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Preview

DI 3.5; NC 3.5; DS 3.5; CS 3.5: Five ways to evaluate

This is the first page of the lesson. Read it and have a go at the activities. The rest is in the full lesson.

55 minutes

Is the new help desk any good?

A school has used a new help desk tool for a month. The head asks, "Is it working?"

You could ask the staff. You could count the tickets. You could compare it with the old tool. Each is a different way to evaluate.

Key words

WordWhat it means
Evaluationjudging how well something works or how good it is
Formativedone during the work, to improve it as you go
Summativedone at the end, to judge the result
Qualitativeabout opinions and experiences, told in words
Quantitativeabout numbers that you can count or measure
Benchmarkingcomparing with a standard, or with the best others do
Surveya set of questions asked of many people

The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.

By the end of this lesson

Note

I can name five ways to evaluate and choose the right one for a question.

Starter

Have a go

Starter

3 questions
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Your answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.

Five ways to evaluate

TechniqueWhen or howExample in support
FormativeDuring the work, to improve itTest the new login page with 5 users halfway through and fix what they find
SummativeAt the end, to judge itAfter a month, review how many tickets were solved and if goals were met
QualitativeWords: opinions and experiencesInterviews, observations and workshops with staff
QuantitativeNumbersExperiments, surveys with scores, statistics such as tickets per day
BenchmarkingCompare with a standard or with othersCompare your 4 hour fix time with the industry norm of 3 hours

The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.

Use more than one

A number says how many. Words say why. A good evaluation often uses both: 40 tickets were slow (quantitative), and staff say the form is confusing (qualitative).

Run a formative check while you build, so you fix problems early. Run a summative check at the end.

Check

Have a go

Check

4 questions
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Your answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.

The lesson goes on

3 more parts of this lesson are in the full curriculum, with the tasks, the final check and the labs. A college account gives your students all of it.

Previous lesson: DI 3.5; NC 3.5; DS 3.5; CS 3.6: The steps of critical thinkingAll chaptersNext lesson: DI 3.5; NC 3.5; DS 3.5; CS 3.5: Corroboration and triangulation