PROJECT EAGLE I, "online learning project"

EVALUATION PLAN

St. Petersburg College is committed to both formative and summative evaluation of the grant objectives throughout the course of the project. Recall that the initial objective of the grant is to define and disseminate information on best practices, working with national panels of experts. In fact, the College expects to evaluate technology options as a first order of business.

There are multiple layers of evaluation across all the key aspects of the program. The College will conduct needs assessments as the first phase of program development (both for upper division and workforce curricula). The results of these evaluations will be used in program development and as a benchmark for program assessment.

Funding has been requested specifically for project evaluation each year of the grant and to support a staff position that will focus on assessment and dissemination of grant results. The expectation is that each year detailed program objectives with activity plans, implementation strategies, and defined outcomes will be crafted. These will be developed by project staff in consultation with the panels/consultants in the technology and subject matter areas. As each year of the grant draws to a close, the evaluation measurements will inform the refinement of the following year's project objectives.

Independent of this process, the College intends to significantly strengthen its evaluation of at-a-distance learning. The plan is to launch a rigorous every-five-year review of each "distance" course as an extension of the review process for "traditional" courses. This step will be coupled with a refinement of the formative evaluation (flexible access form) process that serves as the initial point of quality review and approval.

New student services will be evaluated as part of the College's on-going PEAR (Planning, Evaluation and Assessment Review) system that regularly surveys students about their perception of services and measures success by a series of predetermined critical success factors. Project success will be achieved (in a global sense) when students are able to access identified upper division and workforce programs in a "modality" which matches their learning style and time/place/pace parameters, complemented by an integrated, seamless array of student and academic support services available at Campus "touch down" zones and at a distance.