EVALUATING PERFORMANCE TRAINING METHODS: A MANUAL FOR TEACHER TRAINERS
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EVALUATING PERFORMANCE TRAINING METHODS:
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A MANUAL FOR TEACHER TRAINERS
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Prepared under UNESCO Contract #506977 by
Stephen McLaughlin
Jeanne Moulton
Center for International Education
University of Massachusetts
December 15, 1975
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Acknowledgements
This manual was not written in academic confinement*
4
On the contrary.
its contents result from cooperation from many people who are using perfor-
mance training methods in developing countries.
For this cooperation, the
<
authors wish to thank in particular the individuals they consulted: the
Regional UTCCEF-UNDP-OIESCO Teacher Training project at the University of
the West Indies in Jamaica, the Departement of Education at the University
of Nairobi and the Educational Television Project in Bouake, Ivory Coast.
With the generous assistance of National Directors, Chief Technical
Advisors, teacher trainers, teachers and students who have had experience
with performance training methods, and the contribution of the Division of
Methods, Materials and Techniques in Unesco, the authors were able to pre
pare this manual knowing that it can be applied readily to a variety of
teacher training programmes actually taking place.
Our experience has shown, above all, that each situation is unique
and that, like every educational tool, this manual must be adapted by those
who use it, to satisfy their particular requirements.
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MEDICAL EDUCATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Pages
*
What is the purpose of the manual?
Why is there a need for evaluation?
In what ways have trainers acted as evaluators?
What is the format of the manual?
What will the manual not do?
1
9
3
4
5
«
Chapter I - Performance Training Methods
What is the theoretical basis for performance training methods?
What is micro-teaching?
9
What is interaction analysis?
■'0
What are simulations?
11
What are different levels of utilization of performance training methods? 12
What are some of the problems with performance training methods? ....
T.5
Chapter II - Indicators for Evaluation of Performance Training Methods
<
What are indicators?
How can indicators be derived from training objectives to evaluate
performance training methods?
How should objectives be stated so that the success of performance
training methods in meeting them can be evaluated?
How can objectives and performance training methods be effectively
matched?
What indicators can be used to judge whether program resources are
beino used effectively?
What are some of the ways in which performance training methods
affect other parts of the training program?
What are some specific indicators that will assist teacher educators
in designing their training programs?
21
23
24
26
3j
36
37
Chapter III - Evaluating the Performance of Performance Training Methods
What is feedback?
How can direct observation be used as feedback for evaluating
training methods?
How can student responses be used as feedback for evaluating training
methods?
43
46
Pages
How can observation instruments be used as feedback for evaluating
training methods?
How can rating scales be used as feedback for evaluating training
methods?
How can the teacher educator use feedback information to tell if
a performance training method is helping to meet his objectives?..
How can a performance training method be analyzed?
How can a teacher educator determine whether to change the use
of a performance training method?
How can the teacher educator analyze a sequence of methods?
In what ways can teacher educators evaluate the overall usefulness
of impact of performance training methods?
.
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49
50
51
57
60
63
Conclusion
66
Bi bliography
68
t
INTRODUCTION
What is the purpose of the manual?
This manual is designed to help those who are concerned with training
teachers (teacher educators, administrators, supervisors) to evaluate one
of the most important aspects of a teacher training program the training
methods.
Specifically, the manual provides techniques for evaluating
behavioral or performance training methods. * This manual is thus intended
for those teacher educators who have begun to use performance training
methods and want to become better able to evaluate the success of those
methods in their programs.
Performance behavioral training is still a relatively little known
area of teacher training which focuses specifically on the teacher's behavior
in the classroom.
Its purpose is to help a teacher trainee produce a variety
of desired teaching behaviors.
The basic ingredients common to all performance
training methods are:
1)
an instructional objective
2)
an immediate feedback device
both of which will be explained later in the manual.
During the last fifteen years, schools of education and teacher training
institutes have developed a variety of these performance training methods, such
4
♦Although the terms ’’behavioral" and "performance" can be used inter
changeably, the term "performance" will be used in this manual.
2
as micro-teaching, simulations, interaction analysis, and other classroom
observation instruments, which teacher trainers around the world are beginning
to use with success.
Those familiar with these methods often find them
intellectually fascinating but are sometimes skeptical about their effect!veness as tools to train better teachers.
This manual is designed to help
teacher educators evaluate the usefulness of some of these techniques and
suggest ways to modify the use of them to better suit their own purposes.
Why is there a need for evaluation?
Wanting to know how well things are working is a natural human concern.
Whether our goal is to learn how to swim, how to drive a car, or how to put
a rocket on the moon, the more frequent and comprehensive the feedback we
get about our performance, the more easily and quickly we can improve upon
that performance and accomplish our goals.
The same holds true for training
teachers, where these evaluation functions are performed almost daily.
Since graduates of teacher training programs are expected to meet certain
levels of performance, their skills must be assessed regularly during the
course of their training to insure that they are, in fact, reaching those
levels.
But besides assessing the skills of their trainees, teacher educators
also need to know how well their training methods are working, since these
ultimately reflect the kinds of skills their trainees will a£}uire.
The success
of teacher educators in preparing good teachers depends, in part, on their ability
to evaluate the effectiveness of the training methods they use and to make
modifications that would maximize their efficiency.
The need to evaluate training methods, however, has not always assumed
the importance it now has.
For years, teacher educators depended solely
on the training methods of (1) lectures, (2) assigned readings and (3)
varying amounts of practice teaching.
The effectiveness of these methods
3
was rarely evaluated, because they were so rooted in
tradition that
little need was felt to question their value.
Evaluation of performance training methods is especially necessary.
These methods have usually been developed at universities or teacher training
colleges in the United States or Europe and, as such, bear the indelible
stamp of those cultures and their values.
which teacher training
However, the conditions under
programs in developing countries take place differ
enormously from those in Western universities.
In fact, they differ from
one another, even within a single qeograohical reqion.
Accordingly, a
method that has been transplanted and applied uncritically to one proaram
cannot be expected to have the same effect as it would have in another
program in either the West or in the same region.
By using this manual,
teacher educators will be better able to evaluate the effectiveness of
any one of these performance training methods in thei r own programs.
In what ways have trainers acted as evaluators?
It is difficult to imagine a teacher educator who is not interested in
the direction in which his proaram and his trainees are progressing.
every teacher educator evaluates his success in some way.
some evaluation techniques
But the worth of
that educators use could be seriously questioned.
One evaluation technique might be tabled "faith".
*
Indeed,
In other words, the
teacher educator believes, either because he has been told or because he has
decided for some reason, that the training method he uses is effective in
moving his students in the direction desired.
For example, he may think that
if his students can successfully pass a variety of written tests that they wil 1 have
successfully mastered the behavioral skills of teaching as well.
Another
*The terms "method" and "technique” are nearly synonomous. In this manual ,
the
term
llx , . "method"
, .
be used in conjunction with training, and the term
technique1 with evaluation, in order to avoid possible confusion.
4
technique might be called "numbers".
Using this, the educator judges the
success of his program on the number of its graduates, or the number who
find jobs, or the number who pass tests, and so on.
personal judgment.
A third technique is
The teacher educator might rely entirely on his own
opinion of which direction the trainees are moving, without subjecting such
opinion to the challenges of others or to any systematic evidence.
more technique might be named
"smooth sailing".
One
Using this technique, the
teacher educator knows he is on the track as long as no one-trainees,
colleagues, or officials in schools—indicates that they oppose the direction
of the program, or, if they do, the program is modified accordingly.
All of those evaluation techniques give teacher educators some indication
of the success of their training methods.
But many have become dissatisfied
with this kind of approach and are turning to more reliable evaluation
techniques.
It is the goal of this manual to present to teacher educators
a procedure that will enable them to make a more systematic and accurate
evaluation of their use of performance training methods than has coimonly
been the case in the past.
What is the format of the manual?
There are three main sections in the manual.
The first is a survey
of some of the performance training methods which have become familiar to
teacher educators in recent years.
The second is a discussion of some of
the criteria or indicators which might be selected to evaluate performance
training methods, including indicators that reflect the capacity of the
methods to meet the objectives as well as those that concern some of the
outcomes or impact of the skills that are being taught.
The third section
introduces some tools for evaluating the effectiveness or performance
training methods in meeting the training objectives and for determining
if and/or how to modify the methods to better achieve the objectives.
5
What will the manual not do?
We might conceive of the teacher training orocess as a sequence of
concerns or questions.
Why do we train teachers?
What is a good teacher?
What are our training objectives?
What methods shall we use to train them?
How can we judge the effectiveness of our methods?
How can we modify them to better meet our objectives?
The manual assumes that the teacher educator has already answered—or is
continually reanswering—the first four questions in this sequence.
It assumes
that he is serving in the teacher training program because he believes it
has some value for the country, that he has a picture in his mind of a good
teacher, as well as certain ideas about how to train good teachers, that
he has set training objectives based on those ideas and has chosen some
training methods—in this case performance training methods —to accomplish
those objectives.
Therefore, answering the first four questions of the sequence falls outside
the scope of this manual.* Very little help is provided in identifying a good
teacher or in deciding what objectives to select or even in learning about all
available performance training methods and materials .
What the manual does offer is assistance in assessing the effectiveness
of performance training methods in meeting some of the objectives of the
program.
The reader should note that, although the manual suggests a variety
of indicators on which the overall success of performance train!no methods
*If the teacher educator has not finished answering these questions, it
would be profitable to do so before proceeding.
6
might be evaluated, the actual evaluation procedure described here includes
only those indicators which reflect the extent to which the performance
training program is accomplishing its objectives.
The manual wi11 not
provide any assistance in answering questions related to the appropriateness
of the objectives or the impact of the training for a particular setting.
