Integrating the Case Study
into
an Evaluation Course
A workshop presented at the
American
Evaluation Association
Conference (2003)
Following are the issues we
covered in our session:
- The range of competencies
to which the case study attends
- Authentic case study
deign
- Techniques for workload
management
- Connecting the project --
as much as possible -- with the field work students will complete
the following semester
Our agenda touched on seven
topics or issues:
- The classroom
setting--course outcomes, content coverage,
activities/assignments, etc.
- Why integrate a case
study into the course; a brief description of the earlier "field
work" assignments the case study replaced
- Determining a viable case
study--and the specific tasks students must complete
- Orienting students to the
tasks; resources to jump-start their efforts
- Balancing individual work
and team work
- Assessment
- Constraints
Take a moment to browse the
course
website with which
the case study is affiliated. In particular, you'll want to
review the:
- Introduction,
which provides an overview of the evaluation sequence and
performance outcomes/expectations;
- Reading Room,
which lists course texts, links students to additional readings
(the ECR password is eval), and offers books and other
resources germane to their activities;
- Requirements,
which describes the tasks and assignments that students complete
-- over a six-to seven-week period (and how they'll be assessed);
and
- Syllabus, which
details the course topics/issues we cover from week to
week.
Note that
the two-semester evaluation sequence is the capstone experience for
students enrolled in the EdTec master's degree program at San Diego
State University.
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Download the
following:
- The email
invitation
forwarded to the two Ed 451 instructors who initially expressed
interest in participating in the case study.
- The case
study overview
provided to students (which also explains how they'll be organized
... and the balance of individual and teamwork).
- An
email with links
to resources to jump-start the first assignment (review of the
literature).
- An email overview
(provided to students) that details strategies
for conduct a documents review/content
analysis (in this
case, of the Ed 451 syllabus).
- The template
associated with each report that students generate (three team
deliverables altogether) .
You'll also want to review
the synopsis
template I've
developed -- to allow students to see the class effort in a more
holistic way.
I own all of the books and
other resources noted in the Reading Room. Over the years, I've
established a check-out system that allows students easy access to
texts that may not be readily available through the SDSU library. The
Evaluation Conceptually section features several books
specific to the case study ... and ones I heartily
recommend.
© 2003, M. J.
Bober
