An Evidence-based Approach to the Design of a Learning Program: Evaluating Preliminary Data Sets

Abstract

The Global Perspectives (GP) program is an evidence-based
curriculum initiative that integrates the process of designing and
implementing a learning program with a process for developing and
implementing a plan to evaluate it for effectiveness and impact. The GP
program educational evaluation and research (EER) plan was based on the
framework for evaluating e-learning proposed by Phillips, McNaught, and
Kennedy (2012), which includes the LEPO framework for learning. The focus
is to evaluate learning design for „fit‟ with achieving the learning objectives
and, for the mature GP program design, research the effectiveness and impact
of the GP program on students. This paper presents the method and results of
a core activity of the EER plan: review data collected during Phases 1 and 2
(pilot and implementation) where the GP program was embedded into two
first-year units in the Faculty of Health Science. We describe the method and
discuss the results of our analysis in terms of a protocol for a systematic
analysis of each data set in terms of ability to inform learning design, the
impact and effectiveness of the GP program and usefulness of data in terms of
contributing to the development of a diagnostic tool to measure cultural
competence.