Formative evaluation strategies for major instructional development projects

Abstract

The paper contains three major sections. First, an attempt will be made to identify some general maxims that seem to shape major instructional development efforts and thus affect efforts to do formative evaluation within those projects. In the second section, I will seek to describe four major issues that must be addressed in any attempt to plan for and implement formative evaluation as part of a large development effort. The third section focuses on some simple but practical procedures that might enhance the probability of formative evaluation being effectively used as a part of a major instructional development effort. These procedures, taken together, constitute a strategy.