Hi Sheila, as I said, the focus of my interest is informal learning, in particular via the Web. Web development projects can be expensive. They are also very public so it's important to get them right. So I think we need ways of formatively testing Web based museum learning activities before they are launched publicly. That line of thinking takes me down the road of user trials, measuring the performance of activities against intended learning outcomes. The difficulty here is that it is difficult to specify intended learning outcomes in the context of exploratory, creative activities for informal learners who have their own agendas. But I think there is a way around this. By switching attention away from content,ie. what the learner learns about, and concentrating instead on how they learn, ie the skills they employ to learn, then I think it may be possible to define and subsequently test activities for the degree to which they support the kinds of skills informal learners use and develop. The sorts of skills I have in mind are, (in addition to understanding and recall) exploring, experimenting, communicating, creating. So for example, a learning activity about knitting could entail the learner investigating and exploring a variety of different web and other resources, understanding the content they find there, discussing and debating it with other learners, conducting further exploration around the same topic, experimenting with different techniques and materials, and articulating and expressing their ideas through drawings and writing that they upload to share with others. The learning design could be expected to foreground these generic learning experiences and skills rather than specify prescriptively what the visitors should learn about knitting. Relevant metrics for formative testing of prototypes include subjective opinions of curators/teachers/learners, content analysis of material developed by visitors, analysis of bulletin boards, wikis, etc associated with the activity and simple counting of the volume of material/exchanges. Regards Stephen
-----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sheila_Carey at pch.gc.ca Sent: 15 February 2007 18:49 To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Metrics & Evaluation SIG Hi Stephen -- I'm also interested in evaluation of online learning environments, and I'd be very interested in your ideas on input metrics. Sheila Carey "Stephen C Brown" <sbrown at dmu.ac.uk> Sent by: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu 02/15/2007 12:56 PM Please respond to Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> To "Museum Computer Network Listserv" <mcn-l at mcn.edu> cc Subject Re: [MCN-L] Metrics & Evaluation SIG Hello Sheila, metrics and evaluation very often concentrate on outputs, that is to say: how many visitors came, what did they do, how much did they like it? What did they get from it? And so on. I'm interested in predictive measures that enable formative evaluations to be made of how effective a particular museum experience might be before it is actually launched. In other words, input metrics. I'm especially interested in how these ideas apply to Museum website design and learning activities, particularly when it comes to open ended exploratory kinds of activities. Is anyone else interested in these topics? Stephen Brown -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sheila_Carey at pch.gc.ca Sent: 15 February 2007 17:33 To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Metrics & Evaluation SIG Hi everyone, I'm pulling together ideas for a Metrics & Evaluation SIG session for the MCN conference. I'd welcome any suggestions on topics and/or speakers. Thanks. Sheila Carey Chair Metrics & Evaluation SIG _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
