U7: Assignment - WOL: Self-Assessment and Reflection

 WOL: Self-Assessment and Reflection

Based on the results from my evaluator self-assessment, I would rate myself as a 3. Though I have gained many skills I did not have before taking this class, I still have so much to learn, and many more skills to polish and refine. Therefore, I think 3 is an accurate and honest description of my growth. This is still a vast improvement over where I started, and I am not disappointed in this level of growth. A 3 is much better than a 0 or 1, and shows development. I am not an expert, but I am also not the novice I was at the beginning. Through some tough growing pains, I have changed for the better as a team member, an evaluator, and as a student. I have discovered how to be a better team member. I have realized that I have to become more detail-oriented, because I made mistakes in my final evaluation presentation when I was discussing our data sources. I have also discovered that I need to be willing to do just about anything for the success of the team and project, even if that means going out of my comfort zone, or working longer hours to accomplish our goals and objectives.

I am still weak in identifying assumptions that underlie methodologies and program logic. To be frank, I am not entirely sure what this means. Perhaps this is referring to assumptions stakeholders, designers, and companies make regarding participants’ background knowledge, and how these assumptions create bias in the design of the course. For example, my team evaluated UN CC:Learn, which creates courses regarding climate change mitigation. We discovered that many of the participants of our particular 3-hour course struggled with the vocabulary used. This could have stemmed from assumptions the designers had about what their participants already knew and understood about climate change and/or assumptions about their education levels, occupations, etc. These assumptions can weave their way through the design, and affect the quality, effectiveness, and accessibility of the course. This is a reason why evaluation is so crucial, to weed out some of these assumptions and biases and create cultural, educational, and background-knowledge sensitivity.

Another of my weaknesses is my ability to analyze data using credible, feasible, and culturally appropriate procedures. Analyzing the data was a terrific struggle for me. It has been decades since I have created or analyzed bar and pie grafts, pie charts, and dot plots to determine trends in statistics. Unfortunately, I struggled with dot plots back when I first studied them, so I have not made much progress there. This means I also struggle to interpret findings and results in context. I know if I had a lot more exposure to data analysis, I could learn it, but it would take a lot of time and practice. I have a desire to learn this. I would like it to come more easily, and I can see the value in data analysis and how it relates to improvement in education, design, and essentially anything in which humans are involved.

If data analysis came more easily to me, I could turn a weakness into a strength. Once I began to understand the data for our evaluation, I began to notice patterns and trends that related to the design and areas for improvement. So, I still struggle with using evidence and interpretations to draw conclusions and make judgments and recommendations when appropriate, but if I were better at interpreting the data, I know this would be a strength. Again, this is a skill I would like to hone, and the only way I will be effective at it is through trial and error. Thankfully, I do not work in the summer, so I have a little more freedom to practice some of these skills.

My strengths are similar to the strengths I observed at the beginning of the class, but the good news is that I have grown within those strengths. Before beginning LDT 506, I was strong in cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity because of my Sociology class, but this course has helped me to open my eyes even further to some issues that can arise when evaluating a course which spans several nations and cultural practices. I understand the feelings and practices behind such different approaches, and through the class have demonstrated cultural sensitivity within my evaluation practices. 

  I have improved some in my ability to identify how evaluation practice can promote social justice and the public good. I can see how evaluation can pinpoint areas of concern on topics such as equity, diversity, and division of labor and power, and I recognize evaluation as an important tool in creating positive change in these areas. 

Whereas before this class I did not know much about evaluation or even care much about its role in the field of design, I would now be willing to advocate for its usefulness and necessity, especially for instructional designers. I can see not only how it can improve what we are designing, but also improve the companies, work environments, stakeholders, employers and employees, and participants for whom we design. 

Something that surprised me in evaluation is that I had to be able to interpret findings/results in context. I had no idea this class would be so data analysis heavy. Clearly, I did not have a choice in whether or not I can skip this class because it is part of my LDT degree, but if I had been given a choice, I likely would have chosen to skip it. However, I am glad I had to take it, because I have learned some things I did not know before, and I think it is important that I understand the role of evaluators, as I will often be working with them. I believe this class will help me recognize professional evaluators, and those who are not worth their salt.

An action I could take to develop my competencies is to practice analyzing data in my free time. I need to understand how to read bar, pie, and dot charts and determine what they mean. Because data is such an integral part of the design process, it is important that I understand it. A second thing I can do is advocate for evaluation. After all, we as human beings are constantly evaluating in our lives. We evaluate restaurants, art and educational offerings, teachers, professors, books, etc. We practice this skill constantly, so my role is to reassure people that it is critical to the field of design.