The teacher educator who wishes to measure these dimensions of his proqram
should consult other sources for evaluation techniques that focus on these
variables.
The scope of the manual is limited in another sense--that is, in the range
of teaching skills to which the procedures described herein can be applied.
Many teacher educators distinguish three major skill areas that are involved
in training competent teachers:
1.
curriculum skills--knowing what to teach and in what sequence to
teach it;
2.
materials skills--preparinq instructional materials that will enhance
the pupil's understanding of the content;
3.
instructional skills--effectively utilizing teaching strategies,
techniques, and procedures to facilitate the learning of pupils
in the classroom.
While examples in the manual will occasionally reflect the interdependence
of the three skill areas, the manual focuses primarily on the third of the
three, the instructional skills.
Performance training methods are, by
definition, concerned with a teacher's classroom behavior, i.e., the ability
to create and manage learning oppotunities where oupils can successfully
acquire new knowledge and skills.
By providing procedures to help assess the
effectiveness of performance training methods, the manual serves as a tool to
those teacher educators who wish to devote special attention to the inculcation of
these instructional skills in their trainees.
7
CHAPTER I
PERFORMANCE TRAINING METHODS
Teacher educators have for years sought an effective way to implant in
their own trainees some of the unique qualities that are commonly found only
in the most gifted and imaginative classroom teachers.
Formerly, it was
thought that trainees might absorb these qualities through a process of osmosis
during the course of an extended tutelage with a master teacher.
However, as
helpful as it was to have some of the more obvious attributes of a master teacher
rub off on younq trainees, this approach suffered from the lack any reliable
tools to help trainees see that the teacher's performance was really a combi
nation of his personality, skill, and experience blended into a highly individualized teaching style.
The breakthrough on this problem came when teacher
educators, borrowing from American military training during World War II,
discovered that a complicated skill like teaching could be more easily taught
when approached, not just as an application of theoretical priciples, but as
a synthesis of clearly identifiable behaviors designed to effect certain results.
This realization provided the basis for a whole new movement in teacher education
which has considerably broadened and strengthened teacher training methodology.
The name of this new approach is performance training.
What is the theoretical basis for performance training methods?
Traditionally, teacher training has consisted of two or three main parts:
subject area courses, such as science, math and history, practice teaching in
the classroom, and sometimes foundations of education.
Foundations and
subject area courses have been taught predominantly through lectures and
assigned readings, and practice teaching has given the trainee experience in
a real classroom with supervision.
In foundations courses, trainees have
studied psychology, sociology, and the philosophy and history of education.
8
which provided them with a rudimentary knowledge of the teaching profession.
In subject area courses, they have learned enough information about their
subject to qualify them to teach it, when supplemented with training in
curriculum development and the preparation of relevant instructional materials.
Such a program has sometimes been characterized as "theoretical
discussions followed with trial by fire," since it usually neglected to give
Over the past
trainees any instructional or classroom performance skills.
decade, however, the inclusion of the performance skills in teacher training
programs has increased.
The means of imparting these skills to student
teachers are'often performance training methods--that is, methods by which
student teachers learn the skills by actually doing them.
Among the most
commonly used performance training methods in many teacher training programs
are:
1.
micro-teaching
2.
interaction analysis
3.
simulations.
Performance training methods are those in which:
1.
the trainee takes an active part (performs or "exhibits behavior")
as part of the method, and
2.
the trainee's behavior can be observed clearly enough to indicate
whether or not he has reached the objective.
3.
Conseguently, changes in the trainee’s behavior can be observed;
such changes help to indicate whether the training methods used
have helped him meet the training goal.
The use of performance training methods to teach performance skills
is grounded in the theory and research about how people learn.
more important theoretical foundations
1.
Some of the
are:
People learn by practicing actual teacher behaviors.
In other words
.
9
when trainees are required to become actually involved in the lesson rather
than merely listening or watching an instructor, their learning will be
increased.
2.
People learn best when instructional goals are ^ade managable and
realistic.
4
Performance training methods allow trainees to attempt certain
teaching skills as separate behaviors before they are expected to use them
amidst the complexities of the actual classroom situation.
3.
The transfer of knowledge to a person is more likely if the recipient
sees the relationship of that knowledge to himself.
V?hen the trainees are
asked to practice certain skills as a part of their training, they can see
more readily the application to their own behavior of what might otherwise
be theoretical concepts or abstract information concerning the teaching/
learning process.
These three.along with other points in learning theory substantiate the
success that has been found in using performance training methods to teach
instructional skills to student teachers.
One must not overlook, however.
that another crucial finding of research on learning suggests that different
people learn by different means, and that one cannot expect all trainees to
profit equally from the same methods.
Maximum student learning (defined
as change in behavior and/or perception) is the ultimate criterion against
which any teaching strategy must be measured.
What is micro-teaching?
Micro-teaching is a performance training method designed to isolate
the component parts of the teaching process, so that the trainee can master
each component one by one in a simplified teaching situation.
Micro-teachi ng
is "micro** in class size, lesson length and teaching skills involved.
typical
micro-teaching session might use from four to six students; the lesson might
last from 5 to 10 minutes; the specific teaching skills being practiced might
10
be limited to one or two, such as asking probing questions or introducing
the lesson.
In addition to possible variations in size, length, and skills
practiced, a micro-teaching session might have several other dimensions.
For example, often the trainee is asked to teach the lesson and then to
*
do it again (reteach) immediately after receiving feedback on his performance
from the supervisor, from his peers, from pupils, or some combination of
the three.
A video-tape recording of the lesson can also be made, which
then enables the trainee to observe and critique his own performance.
In
some cases, the pupils may be asked to fill out written feedback forms.
All of these alternatives are optional, however; the essential feature
of micro-teaching is its reduction of the complexity of teaching into
learning tasks of manageable proportions.
What is interaction analysis?
Interaction analysis is a performance training method which allows
the trainee to observe the number and kind of interactions that take place
in the classroom.
Interaction analysis might be done by someone who observes
the trainee’s own performance, by the trainee himself on other teachers'
performances, or, with the aid of audio or visual recording devices, on
his own performance.
The method always requires an observer, who has a
form on which the actions of the teacher and pupils in the classroom can
be systematically recorded every few seconds.
There are many interactions which might be observed.
In the Flanders
system of interaction analysis, which is one of the most popular, the
observer notes every three seconds the action occurring--whether the
teacher is speaking, a student is asking a question, the teacher is asking
a question, there is silence, and so on.
One purpose of this kind of analysis
ils to determine the amount of time the teacher talks in proportion to the
11
amount of time students talk.
Another purpose is to determine the nature
of the interactions—whether they are teachers' questions and students'
answers, students' questions and teachers' answers, students' questions of
each other, and so on.
The nature of the interaction being observed and analyzed can vary
considerably, as can the format for recording the interactions, the use of
audio and video recording devices, the length of intervals between recorded
observations, and the purpose of the analysis,
In every case, though, inter-
action analysis is a performance training method used to help the trainee
become aware of the interpersonal dynamics in his classroom and of how
to influence those dynamics.
What are simulations?
Simulations are performance training methods in which the trainee must
solve a classroom problem which is set up artificially through the means of
games, films or other media.
This method allows the trainee to perform in
a classroom situation as_if_it were real, without risking
the consequences
of trying out solutions to the problem in a real situation.
In one kind of simulation, vignettes of classroom discipline problems
are presented on 8mi film, and the action is stopped just short of a solution
to the problem.
The trainee is asked to act out or describe how he would
solve the problem.
In another kind of simulation, called role claying, other trainees or
selected students are instructed to act out certain roles in order to create
a problem situation.
There are many other kinds of simulations, all of
which are performance training methods because they require the trainee to
demonstrate his classroom skill through a simulated performance.
12
What are different levels of utilization of performance training methods?
Performance training methods have been used to varying degrees in
those training programs where they have been introduced.
In some programs.
for instance, performance training methods are still considered highly
experimental and have not yet advanced beyond even minimal levels of use.
At the other end of the spectrum, however, are those training programs
in which performance training methods are given a high priority at every
stage of the training process.
In between the two are a large number of
programs in which performance traininq methods are employed to some extent
during the training experience.
Teacher educators who are undecided about how to incorporate performance
training methods into their own programs may find it helpful to distinguish
between these different levels of utilization of performance training methods.
The characteristics of the different levels are reflected in a number of
ways, including the number of tutors making use of performance training
methods, the extent to which the methods have been integrated into the
curriculum, the time devoted to them, as well as the amount and kind of
program resources (e.g., pupils, supervisors, hardware, materials, technical
assistance, etc.) that are allocated for their use.
The follow'/g discussion
describes more explicitly some of these differences for three distinct
levels of utilization of performance training methods, ranging from minimal
use, to moderate use, to intensive use.
Minimal use of performance training methods
Programs in which performance training methods have been only minimally
utilized are characterized by:
Relatively low level of acceptance of the methods and a generally low
level of energy put into the performance training component
Little or no modification of the curriculum to recognize performance
training as a legitimate subject of study
13
Little or no modification in course scheduling to accommodate more
than one tutor using performance training methods.
Reliance instead
on individual tutors fitting performance training into their own
cl asses
Lack of any special building or room in which to conduct performance
training sessions
Small amounts of hardware--typically, one audio tape recorder-avaiTable for performance training purposes
Little or no use of real classroom pupils, supervisors, or
technicians in performance training sessions
In this situation, the individual tutor(s) who is already using
performance training methods should probably focus his efforts on
improving the use of them in his own classroom.
For example, the tutor
might consider breaking h,is class into a series of small groups which
could then separately practice various teaching skills using microteaching with peers as students.
Even in the absence of any audio
visual equipment, feedback for micro-teaching could be supplied by the
tutor rotating between groups or by peer observers in each group.
