2011). Impact evaluation in practice. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Ghaoui, C. (2003). Usability evaluation of online learning programs. Hershey, PA: Information Science Pub.. McDavid, J. C. (2006). Program evaluation & performance measurement: an introduction to practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Monroe, K. (2010). Evaluation of an Online Professional Development Program for Part-time Faculty A Research Study Completed at Ivy Tech Community College Region 9. SaarbruI?cken: VDM Verlag Dr. MuI?ller. Online interface/sludge blanket level analyzers performance evaluation report. (2003). Henderson, Nev.: Instrumentation Testing Association. Unrau, Y. A. (2007). Evaluation in social work the art and science of practice (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Weston, A. T. (2009). Evaluating online learning challenges and strategies for success. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Williams, D. D. (2006). Online assessment, measurement, and evaluation emerging practices. Hershey, PA: Information Science Pub.. Read More