Improving the Evaluation of Professional Development Presentations Using Retrospective Pre-testing of Existing Knowledge and Self-Efficacy

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Author:

Camille Yates, Wendy Siegel

Subject:

Social Sciences

Institution Name:

Connexions

Collection:

Connexions

Grade Level:

Post-secondary

Abstract:

Professional development is expensive, difficult to implement successfully, and time-consuming to provide (Noyce, 2006), therefore only the most effective programs should be chosen. Unfortunately, although the need for evaluation of professional development presentations is receiving increased attention (Jerald, 2000; Lewis & Shaha, 2003), little has been done to examine the effectiveness of current practices (Lowden, 2005; Noyce, 2006). Current presentation assessments focus on the skills of the presenter rather than on whether or not participants increase their level of knowledge and apply what they learn from attending presentations (Lowden, 2005). The authors of this paper present the argument that the current practice of focusing on satisfaction surveys does not address the real goal of presentation evaluation, which is to determine if skills learned are eventually applied (Belzer, 2003; Elmore, 2002; Guskey, 2002; Killion, 2002) and ultimately benefit students. Two suggestions for improving presentation evaluations are presented: 1) clarifying the purpose of the evaluation, and 2) using the retrospective pretest method (Campbell & Stanley, 1963) to assess participant's existing knowledge and self-efficacy.

Course Type:

Learning Module

Languages:

English

Material Type:

Readings, Syllabi

Media Format:

Text/HTML

Conditions of Use:

Creative Commons Attribution 2.0