Moderate use of performance training methods
Programs in which performance training methods are used to a moderate
degree are characterized by:
General acceptance of the value of performance training, but
implementation stopninn short of a full oroqrammatic commitment tc
the concept
Some modification of the curriculum to partially assimilate
performance training into the course of study.
Short time periods--
typically, one or two months--set aside for the performance training
component
14
Some modification of course scheduling to accommodate more than
one tutor using performance training methods, permitting skill
training across subject areas.
Existence of at least one special room or lab in which to conduct
performance training methods
Moderate amounts of hardware—for example, two audio tape recorders
and two video tape recorders--available for performance training
purposes
Limited use of real classroom pupils, supervisors, and technicians
in performance training sessions.
In this setting, teacher educators utilizing performance training
methods have the opportunity of establishing a reasonably effective
performance training component.
Several tutors can co-operate to design
a program which focuses not only on general teaching skills but skills
that are specific to particular subject areas.
They can also introduce
real classroom pupils into performance training sessions on a regular
basis to lend realism to the training.
Even if there is not sufficient
equipment to video-tape trainees every time they micro-teach, it is still
possible to arrange the scheduling so that they can all be taped at some
regular interval, while making extensive use of peer observation in between.
Intensive use of performance training methods
Programs in which performance training methods are intensively
used are characterized by:
Complete acceptance of the value of performance training and full
programmatic commitment to the concept
Extensive modification of the curriculum to afford performance
training a significant place in the program
15
Extensive modification in course scheduling to oermit wide
flexibility in designing performance training sessions. Lengthy
time periods--commonly two to three hours dai 1 y--avai 1 able for
performance training
Existence of several fully-equipped micro-teaching rooms in which
to conduct performance training sessions
Ample amounts of several different kinds of instructional hardware
available for performance training purposes.
Video and audio tapes
.of positive models available to help trainees develop their skills
Extensive use of real classroom pupils, supervisors, and technicians
in performance trainino sessions
In this setting, performance training is regarded as a major
element in preparing good teachers, so the program is designed accordingly.
Broad cooperation between subject area studies and teaching methods
training is encouraged.
The ample equipment and facilities make it
possibleto run a truly systematic performance training component.
Not
only can trainees be taped on a regular basis but protocal tapes modelling
various teaching skills can be produced.
The extensive use of real class
room pupils in performance training sessions along with the backup support
of specially trained lab supervisors and technicians provide a level of
realism, individual attention, and professionalism that would be difficult
to match in even the best of conventional programs.
Performance training
in this context, combined with an extended practice teaching experience,
is a particularly powerful form of teacher education.
What are some, of the problems with performance training methods?
Like the more traditional kinds of training methods, performance
training methods also have problems which sometimes affect their usefulness
in particular training programs.
Some general characteristics and/or
16
problems of performance training methods which the teacher educator
ought to be aware of are:
1.
Every kind of training method provides a certain amount of
control by the tutor
over what the trainee is expected to learn.
as "well as certain criteria by which his learning can be judged.
This is true, too, of performance training methods.
Therefore,
the chance always exists that the objectives for which they are
designed might not be appropriate or that the methods might not
be suitable in meeting particular training objectives.
2.
Performance training methods are new to most teacher training
institutions, and consequently carry with them the strategic
problems of introducing any sort of innovation.
3.
Educators who have developed methods for training teachers
to teach in Western schools sometimes have difficulty applying
their expertise to new situations which have problems and resources
quite different from those they know well.
4.
The use of materials that have been produced in places other
than the local setting can be meaningless or confusing to student
teachers who know only their own environment.
Whenever possible,
materials should be made locally.
5.
The success of audio-visual and other materials depends very
much on their quality.
Therefore, the program must provide both
the skilled personnel and the equipment necessary to produce
17
interesting and effective tapes, films and displays.
In order for video-tape equipment and other hardware to be
6.
used effectively and efficiently in a program, the following ■
conditions must be met:
the teacher traininq institution must allocate the money,
time and space for the activities for which the equipment
is to be used;
tutors and supervisors must be given guidance in using the
methods and technicians must be trained to run and maintain
the equipment.
Performance training methods generally are used with small groups.
7.
Several related logistical problems must be solved, including the
scheduling of tutors when they are available and arranging for space
suitable for doing small group work.
The teaching act is far more complex than the mere acquisition of
8.
a set of critical teaching skills through performance training methods.
While mastery of these skills may be a necessary part of the process
of becoming a good teacher, it is not sufficient to guarantee that a
good teacher will result.
In addition to the general problems discussed above, specific
difficulties often arise while using particular performance training
methods.
The following is a list of some of the more common problems
teacher educators have faced:
18
Micro-teachi ng
1.
The shorter lesson length and smaller class size of micro-
teaching sessions compared to real classroom situations may cause
adjustment problems for some trainees, requiring tutors to find
ways to help trainees become accustomed to the scaled-down
dimensions.
2.
While discipline is a significant problem in real classrooms.
it does not occur frequently in the micro-teaching situation so
must be dealt with elsewhere in the teacher training curriculum.
3.
The presence of video tape equipment in the classroom some-
times interferes with the teacher's and the pupils' concentration
on the lesson.
4.
When real pupils are not available, student teachers must
practice with their peers, resulting in a loss of realism in the
micro-teaching experience.
5.
The logistic demands of scheduling video-taping and small
group work can become annoying to some tutors and create in them
a bad attitude toward the whole method.
6.
The use of micro-teaching without video-tape equipment or
any equipment at all may appear to be a problem for some teacher
educators.
However, the micro-teaching concept is just as functional
in the no-equipment situation as in the fully-equipped program--
19
the impetus is upon the teacher educator to discover for himself
the best way to adopt the concept to his own situation.
Interaction Analysis
1.
Accurate and complex observation of classroom verbal inter
action demands adequate training of observers, which can be time
consuming and costly.
2.
Any classroom observation technique rests on certain assumptions
about (a) what is worth observing and (b) what are desirable
behaviors.
These assumptions may not be appropriate to the
particular situation in which they are applied.
3.
The presence of classroom observers might interfere with the
teacher's and the pupil's concentration on the lesson.
Simulations
1.
Creating a simulation that dramatizes the essential situation
or problem of concern requires much skill and practice.
Too often
simulations are not effective because they fail to hit on critical
incidents or key issues.
2.
Participants in a role play must have some willingness and
ability to "act" -- to pretend they are in the situation being
portrayed.
Role plays that are not well-acted or well-planned
will not be believable to trainees.
20
3.
To be maximally effective, a simulation should be followed by
a discussion among participants of what occured and what lessons
are to be learned from it.
1eader.
This requires a skilled discussion
21
CHAPTER II
I NDICATQRS FOR EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE TRAINING METHODS
What are indicators?
Evaluation involves the collection of information about the
performance of whatever program component or operation that deci sionmakers in the program wish to assess.
However, not all information
that may be collected is necessarily relevant or useful for a given
evaluation task.
Criteria must be selected that will define what is
relevant information.
These criteria, or indicators, as they are
sometimes called, provide the points of reference against which the
effectiveness of the performance-based program to be evaluated can
be measured.
There are numerous indicators that might conceivably be useful
to a teacher educator who is evaluating performance training methods
in his program.
He will need to choose from among them, a set of
indicators that represent some of the major variables that effect the
overall success of performance training methods, both in terms of
the program itself and in relation to other factors outside the program.
While several indicators that are likely to be important to many teacher
educators will be described in this manual, these should by no means
be regarded as the only important dimensions on which one could assess
performance training methods.
In order to obtain a balanced perspective
that would enable the trainer to optimize the use of performance training
methods within the resources and constraints of his program, it is
important to consider as many of these relevant criteria as is possible
or appropriate when conducting an evaluation.
22
Generally, indicators fall into one of two categories, which, for
the purposes of this manual, will be called:
1.
internal indicators
2.
external indicators
Internal indicators are made up of two sets of criteria,
The first
set includes those criteria that derive from the program objectives themselves.
They relate to questions of whether the training methods in fact accomplish
the very objectives they are designed to meet.
The second set contains
criteria that are not really evaluative at all, but reflect, the capacity
and efficiency of a program to combine the program inputs to produce the
desired outcomes.
These criteria focus on such questions as how the use
of pupils, tutors, trainees, administrators, supervisors, hardware, and
software can be optimized and how the introduction of performance training
methods affects other parts of a training program.
They might also deal
with issues like any unintended side-effects that can be expected from
the use of performance training methods, and the effect of their use on
trainee motivation.
External indicators, by comparison, speak to the usefulness or validity
of the program objectives.
They attempt to answer questions concerning the
general impact of the program--for example, its impact on student learning,
the cultural appropriateness of the program's goals in a given setting and
the effectiveness of those goals in meeting laraer educational and societal
goals, the degree of transfer of performance teaching skills to actual
classroom teaching, etc.
Although external indicators will be described
briefly in Chapter III,they will not be considered in the evaluation
process presented in the manual.
more detail.
Internal indicators are now examined in
23
How can indicators be. derived from training objectives to evaluate performance
training methods?
Some of the most important indicators which teacher educators will
need in evaluating performance training methods are those that tell them
whether their training objectives are being met Dy the training methods.
This is obviously a vitally important question tor any teacher educator
to have answered.
If the fundamental goals of a program are not being
achieved, it may matter little whether these same methods are successful
in meeting other important program considerations or larger societal goals
and constraints.
What may not be obvious to a teacher educator, however, is how one in
fact goes about learning whether the methods employed are meeting the
desired objectives.
By what series of operational steps can internal
indicators be devised that would yield this knowledge?
Just as the process of training teachers begins with setting training
objectives, so also does the process of evaluating training methods begin
with setting training objectives.
An evaluator sets objectives in order to have a way of knowing how
well he is orogressinn in the desired direction. If a teacher educator actinq
as an evaluator wants to know whether or not he is "on the track," he must
have objectives which indicate just what the "track "is.
