Instructional Design:

Formative Evaluation

The purpose of this lesson was to instruct teachers in using the Gradekeeper software.  The end goal was to have teachers create computerized grade book files and that they could continue to use the program throughout the school year.  This was done because many teachers wanted to have a computerized grade book, and a few teachers at the end of last year convinced the building principal to buy the software license.  The Gradekeeper program is now provided, but many members of the faculty need instruction, so they can use it at the start of the 2005/2006 school year.

In order to have teachers become proficient, on-going users of Gradekeeper, the instruction was broken into tasks.  Teachers needed to learn how to enter names and assignment scores correctly.  They would also need to be able to change the settings to meet their grading policies. 

Then after setting up their grade book, they would learn how to generate reports.  Generating reports is one of the main reason for the purchase of this software.  Using the program will provide teachers with better information on students, class performance, and on their own assessments.  Gradekeeper is able to automatically create individual student grade sheet; it can create a class average score for individual assignments.  It generates missing work reports and provides a fast summary page to see the entire class' progress on their quarterly grades.

Three high school teachers (two English teachers and one social studies) were given this unit of instruction.  They were each taught individually.  Two of the three learners were instructed in their classroom and the third person was instructed at home.  All three had Windows XP computers with Gradekeeper installed.  The learners sat in front of their computers, and observed by an instructor sitting diagonally and slightly behind them.  All three learners were individuals who had expressed interest in learning the program and wanted to be prepared to use in the upcoming school year.

All three were told that this was intended to be a self-guided lesson.  They were encouraged to think aloud, and if they found mistakes or if information was confusing, they should let the instructor know.  They were to use the packet to create a Gradekeeper file for one of their classes.  In the second phase of the lesson, they created another grade book file, using the packet's guidance.  Then on the third phase of the lesson, the learners needed to create a third file, without the use of the instructional packet.  They were observed and post-tested by the instructor, using the Performance Checklist.  Then, the learner and the instructor discussed the results and the learner's reactions to the lesson in an informal interview.

Pre-Test

The pre-test indicated that all three learners had basic computer skills: opening files, saving, printing, keyboard and mouse use, etc.  Two of the three had used spreadsheets before.  Learner C said she did not have experience will tabs in menus, but was actually just confused by the wording of the question.

On the pre-test measures of learner attitude, it was evident that all three learners had a positive attitude towards solving computer problems.

Learner B did not have any spreadsheet or computerized grade book experience.  She also said she did not know how to save files to different locations on the computer or disk, but she later demonstrated that she did know how and just wasn't confident.  The instructor had her practice Excel skills for about ten minutes: entering names, moving items within cells, typing in columns vs. rows, etc.  Then some Gradekeeper- generated reports were shown to her to make her more familiar with what a grade book program can produce.

Instruction

The learners all responded positively to the instructional materials.  They indicated after the lesson that they enjoyed the pictures and jokes.  Learner B said these gave her a fun reason for wanting to turn the page.

All three were diligent about reading all of the information provided on each page, carrying out the action, then looking back at their instructional packet and re-reading to make sure that they had done each task correctly.  That's probably not typical of most learners, who would likely skim the materials.  My learners had a desire to learn the information and were willing to give up some time out of their summer break.  This willingness to learn is likely the primary reason for the meticulous behavior.

The learners completed their first class period, using the instructional packet.  All worked on their own at separate times and only asked the instructor a few questions for clarification.  For their second class period, the learners were expected to use the instructional materials again, but all three learners remembered the steps.  Each person only had to refer to their packet a few times for some of the details on changing certain grading preferences.

The biggest problem for the learners would be their keyboarding skills.  All three indicated that they had good keyboard skills and could type.  This was true, but only one of the three was proficient at entering numbers.  Learner C was familiar with the number keypad on the right of the keyboard.  The other two were extremely slow at entering students' assignment scores.  They searched the top row of numbers, looking down constantly to hunt and peck their way through entering the grades.  This cost those two learners a lot of time.

Also, Learner A had trouble looking between the instructional packet, her grade book, and the monitor.  The other two learners had a standing clipboard that they could put the packet or the grade book on when needed.

Clarity Issues

Two of the three learners were confusing on page three, because they were hitting the Tab button, when they needed to hit Return instead.  This was a mistake in the directions.  The change was written into the materials before the packet was given to the third learner, so she was not impeded.

All three learners indicated that the directions needed to tell them what to do if there was a mistake.  They had questions, like: Can the order of the student's names or the assignment columns be moved?  What do I do if I hit OK, when I'm not supposed to? 

The directions for how to change the assignment of letter grades, led all three learners to ask questions.  Otherwise, the students indicated that explanations were clear and written in short, simple chunks.

Post-test

After observing the learners in third trials and assessing them using the Performance Checklist, the amount of time that each student spent on the three trials was calculated.  All three learners completed the tasks faster with each trial.

In the Performance Checklist, all three learners were successful.  All the students' names were entered correctly, as were the assignments.  The three learners could generate the final four reports.  The learners had been expected to complete the third class in the same order that they had learned the material, but all three learners accomplished the end goal without having to follow the steps in the same order that had been presented in the instructional materials. 

Two learners started entering grade book preferences first, rather than the students' names.  All three learners combined double-checking with data entry, rather than reviewing the whole page after all of the data is entered.  All three learners reviewed each name and student number after it was typed, before moving on to the next student's name.  Also, two would enter a student's score and double-check it before moving on to the next score, which was a very time consuming choice, (these learners were the same two who used the "hunt and peck" method of typing).  Learner C used the numerical keypad to enter an entire column of names, then she went back and double-checked the column before moving to the next assignment. 

The learners were almost able to complete their second class lists without referring to their materials.  This indicates that the materials did explain and teach the topic effectively.  Further evidence of learning can be seen in the post-test.  All of the tasks on the Performance Checklist were completed.  The learners' adaptability shows that they were able to learn the material, internalize what they learned, and apply the learning without guidance.  It is evident that at least in the short-term, these teachers have learned how to use Gradekeeper.