| Roundtable: On a REMOTE Island: Surviving an Online Graduate Program in Evaluation: Questions, Answers, Final Lessons, and More Questions |
| Roundtable Presentation 244 to be held in the Boardroom on Thursday, Nov 12, 10:55 AM to 12:25 PM |
| Sponsored by the Distance Ed. & Other Educational Technologies TIG and the Teaching of Evaluation TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| Charles Giuli, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, giulic@prel.org |
| Kavita Rao, University of Hawaii, kavitar@hawaii.edu |
| Abstract: The University of Hawaii and the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) offered an NSF sponsored, online master's degree in evaluation practice called the Regional Education Master's Online Training in Evaluation (REMOTE). The required 30 credits of graduate work had to be completed within 2 years. After an initial in-person, 2-week meeting, the remaining 4 semesters were conducted synchronously and asynchronously online. Nineteen professionals from the Pacific began the course in the summer of 2007; eight are likely to finish in the spring of 2009. A presentation at the 2008 AEA conference described the challenges associated with the 2-year completion window; the demands made by students' professional lives; the obligations posed by community and family; inadequate technology; and students' wish for personal contact with fellow students. The 2009 presentation will update this prior discussion with findings from a survey of students and instructors conducted by the authors since then. |