In fact, an
essential part of one's activities as an evaluator is setting objectives
and stating them in such a way that progress toward them can be measured.
The more a teacher educator cares about knowing whether or not he is
progressing in the expected di rection--i.e., whether he is on the track-the.more carefully he will want to define that direction,
objecti ves.
or state the
As a teacher educator, one can set objectives either vaguely
or explicitly.
But as an evaluator, the more specifically one states his
objectives, the better that the progress toward thci can be
24
How should objectives be stated so that the success of performance
training methods in meeting them can be evaluated?
In order to use the evaluation technique of observing how well
trainees meet the objectives of the program, the objectives must be
written so that trainee performance of them is observable.
That is,
they must be stated clearly.
A distinct difference between unclear and clear objectives is
that clear objectives allow for the trainee who is attempting to meet
them to perform in a way that can be observed by the teacher educator.
Simply from direct observation or through the use of some feedback
instrument, the teacher educator can easily determine the extent to
which the trainee has met the objective.
By contrast, the trainee's
performance in meeting unclearly-stated or globally-stated objectives
can be assessed only with the use of more personalized and judgemental
criteria.
Other distinctions can also be made between unclear objectives
and clear objectives.
1)
A clear objective is one which:
describes what the trainee will do, or how he will perform.
in such a way that any number of people observing the
performance would agree on whether or not it is correct;
2)
describes the conditions under which the trainee will perform;
3)
describes the standards by which the performance will be
judged acceptable.
The following are examples of clear objectives:
The trainee will demonstrate his ability to develop lesson
plans by writing plans to cover a four-week period where
the objectives for each lesson are stated clearly, the
methods and materials to be used are described, and the
25
means for evaluating the student’s success in meeting the
objectives of the lesson are specified.
or
The trainee will define in a 30-minute period the main stages
of the child’s mental growth according to the theories of
Jean Piaget with a minimum accuracy of 80% according to the
tutor's key of correct responses.
or
The trainee will demonstrate his understanding of the theory
of competency-based education by writing a five-page essay
in which at least five of the major character!stics of the
theory are discussed.
or
The trainee will demonstrate his fluency in posing questions
by asking at least 15 relevant questions (according to the
tutor) in a ten-minute micro-teaching lesson of ten pupils.
An unclear objective, on the other hand, is one which:
1)
can mean different things to different people;
2)
uses action verbs which cannot be observed — e.g., know.
understand, appreciate, enjoy, etc.;
3)
is a mere statement of intention;
4)
gives no indication of standard or criteria to be applied
for determining whether the specified performance has been
achieved.
The following are examples of unclear objectives:
The trainee will know how to plan lessons.
The trainee wi11 understand how children learn.
The trainee wi11 be able to discipline his students.
The trainee wi11 enjoy his work.
The trainee wi11 be a good teacher.
26
The important difference between unclear and clear objectives is
that the specified performance of the trainee can be observed in the case
of clearly stated objectives, whereas it is difficult if not impossible to
observe the trainee doing in order to meet the objectives that are uncl early
stated.
How can objectives and performance training methods be effectively matched?
Assuming the training objectives are clearly stated, the next step is
for the teacher educator to begin to examine the methods used to meet them.
There is, of course, a wide variety of training methods, both performance
as well as non-performance, that teacher educators frequently choose from
to train teachers.
However, in this manual, we are concerned mainly with
their use of micro-teaching, interaction analysis, and simulations as
performance training methods.
Specifically, this means the teacher educator must map out how
his training methods are matched with his objectives.
it is helpful
In doing this.
to carefully organize one’s list of performance objectives
into groups of related objectives.
Objective-s and methods are often combined in many different ways,
some simple and some complex.
For instance, the appropriate training
method
for a given objective may be directly implied by the objective
itself.
In the 'following objective.
After reading Mager’s book on behavioral objectives,
trainees will demonstrate their ability to write
behavioral objectives by stating five objectives on
topics of their own choosing"
the method—assigned reading--is implied in the objective.
In other cases,
however, several training methods and objectives may be fused together in
many different combinations.
One training method might be directed toward
27
a single training objective, or one method might be directed toward a
group of objectives, or a series of methods might be directed toward
either a single objective or a group of objectives.
Consider the following example.
Suppose we have these performance
objectives:
Performance Objective #1:
In a ten-minute micro-lesson, the
trainee will be able to ask a class of
five students at least five probing
questions (according to the observer)
on the topic being discussed.
Performance Objective 7*2:
In a ten-minute micro-lesson, the trainee
will be able to redirect a least five
questions of students to other students
in a class of five students.
Performance Objective #3:
In a ten-minute micro-lesson, the trainee
will be able to give positive reinforce
ment (encouragement) to every student
who asks a question in a class of five
students.
In order to help trainees meet these three performance objectives related
to questioning skills, a group of methods might be used.
Some of these
would be performance training methods, others might not.
The method of
micro-teaching could be used.
Or an assigned reading could also be used.
Or both of these methods, plus others, could be used.
purposes
For illustrative
let us see how the above objectives might be combined with three
arbitrarily selected methods.
Method A (performance) is Micro-teachi ng
Method B (non-performance) is Assigned Reading
Method C (performance) is Interaction Analysis
The three methods and the three objectives could be matched in several
possible combinations.
23
One method could be used to meet one objective:
Objective -1
^--(met by}
iiethod A
Objective -2
-^-(met by}
"ethod R
Objective #3
«^^(met bv)
Method C
One method could be used to meet several objectives:
Objective *1
Objective #2
met by}
Method A
Objective #3
One objective minht be met by a series of methods:
Method A
Objective #1
met bv)
Method R
Method 0
Several objectives miaht be met by a series of methods:
Objective #1
Method A
Objective £2
Method R
Objective -3
Method 0
The fol lowing is an example of a series of traininn methods that
have been combined into a traininq sequence to achieve a sinqle training
objective.
Example #1
Training Objective:
The trainee will be able to ask at least five nrobina
questions in a ten-minute micro-teachino lesson oiven
to a class of 10 to 15 students.
29
Sequence of
Training Methods:
1. Trainees read instructional materials on questioning
skills, in which the use and importance of probing questions
are described.
2. The tutor uses a role-play to illustrate the differences
in two lessons, one with and one without probing questions.
The use of probing questions tn elicit higher conceotual
understanding in students is discussed.
3. Trainees view a film or video-tane of a master teacher
modeling probinn questions.
4. Trainees prepare a ten-minute lesson on a topic of
their choice which thev micro-teach to a class of six
to eight students.
5. After receiving feedback from their tutors and
evaluating their own nerformance, trainees nrepare
another ten-minute lesson and teach it to a larger
class (12 to 15 students).
6. Trainees ar° given feedback again from their tutors
and evaluate their own performance.
The followinn is an example of a series of training methods that have
been combined to meet two related training objectives:
Example -2
Trainina Objective #1:
'’’he trainee will be able to plan and teach an
introduction to a ten-minute lesson to a class
of 10 to 15 students, so that when asked whether
the introduction has made them eager to continue
the lesson, thev will resnond positively.
Training nbjective ^?:
The trainee will be able to list and describe in a
paraoranh at least three different wavs to introduce
a tonic selected hv the tutor that v'ould maximize
student interest in the lesson.
Training Methods:
The tutor models an introduction to a lesson,
effectiveness of his demonstration is discussed
and alternatives are suggested.
1.
2. ror homework, trainees are asked to invent a unique
annroach to introducing a lesson in their own major
subject area or in some nreassianed subject.
30
3. Trainees are oiven a nracticum in lesson oreoaration
where ways of creating student interest are explored.
Trainees test their previously prenared ideas on small
arouns of their peers.
a
For homework, trainees are asked to think of several
other creative aooroaches to introduce a different
subject to a class, one of which they incorporate into
a five-minute micro-lesson.
5. Train^?s meet with their tutors to discuss their
lesson nlans. Mays of enhancino initial student interest
in the lessons are suaaested.
Trainees micro-teach their five-minute lesson to a
aroun of four to six students. Interaction analysis is
used tn nather data on the amount of student involvement
in t'-c lesson.
7. Trainees are given feedback on the lesson from peers
who ooserve using interaction analysis, from tutors and
from student responses. Trainees modify their methods or
materials where necessary.
8. Trainees teach a longer, ten-minute lesson to a
different class of ten to 15 students. They present an
introduction to the lesson, after which the students,
when asked if they are eager to continue with the lesson,
respond positively. Student involvement during the lesson
is measured by interaction analysis.
Once the relationship between the objectives and the training methods has
been clearly defined, the outcomes ofthat relationship can then be more effectively
assessed.
A procedure for doing this will be presented in Chapter IV.
Teacher educators should note, too, that performance training methods can be
used without relating them to specific objectives if so desired.
already being done in some programs.
This is, in fact.
In such cases the objectives are only implied
in the skills being practiced (e.g., stimulus variation, ending the lesson, etc.).
Emphasis is placed, not on reaching specific objectives, but on analyzing and
reflecting on what actually takes place in the performance training lesson (micro
teaching, for example) regardless of whether or not any clear performance objective
is present.
31
What indicators can be used to judge whether program resources are being used
effectively?
Up to this point the discussion has focused on internal indicators that
help answer the question of whether or not the objectives of the performance
training component are being met by the training methods.
Having specified
the objectives and devised a sequence of training methods to meet them, the
teacher educator can consider a second major issue--that is,how efficiently
the programi combines the available resources to produce the intended training
outcomes.
Those internal indicators that focus on the uses of resources or
inputs constitute some of the most important considerations to take into account
when evaluating an aspect of a training program.
Resources, in the context of a teacher training program, should be defined
rather broadly to include both non-human and human resources.
