Teacher and trainer training is one of the most important determinants of the success of reforms in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems in recent years in the Mediterranean region. This is based upon the assumption that the role of teachers and trainers in the reform of TVET is a dual one; that of stakeholder and…

Electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) is no longer a new term in the area of educational research. It has been widely adopted by various tertiary institutions as a learning and assessment tool in different countries. A major feature of an ePortfolio is that it supports lifelong learning by archiving and showcasing selected artifacts from individual…

This paper is a case study of a Chinese educational leader who was in charge of an institution when it was in the process of being upgraded from a secondary vocational school to a self-funded tertiary vocational institution. Using a life history approach, the paper furnishes an informative picture capturing the dual transformation process of the…

Seminaries and graduate schools of theology in many non-Western contexts are launching new doctoral programs. Many of these schools are younger and smaller than their Western counterparts and function in contexts with less developed infrastructures. Are they ready to offer doctorates? This case study seeks to answer that question with regard to…

Ten functions of program theory are reviewed: contributing to social science knowledge; assisting policymakers, discriminating between theory failure and program failure, identifying the problem and target group, providing program implementation description, uncovering unintended effects, specifying intervening variables, improving formative use…

Formative evaluation of a prototype system can help developers to refine a product and define a market. A survey of adopters and non-adopters of a prototype videotex system, when coupled with machine-collected data about system usage, provided rich information for that purpose. (Author)

As an evaluation team trained in educational psychology and committed to participatory evaluation and its evolution, the researchers have found the parallel between evaluator-stakeholder roles in the participatory evaluation process and educator-student roles in educational psychology theory to be important. One advantage then is that the theories…

The author feels that the stakeholder approach unavoidably pushes the evaluation toward technical compromises and accommodations that diminish the long-term gains in knowledge. (PN)

Issues involved in empowering evaluation conducted with grass-roots organizations are discussed. One major issue centers on conflicting evaluation standards evaluators and stakeholders may have, and another is whether there is harmony between the empowerment model's goals of evaluation ownership and group advocacy. (SLD)

Discusses and defines participatory or user-design in the fields of instructional design and performance technology and describes systemic change as a context for user-design. Topics include stakeholder involvement, ethnographic field methods, cooperative design, action research-based user-design, user-design decision guidelines, and leadership.…

Survey responses from 100 providers and 100 purchasers of open learning materials/media found confusion over the definition of open learning; use in management development to be recent; and a shift to CD-ROMs and videoconferencing. Purchasers and end-users determined success of a medium; therefore, stakeholders' context/environment should be…

Results of a survey of 564 Canadian and American evaluators and evaluation project descriptions provided by a subsample of 348 evaluators indicate that evaluators support a utilization-focused, stakeholder service orientation and think that maximizing evaluation use is a primary responsibility of evaluators. (SLD)

Proposes a process approach to validity that addresses assessment validation in the context of high-stakes assessment. This approach includes a test evaluator or validator who considers the perspectives of five stakeholder groups at four different stages of assessment maturity in relation to six aspects of construct validity. Illustrates each…

Key issues in evaluating the effectiveness of research organizations are examined, and the following approaches for evaluation are explored: (1) the goal-attainment approach, (2) the strategic constituency approach, (3) a systems approach, and (4) a competing values framework. (SLD)

A survey of 44 Dutch human resource development (HRD) professionals, 357 trainees, 242 supervisors, and 124 workers indicated that involvement of these stakeholders in strategic alignment of HRD with company objectives and their opinions of the quality of the alignment process influence the perceived effectiveness of HRD. (SK)