This is an important
point to remember, since teacher educators often think only of hardware when they
are considering the program resources to devote to performance training.
real sense, the optimal
In a
use of human resources is a technology and one that is
perhaps more important than even the particular kind of hardware available to
the program.
Among the human resources that can be found in a program are the
different kinds of personnel—e.g., tutors, trainees, pupils, supervisors,
administrators, technical and supporting staff--
the range of their skills, and
the applicability of these skills to the needs of the program,
One should note
that trainees and pupils are also included as program resources, since they play
important (and frequently under-utilized) roles in implementing performance
training methods in a program.
Non-human resources encompass a broad assortment of items: the kinds of
equipment or hardware (e.g. , video-taoe recorders, audio-taoe recorders, film
projectors, overhead projectors, duplicating machines, and the like); materials
"frA
a '} * i
A
0 b 2 -x 4
)
!
' J "P
32
or soft-ware (e.g., textbooks, journals, instructional manuals, library books,
films, filmstrips, slide-tape units, pre-recorded video and audio tapes, programmed
instruction, posters, maps, etc.); budgets, not only for normal program operation, ■
but to purchase additional materials and equipment or hire additional personnel
when necessary; time available for normal instruction and new innovations, and
classroom, laboratory and resource space.
The availability of a particular resource in a training program could have
an important bearing on whether certain objectives are achieved or not.
This
applies especially to performance training methods which often reguire unique
kinds and amounts of resources, compared to conventional training methods.
For example, if a particular training sequence requires the regular use of video
tape recording of trainee behavior, but the equipment is insufficient for the
number of trainees who must use it or cannot be maintained in regular working
conditions because of the lack of a technician, the achievement of the related
performance objective is likely to be jeopardized.
One of several things could
be done at this point: either the objective or the method could be modified.
additional equipment procurred, a technician hired, or more efficient scheduling
of trainees instituted.
In other cases, resources might have to be rearranged or redistributed.
For example, since performance training methods are qenerally most effectively
used with small groups of trainees, the resources of time and space must be
allocated differently.
Spetial rooms must be made available or existing ones
set up differently for use with smaller groups and shorter time intervals than
is the practice with traditional teacher training methods.
Scheduling of micro-
teaching sessions will have to be strictly arranged and adhered to to enable
all the trainees to get adequate exposure to the method.
What is being illustrated in these examples, of course, is one of the
most critical concerns of program administration--the way in which program
33
resources are managed.
The centra- question in the management of program
resources, of course, is hew tc best match available resources to resource
requirements in order to successfully implement the program.
Put more
specifically, the question becomes hov' to both optimize and maximize the
use of program resources--that is, how to obtain the highest quality results
serving the largest number of people while using the minimum amount of
resources?
The answer to this question can often be found in a careful weighing
of the various alternatives in light of the particular conditions and
constraints of a given program.
Many teacher educators have found it
helpful to conceive of the issue in terms of the costs and the benefits of
various alternatives.
Thus, in making decisions affecting the use of
performance training methods in their programs, they will seek the answers
to questions concerning the
costs-
i.e., the resources needed for their use (materials.
equipment, personnel, time, space, etc.) and the
benefits-
i.e., the kind and amount of learning that occur among
trainees as a result of their use.
Two questions are of interest in making decisions on whether to invest
in, expand the use of, or merely continue the present use of performance
training methods:
1.
Are the benefits derived from investing in the method worth the addition
al costs when compared to the benefits of methods currently being used:
2.
If a performance training method is introduced or expanded, but resources
are limited so that it must be used with restrictions, how can the method
be used most beneficially?
The following chart illustrates a few of the cost-indicators to be
considered in using a performance training method in comparison to the costs
of using a conventional method.
By analyzing performance training methods
34
conventional method
1i quanity:
hours/
amount
ITEM
1.
cost per
hour
total '
cost I
Personnel
i
tutors
I
trainees
I
pupils
technicians
supervisors
administrators
clerks
---------------------- h
2.
3.
-r
•
•
!
Training
>
.. .of supervisors
...of technicians
Space
cl assrooms
storage space
offices
off-campus
facilities
,
Equipment
purchase
rental
mai ntenance
5.
Materi als
purchase
rental
production
6.
performance training method
I
I quanity:
cost per total
hours/
hour
amount
cost
Time
bloc teaching
performance
training
Total
J
35
along the lines suggested by tr.is chart, the teacher educator should begin
to gain a sense of some of the costs that will be incurred when decisions
regarding the use of performance training methods are made.
Also, in the
next chapter, a procedure will be presented to evaluate performance train
ing methods and test whether and/or how they should be modified to better
achieve their objectives.
If the teacher educator could first establish
the probable costs of allocating resources for performance training methods.
it would enable him to know whether the modifications called for in the
evaluation process will in fact be feasible or desirable.
Introduction or expansion of new methods will probably result in
demands for additional resources or pressures for different uses of resources
that in the past had been allocated to other parts of the program.
trade-offs with those parts are unavoidable.
Sometimes
Often, however, the competition
for resources that may occur among the program's components can be minimized
by more productive uses of the available resources.
For example, more
creative uses of staff or more efficient scheduling of classes could be ex-
plored.
Older and less effective methods that are no longer useful could
be removed or reduced.
Time spent on other parts of the program--e.g.,
bloc teaching, lectures, or other activities--could also be reviewed.
Tutors, too, could reconsider their overall course objectives in relation to
the amount of time to be devoted to performance training.
The new and
different uses to which facilities and equipment are likely to be put by
performance training methods could also be carefully planned in advance.
Yet, even when some shifting of resources to the performance training compon
ent is necessary, the teacher educator should view it, not as a sacrifice
in one program component at the expense of the other, but as an intentional
choice of alternatives that better meet the objectives.
36
What are some of the ways in which performance training methods affect
other parts of the training program?
There are other implications of introducing performance training methods
into a program besides their effect on the way resources are utilized.
For example, performance training methods may also affect the curricu
lum of the training program.
The rationale behind performance training may
be troublesome to some tutors, particularly those who are attached to more
traditional methods.
The practice of performance training may not, in fact,
be congruent with the theories being taught in such courses as educational
psychology, general and subject-matter teaching methods, or foundations. This
may be the result of a particular tutor‘s vested interest in maintaining
his own traditional views of teacher training or perhaps just the lack of
a clear understanding of how performance training methods relate to or
complement his own subject.
Thus, the degree to which performance training
methods are integrated into or are reinforced by other aspects of the
training curriculum may affect both the internal consistency as well as the
over coherence of the curriculum.
There are also unexpected and serendipitous effects from using performance
training methods on other parts of the program,
certain assumptions
These sometimes occur when
are made, often on the basis of experience elsewhere
about how performance training methods will be received in a particular
program.
For example, the teacher educator might assume that there will be
resistance to their introduction from some tutors from the very beginning.
However, the exact opposite might happen—the performance training component
might become quickly so attractive within the program that those tutors who
teach less "desirable" courses might experience some drop in their morale.
In other cases, the unintended effect might spring from the culture in
appropriateness of the particular way a performance training method is
37
used.
For example, the teacher educ'n'r;- might assume that it would be good
to introduce the trainees to micro-teaching by first having them micro-teach
a group of their peers--a practice :hat, in some cultures, would be highly
threatening to trainees, at least initially.
Unintended effects, such as
these, are, by nature, difficult to anticipate and measure, but the teacher
educator can at least be aware of their existence.
Another important implication for program design concerns the effects
of performance training methods on trainee attitudes towards their teaching
and their training experience.
The •importance of trainee morale during
training stems from the fact that some teacher education research has re-
cently suggested that a positive self-perception of one's teaching abilities
may be even more closely correlated with teaching effectiveness than the
possession of specific performance teaching skills.
Therefore, it may be
of more than passing interest to teacher educators to know whether the
teaching skills they so successfully implant in their trainee’s repertoires
also instill a sense of satisfaction and confidence in their ability to be
good teachers.
What are some specific indicators .hat will assist teacher educators in
designing their training programs?
The following is a check-off list of specific items that should help
teacher educators make decisions both about how resources should be used, but
also about how performance training methods can best be incorporated into the
training program.
1.
Is the micro-teaching program which is actually
implemented congruent with its original design?
2.
Is not, list the important differences between
the original design and implemented design?
yes
no
38
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
3.
Do the needs of the performance training methods
vary from subject area to subject area?
4.
List the personnel involved in the micro-teacing
program and the percentage of their time spent
in micro-teaching.
yes
no
PERCENTAGE OF TIME IN MICRO-TEACHING
PERSONS INVOLVED
(List job title)
100'?'
50-99%
49-25%
less than 252
(a)
(b)
(O
(d)
etc.
I
4-
5.
Are personnel who work in the micro-teaching
paid for it in addition to their regular salaries?
yes
no
5.
Does a trainee's completion of the teacher
training program depend in part upon his successful
completion of the micro-teaching program?
yes
no
7.
Do teacher certificates require the successful
completion of the micro-teaching program?
yes
no
8.
How many hours of training do micro-teaching
instructors receive?
9.
How many hours of supervision do micro-teaching
instructors receive?
10.
How many trainees are in each micro-teaching group?
11.
What is the student-teacher ratio in the micro
teaching program?
39
12.
In which aspects of the m4cro-ch-'nc program do
the following persons parti ci p.ir.e?
TUTORS
(a) choice of skil Is
to be taught;
(b) program planning;
(c) implementation;
(d) providing feedback
to students;
(e) program evaluation
I
A.DMINIS~WTORS
I
I
STUDENTS I
Ii
--------- ;
I
I
I
II
i
I
i!
II
i
I
13.
List the outside experts/consulcants used to meet
program needs:
EXPERT
(Job Title)
NUMBER OF HOURS
EMPLOYED
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
14.
List the institutuons with which there have been
exchanges of information about micro-teaching, interaction
analysis, etc. and the nature of the exchange.
INSTITUTION
NATURE OF EXCHANGE
Correspondence Materials
Personnel
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
!
Other
40
15.
List the materials produced which involve performance
training methods and the places each is used internally or externally:
MATERIAL
! USER
I
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
16.
Can the audio-visual materials used be clearly
heard and/or seen by the trainee?
17.
List the skills being taught with the use of
performance training methods and the average
number of times per class each skill would act
ually be used:
SKILL
yes
nc
NUMBER OF TIMES USED
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
18.
How much time is allotted to the following
components of the teacher training program?
2nd year
1st year
COMPONENT
hrs wk wks yr
hrs wk wks yr
(a) Total program
(b) micro-teaching
(c) other perform
ance training
methods
i
3rd year
hrs wk wks yr
I
41
19.
List the kinds of equipment and robber of
hours each is used:
i
No. of
Sets
EQUIPMENT
I
No. of hours
per week each I
set is used
i
No. of weeks
per yr each
Percentage
of time it':
in working
order
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
ii
20.
Is time scheduled to allow the largest possible
number of trainees to participate in performance
training methods?
21.
When a scarcity of resources does not permit all
students to spend an equal amount of time in the
micro-teaching program, what is the basis for
determining who will be given priority?
22.
Is there a room or lab used exclusively for
micro-teaching or is the space shared with
other programs* components?
23.
List the local resources used:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
24.
List the imported resources used:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
25.
List the kinds of evaluation of the micro
teaching program that have been done and the
extent of its use (e.g., once a month):
yes
no
yes
no
exclusive
shared
42
NO. OF TIMES USED
KINDS OF EVALUATION
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
j
26.
What is the average rating, on a scale from 1 (low)
to 9 (high), given by members of the following
groups to the micro-teaching program?
1
(a) Tutors
(b) Trainees
(c) Administrators
(d) Personnel in schools
served by the college
2
3
4
b
6
7
8
9
43
CHAP‘S ■.
i i i
EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF PERFORMANCE
TRAINING METHODS
Having determined the criteria for evaluating the use of performance
training methods in a program, the teacher educator can then move to the
next step in the evaluation process-obtaining information that relates
directly to those criteria.
This process of obtaining accurate and relevant
information on which to make decisions that concern performance training
methods is the subject of this chapter.
What is feedback?
To evaluate how well a program is working requires a regular source
of relevant information about the program.
To an evaluator, this kind of
information, when obtained through a regular procedure or special instrument
designed to yield such specific information, is known as feedback.
In
designing the evaluation process, then, the objective for the teacher educ
ator is to find and use sources of feedback that provide information
appropriate to the evaluation task.
Generally, teacher educators are faced with three evaluation tasks:
1.
to evaluate the individual trainee's performance
2.
to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program in meeting
its objectives
3.
to evaluate the extent to which the skills and behaviors that
teacher trainees are trained in can be used appropriately in
regular classroom teaching and the extent to which these skills
contribute to an improvement in the learning of their students.
44
This manual is concerned primarily with the second of these tasks, although
references to all three have been made throughout.
Of paramount interest in
accomplishing this evaluation task is an assessment of the role played by
the training methods in meeting the training objectives.
Since the scope of
the manual is limited to instructional skills--!.e., the actual classroom
behavior of teachers--the evaluation procedures suggested here will focus.
in the main, on those training methods primarily associated with the
inculcation of these teaching skills--performance training methods.
How can direct observation be used as feedback for evaluating training methods?
Fortunately, the first two of the above evaluation tasks are not mutually
exclusive.
Feedback data about a trainee's performance on a specified
performance training objective also tells the teacher educator something about
the effectiveness of the training methods used to teach the trainee.
Thus,
one important source of feedback data concerning performance training methods
is direct observation
of a trainee's ability to master a particular training
objective.
If the training objective is stated in strict performance terms, then
feedback on the effectiveness of the training methods is in fact "built-in."
Certain requirements must be satisfied, however.
As we have already noted,
objectives must specify:
1.
the desired performance of the trainee
2.
the conditions and standards under which the performance will
be evaluated.
If these are absent or unclearly stated, the teacher educator cannot be certain
whether the trainee has really mastered the objective and, consequently, whether
the training methods have been effective.
45
Determining the conditions
the standards under which the trainee's
performance will be judged is not always an easy task.
Sometimes it is
merely a matter of directly observ-ng the behavior to determine if it meets
the performance expectations of the objective.
For example, consider the
objective:
The trainee will be able to conduct a discussion with a class
of four to six students for ten minutes in which he will
ask at least three open-ended questions.
In this objective, the desired performance ("ask at least three open-ended
questions"',as well as the cond't’ons and standards ("for ten minutes"and
"to a class of four to six students") are all straightforward and easily
observable.
In other cases, however, the conditions and standards are not so
easily defined, and, therefore, may require a feedback device rather than
simple observation.
For example, consider this objective:
The trainee will be able to conduct a discussion with a class of
four to six students for ten minutes in which the students actively
participate in the lesson.
Although the conditions are clear, the term "actively participate" is not
clear until some criteria are established.
Direct observation is not
sufficient in this case, because what one observer sees as "active participation"
may not agree with what another observer sees.
To make the objective more explicit, the teacher educator could restate
it so that feedback is obtained from another source.
There are three other
sources of feedback on trainee performance which can be used when direct
observation is inadequate for a particular performance training objective.
These are:
1.
student responses
2.
observation instruments
3.
rating scales.
46
How can student responses be used as feedback for evaluating training methods?
Although it may be difficult to gain acceptance for it in some programs.
student reponses can be a valuable source of feedback on both trainees'
performances and training methods.
Such responses can be gathered either from
an informal survey of students' reactions to the trainee’s lesson or from a
more formal written evaluation form on which students indicate how well they
liked the lesson and the way it was taught.
A supervisor or trainee might also
give students a short test to determine how much they had learned in the lesson.
Whichever form is used, data concerning the effect of a trainee's teaching
performance on students can be an important indicator of how well various
training methods have worked.
Returning to the last example, "active participation" might be more
clearly defined as:
"...students respond unanimously after the lesson that they felt the
teacher wanted them to participate,"
or
"...students respond unanimously afterwards that the teacher accepted
their comments and questions."
Thus, by using a different source of feedback and revising the objective.
it is possible to obtain more precise feedback, not only on the trainee's
performance but on the effectiveness of the training method as well.
Student response is a source of feedback well worth including in any
training program.
However, in those programs where the idea has not been
accepted, trainees and colleagues alike will have to be convinced that student
response is a legitimate and useful source of information that is often
unobtainable through other means.
How can observation intruments be used as feedback for evaluating training
methods?
Another source of feedback for evaluating the effectiveness of training
Originally
methods is the use of classroom ob>e?v-Lton instruments.
designed as research tools for descr'Oing and ana’yzinc classroom
phenomena, observation instruments have been used as both effective
training tools and useful evaluation instruments.
Among the multitude of observation instruments that now exist,
the Flanders system of Interaction Analysis is the most popular.
Based on the notion of superior-subordinate relations in the classroom.
interaction analysis provides feedback on the '‘directness
of the teacher's behavior.
It is
fi
or "indirectness"
very useful technioue fo monitorina
certain clusters of teaching behaviors, especially those related to the
encouragement of student participation in the lesson.
Going back to the example given above, "active participation" miqht
be more clearly defined with the help of the Flanders system.
One
redefinition might be:
"at least fifty percent of the interactions observed will fall into
the two catagories of 'student talk' on the Interaction Analysis
scale."
Here, the criterion by which the trainee's performance is judced is described
in terms of feedback data from an observation instrument, rather than from
direct observation or from student responses to the lesson.
The use of an
observation instrument is analagous to a scientist who requires the aid of a
microscope to see a micro-organism which cannot be seen with the naked eye alone.
However, no one observation instrument can measure every important aspect
of teacher-student interaction.
The teacher educator may discover that the
Flanders system does not provide the kind of feedback data most useful for
some purposes.
Or he may find that feedback is needed for other performances
not accurately categorized by that system.
If so, other observation instruments
can be chosen from literally dozens of such instruments which will catecorize
many different behaviors.
There are even systems desiqned for specialized
48
subjects and purposes such as individualized instruction, foreign lanauaoes.
science, math, and social studies.
The most complete anthology of
observation instruments. Mirrors for Behavior by Simon and Boyer, describe
79 separate instruments.
The authors suggest a number of thinkina.
communication, and responsible and effective action skills and behaviors that
can be measured by observation instruments.
Although these observation instruments can provide feedback on virtually
any teacher behavior, a word of caution is in store.
widely in complexity.
The instruments vary
Some have very complicated codino systems or require
teams of observers to record the observations.
These problems greatly limit
their usefulness in training situations, where it is important to have trainees
master the technique.
Interaction analysis has gained popularity because it
is relatively simple to master and provides feedback many find useful.
Instead of using an observation instrument designed by someone else,.
teacher educators might want to modify an existing instrument or design an
entirely new one that better suits their own needs.
There are already
instances of training programs where this has been done.* A "hybrid" or complete
new system designed by the training staff might well provide more pertinent
feedback to many objectives of a training program.
In the above example, a simple instrument might be desioned by which the
observer could count the amount of time used up by teacher talk and the
amount used up by student talk.
Perhaps the criterion for "active participation"
would then become:
"at least forty percent of the lesson time is used up bv student
4., 1 I, «'
talk.
(This information can also be derived from a simple matrix of the observations
made with interaction analysis.)
49
‘bdck for evaluating performance training
How can rating scales be useejs
methods?
Some teacher educators prefer to set tneir training objectives without
explicity stating the conditions and standards by which the trainee's
performance will be evaluated.
Instead, they may utilize an alternative
technique of stating only the desired performance and then applying a
feedback device such as a rating scale to evaluate the actual performance.
Using this technique, the phrase '‘active narticioation of the students"
in the previous example might be redefined to mean that the trainee will
demonstrate competence in stimulating the participation of students when
measured according to a five-point rating scale, such as the following,
which is intended for use in rating progress in meeting the training
objective:
1.
No participation
2.
Limited participation
3.
Fair participation
4.
Good participation
5.
Considerable participation
Admittedly, this technique of writing objectives and evaluating trainee
performance introduces a degree of inference into the evaluation process
since the observer is required to judge the quality of that performance on
somewhat less explicit criteria.
However, the technioue does have the
advantage of being a much more manageable way to state training objectives.
And since a rating scale provides relevant information about the trainee’s
performance in meeting the objectives, it constitutes an important source
of feedback for evaluation, not only of the trainee's performance, but
of the particular training methods involved as well.
50
How can the teacher educator use feedback information to tell if a performance
training method is helping to meet his objectives?
Four general sources of feedback on trainee performance have just
been described:
1.
direct observation
2.
student responses
3.
observation instruments
4.
rating scales.
Although other sources of feedback exist, any one of the above, when stated
as part of the criteria of the training objective, can provide information
for judging the trainee's performance, as well as for evaluating the
effectiveness of the training methods.
There are both
informal and formal
ways of using such feedback information on trainee performance to evaluate
various training methods.
One informal technique is to periodically examine the compiled feedback
data for general patterns of success or failure.
A particularly useful setting
Here members of the
for doing this is the regular weekly staff meeting.
training staff might discuss the ability of the trainees to meet various
performance training objectives and the significance of their group performance
in terms of the particular training methods used.
A log could be kept of these
discussions, providing the staff with an ongoing record of any modifications
they make in training methods and the eventual effects of these changes
on trainee performance.
Through this informal procedure, the trainino staff
which has little time for a more systematic evaluation can still maintain
a reasonably accurate check on the progress of their trainees and the
effectiveness of their training methods.
However, other teacher educators should consider making a more formal
and systematic evaluation of their training methods.
This could be particularly
51
important when tne performance trainee methods are not entirely approoriate
For examole. The principle of a method
for certain teacher training programs.
mioht be very useful, but its present form, as adopted from another source,
inappropriate.
A trainer may like the concept of micro-teaching but not
have the necessary resources (i.e., video-tape recording equipment) to use it
as effectively as is desirable.
Or, again, a traininq method might not be
meetinn the teacher educator’s obiectives for reasons not immediatly obvious.
In such cases, the traininn method should
analyzed.
nne should be
able to look at the principle—the basic idea—of a performance trainin'!
method, and break it down into its component narts so that these might be
modified to better conform to the conditions in the program and at the
same time meet the traininn objectives.
A orocedure to do this is now
outlined below.
How can a performance training method be analyzed?
There are several key characteristics or narts of Performance traininq
methods that determine how they function in a traininn program.
Among these
are:
1.
placement in curriculum
2.
personnel and the tasks the'' nerform
3.
materials and equipment
4.
time length
5.
location.
By analyzing a method in terms of these characteristics and in relation
associated performance objective(s), the teacher educator can
to its
determine systematically which characteristics of the method need to be
chanced.
1.
This analysis has three steos:
List the current status or use ot the method on each of the above
characteristics.
TM ^0
09
N 3 S'"
Zip' <
Ij
52
2.
For each characteristic, list some alternatives.
3.
Lookinq over the alternatives for each characteristic, consider
the rationale for either maintaininn the original use or
selecting an alternative.
This rationale need not be written
down, if such a task seems tedious.
Rut it should be recorded
when it seems sionificant.
In order to progress throunh these stens, it is helnful to use a chart.
such as the followinq, to identify the characteristics and possible
alternatives:
Objective:
Method:
Characteristic:
1.
Placement in
Curri culurn
2.
Personnel &
their tasks
3.
Materials &
equipment
4.
Time length
5.
Location
Current Use
Alternatives
I
53
The following are some examples of how a chart like this is used.
An example is given for micro-teaching, for interaction analysis and for
a simulation.
The examples are purposely left somewhat general, with a
less than complete list of alternatives given for each characteristic.
For practice, the reader might try to add to the list of alternatives at
least one alternative for each characteristic that is relevant to his own
situation.
Example 1
Objective:
Method: .
The trainee will lead a class of six to eight pupils to discuss
abstract concepts, as judged by the tutor, in a science lesson
on electricity.
Micro-teaching lesson
Characteristics
Current Use
Alternatives
after viewing master teacher
ask questions
1. Placement in
Curriculum
after a lecture on using
questioning techniques to
stimulate conceptual
understanding
a.
2. Persons 4
their tasks
b.
c.
trainee:
prepare lesson
teach lesson (lesson is
video-taped)
view tape with tutor
tutor:
observe lesson
view tape & critique
lesson
observe reteach of
lesson
pupils:
after a reading assignment on
asking questions
a.
b.
c.
trainee:
use lesson prepared by
tutor
view tape alone
no reteach of lesson
tutor:
view tape but not lesson
no critique of lesson
use peers instead of
pupils for micro-class
participate in lesson
3. Materials i
equipment
a.
b.
c.
desks fi chairs
video-tape equipment
instructional material
for lesson
a.
jb.
c.
sit on floor
audio-tape equipment
no taping; feedback from
tutor
4. Time length
10 minute teach
30 minute critique
10 minute reteach
20 minute teach
20 minute viewing of tape
20 minute reteach
5. Location
micro-teaching laboratory
cl assroom
unused workroom
Example 2
Objective:
Using Flanders Interaction Analysis or a modified version of it,
the trainee will be able to determine the percentage of Student
talk compared to teacher talk in a ten minute classroom discussion
of a social studies topic.
Method:
Interaction Analysis
Character! sties
1. Placement in
Curriculum
2. Persons &
their tasks
3. Materials &
equipment
Current Use
The Introductory activity
in a unit on classroom
observation techniques
a. master teacher: conducts a. tutor: conducts lesson him
lesson (lesson is audio
self, critiques trainee's
taped)
observation of lesson
b. trainees: observe lesson b. use peers instead of pupils
and/or listen to audio c. trainees' class is devided
tape
into small groups who
c. tutor: critiques
observe lesson and discuss
trainees' observation of
observations among them
lesson
selves
d. pupils: participate in
lesson
a.
b.
c.
d.
4. Time length
Alternatives
after a reading assignment on
observation of classroom
interaction
after a lecture on teacher
behaviors related to student
involvement in classroom
discussion
desks i chairs
manual for classroom
observation
audio-visual equipment
instructional materials
for lesson
60 minute lesson
30 minute critique of
lesson observations
b. different version of lesson
to be observed
c. no taping of lesson
10 minute lesson
30 minute discussion of
observations
10 minute review of tape
5. Location
master teacher's classroom
in his school
classroom in training
institution
micro-teaching lab
Example 3
Objective: The trainee will be able to devise three effective solutions, as
judged by the tutor, to a discipline problem simulated in role
plays acted out by trainees.
Method: '
Simulation
Alternatives
Characteristics
Current Use
1. Placement in
Curriculum
several weeks of prac
after lectures on classroom after
tice teaching
discipline
prior to all other lessons
on classroom discipline
2. Persons A
their tasks
a. tutor:
writes role play
situations
observes role plays
critiques trainees'
solutions to problems
b. trainees:
a. tutor:
participates in role plays
leads discussion with
trainees on critiques of
the role plays
b. trainees:
write role plays
participate in role plays
participate in role plays
observe role plays and
c. use pupils to participate
discuss situations
in role plays
a. role'play "script"
3. Materials A
equipment
b. chairs
4. Time length
30 minutes for role plays
30 minutes for critiques
5. Location
cl assroom
a. protocal tapes of discipline
problems and solutions
b. interaction analysis
observation forms to record
verbal interaction
10-20 minutes for role plays
60 minute critique and
discussion period
outdoors
real school classroom
57
How can a teacher educatorj^^LT..’
whether to chanoe tbie use of a
performance training method?
It is not sufficient to simply list tr.u characteristics of a
performance training method along vr.th the possible alternatives for
each characteristic.
one alternative.
A rationale should be provideo for selecting
Therefore, the teacher educator should articulate
clearly to himself, or, if possible, discuss with his colleagues.
the reasons for deciding on one alternative over the others.
The decision might be based on the expectation that a change in
one characteristic will lead to an improvement in the overall effectiveness of the method.
considerations.
Or the decision nrght be based on logistical
For example, access to personnel, time, suitable
locations, materials and equipment, etc. could be restricted by the
resources available.
In such a case, one would need to ponder the
alternatives carefully to insure that the performance training method
can be made logistically feasible.
In still another instance, the
availability of resources might not be a problem at all, and the
teacher educator could freely experiment with alternatives for the
sake of improving the use of the method.
Eventually, a teacher training staff will probably arrive at a
standard set of method designs, activity sequences, and resource
allocations that will make it unnecessary to analyze • each performance
training method in the way described here.
However, it is important
never to stop considering alternatives, since many of the practices
that become habitual are not always the most effective ways of meeting
particular objectives.
In order to determine whether an addition to,
elimination of or modification of the present use of a performance
58
training method can imorove the method's effectiveness in meeting a
performance objective, the teacher educator should engage in some simple
research.
Each of the character!sties of the method, in the language of a
researcher, would be called a variable. In order to test the effects
of changing a particular variable, the teacher educator must use the same
set of characteristics of a method at least twice, in exactly the same
way, except for the one characteristic he is thinking of modifying.
For
example, if he is considering the elimination of video-tape in a micro
teaching method, he would use the micro-teaching method twice: once with
the video-tape and once without the video-tape.
Having done this procedure, the teacher educator can then study
which use of the method (with or without the video-tape element) best
helped meet the training objective.
For example, the trainee who
progresses through the method with the use of video-tape might be able
to meet the performance objective after observing two lessons.
The
trainee who progresses through the method without the use of video-tape
might not be able to meet the performance objective until after observing
five lessons.
In this case, one would probably conclude that video-tape
is a necessary element that should not be eliminated or, if it is,
that it is replaced by something other than unstructured observation.
The same kind of test for determining whether a particular element
of a method should be eliminated
can also be used to determine whether
a different element could be substituted,
In this case, the teacher educator
would use the method twice, in exactly the same way, except that one time
the method would be used with the original element and the other with the
substitute.
For example, if he wanted to find out whether an audio-tape
could be substituted
for video-tape in an interaction analysis method, he
would carry out the method once with the audio and once with the video.
59
Once again, by comparing the number of trials or length of time required
by trainees to master the objective(s) using audio-tape as opposed to
using video-tape, will indicate to the teacher educator which use of
the method—i.e., in this case, which particular material —is more
effective.
The teacher educator can be more certain of the effectiveness
It
of a particular use of a method if the "with and without or "sub-
stitution" test is done on many trainees.
In fact, the more trainees
involved in the test (the larger the sample), the more confident he
can be about the results.
Of course the ease with which the teacher
educator discovers how to modify various characteristics of a performance
training method so that it works best depends also on how clearly the
objectives have been stated and on the number and relevance of the
indicators used to judge the method's overall usefulness.
The following chart might be used to keep a record of the results
of such tests to determine the effectiveness of a method.
NUMBER OF LESSONS NEEDED BY TRAINEE BEFORE MEETING OBJECTIVE
Name
TEST #
1
2
3
4
5
TOTAL:
WITH VIDEO-TAPE
WITHOUT VIDEO-TAPE
60
NUMBER OF LESSONS NEEDED BY TRAINEE BEFORE MEETING OBJECTIVE:
Name
TEST #
WITH VIDEO-TAPE
WITH AUDIO-TAPE
1
2
3
4
5
TOTAL:
The performance of individual trainees in attempting to master objectives
could be recorded regularly on such charts.
Then, aggregates of a number
of these individual trainee performances could be compiled, proving group
data that would greatly aid the teacher educator in making decisions about
the way in which the method is used.
How can the teacher educator analyze a sequence of methods?
The teacher educator may want to take this process of evaluating a
particular performance training method one step further and evaluate a
sequence of methods.
Evaluating combinations of methods that meet clusters
of related performance objectives provides information about an important
aspect of a performance training program—the interrelationship of
teaching behaviors.
It helps to answer the question of how the learning
of one skill influences the learning of another.
Moreover, it sheds light
on the extent to which the training methods enable trainees to integrate
diverse teaching behaviors into competent, personalized teaching styles?
It is one thing to know that trainees have mastered certain teaching
behaviors as isolated, discrete performances.
It is quite another to
61
knew that these performances can t< e-fectiveiy and approo^iatzly
coordinated in the context of regular classroom teaching.
If the
teacher educator organizes and evaluates the training methods as distinct
but interdependent parts of a much larger whole, he will begin to know
whether the training is in fact producing higher-level competencies.
Recall from Chapter II that several methods can be combined to
meet a single objective:
Method A
Goa 1
{met by)-
Method B
Method C
and that a sequence of methods can be combined to meet a group of related
objectives:
Goal #1
Goal #2
Goal #3
Method A
(met by)
Method B
Method C
Suppose, for example, we are interested in the following larger
objective which combines several sub-objectives:
In a 30-minute lesson with 20 students, the trainee will be
able to combine the use of reinforcement, attending behavior
and verbal cueing so that on an interaction analysis, more
than half of his teacher-pupil interactions fall into
categories 1,2, 3, and 4, and at least one-third of the
class time is made up of student talk.
Since such a complex objective involves several different behaviors,
it might require a long sequence of training methods.
Suppose, for example,
that the breakdown of the performance objectives and corresponding train
ing methods for the above objective looks like the following:
62
LARGER PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE
Sequence of Training Methods:
Component Performance Objectives:
#1.
#2.
#3.
The trainee will be able to
reinforce student responses at
least ten times in a 30-minute
lesson of 20 students.
The trainee will demostrate
attending behavior by restating
at least five student questions
in the 30-minute lesson of 20
students.
(Met
A.
Reading material on reinforce
ment, attending behavior and
cueing skills.
B.
Lectures on use of same
skills.
C.
Films modeling the use of
the skills.
D.
Role-play Simulation illus
trating attending behavior.
E.
Listening Exercises in small
groups to develop attending
behavior.
F.
Case Studies to identify good
and bad examples of the
same skills.
G.
Practicum to examine and
practice cueing techniques.
H.
Micro-teaching lessons, on
each of the above skills, to
a class of five students
for ten minutes.
—EyT
The trainees will be able to cue
students so that three out of every
four of his questions are
answered correctly in a 30-minute
lesson with a class of 20 students.
In comparing this example with the previous examples in which single
methods are analyzed, several differences can be seen.
In this case, a sequence of methods has been substituted for the sequence
of tasks in a single method.
With a sequence of methods and objectives.
the particular way in which the methods and objectives are ordered is likely
Some performance training skills, for example.
to be an important factor.
are more effectively taught as clusters of behaviors or with certain
combinations of methods.
Also, there are more personnel, materials, time,
and locations involved here.
The analysis of a sequence of methods, there-
fore, will be more complicated than the analysis of a single method.
63
By repeating lHc sshk? prncn<;s -f creaking down the sequence of methods
into single methods and examining each method in relation to the associated
performance objective(s), tne teacher educator can determine which methods
to change and how to change them.
The only difference is that the task is
more complex, with many more elements to include in the process.
Once again, however, one can follow these three steps:
1.
List each of the characteristics--this time, each method
(in a sequence of methods) or each sequence of methods
(in an overall training sequence).
2.
For each characteristic (method or sequence of methods) list
some alternatives.
3.
Consider the rationale for either using the original sequence
or for selecting an alternative.
The same kind of simple experiment might be set up to test the effects
of substituting a different method (or sequence of methods), eliminating or
adding a method(s), or re-ordering the sequence of methods in some way.
So, for example, if it is found that sub-objective #1 (using reinforcement)
is achieved more effectively by adding an informal peer group practice session.
such a method could be added.
In what ways can teacher educators evaluate the overall usefulness or
impact of performance training methods?
The previous section introduced the notion of evaluating teaching
competence, not just as having mastered a set of discrete teaching skills
r
and behaviors, but also as the ability to assimilate these same skills
as part of an effective overall teaching style,
This section takes the
discussion further by asking whether the mere mastery of some specific
teaching skills through performance training methods makes any real
difference in determining the teacher's eventual success in the class
room.
This question, of course, suggests a completely different set of
64
criteria on which io evaluate perfo-'.i.ance training methods.
It cai i s
for criteria that relate more to questions about the usefulness,
validity, or impact of the training goals than to whether or not the
goals were achieved.
These are the criteria that were earlier labelled
‘‘external indicators”
What are some of these external evaluation
concerns?
Among these, of course, are questions such as those raised in
the last section concerning the *ransferability of the training,
Can
trainees actually combine and execute the specific teaching skills
in the course of regular classroom teaching?
That is, can a set of
behaviors that have been learned in the context of a specific training
program be transferred to a new or different context — in this case,
the real classroom?
Given the situation where performance teaching skills are, in fact,
being actually put into practice in regular classroom teaching, does
their addition to the teacher's repertoire of skills have any noticeable
effect on students' learning? For example, one could assume that the
ability to ask questions clearly and effectively or to reinforce
student responses or to introduce lessons in interesting ways are skills
vital to any teacher's success in the classroom.
Yet, if the net
effect of the skills on the learning of students is nil, their
ultimate usefulness is open to question.
Moreover, granted the fact that performance skills do appear to
result in improved student learning in schools in some societies, are
those same skills just as effective and appropriate in schools in other
societies? Specifically, then, to what degree are the skills possessed
by graduates who are about to assume teaching posts compatible with the
65
goals, va'iues, anc prac’.^ces
lishment ana in the larger society?
.-r .vncrec? wUhin tne educatio':*! estab
is the role of the schools
in the particular society ana row sre teaune
fit into those roles?
competencies expected to
The point is, if a training program's assumptions
about teaching competence run counter to the prevailing cultural norms,
the effects of the low level of acceptance cf those competencies
in practice may outweigh their true potential for positive change.
These issues are obviously seme of the most important evaluative
questions that teacher educators -.re ever 1’kely to encounter.
They are also exceedingly difficult questions to answer.
The process
of obtaining data to answer them is beset with many, many complications
and compounding variables.
Because of this, techniques for evaluating
external indicators have not been included in this manual and must be
sought elsewhere.
Yet, the significance of such ’’ultimate" issues
should behoove all concerned teacher educators to at least remain aware
of their existence.
66
CONCLUSION
The teacher educator has been provided with some tools to help
evaluate the use of performance training methods in a teacher training
program.
The evaluation approach presented in the manual was made from
the perspective of how to determine whether the methods accomplished
what was expected of them.
In evaluating training methods, the need to
first select criteria on which to evaluate was established.
The manual
then cited the importance of stating the goals that the methods are
supposed to achieve as explicitly as possible.
The teacher educator was
encouraged to carefully map out how the training goals are matched with
training methods.
Also, some assistance was give at that point to
assessing whether the resources
utilized.
in a program are being optimally
The manual then proceeded to show how the feedback data
that is normally received in evaluating individual trainee performance
can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training methods
themselves.
Ways were provided to help teacher educators analyze the
characteristics of a training method and decide if or how to change the
use of the method.
Finally, the teacher educator was urged to evaluate
the training methods on some larger considerations, as well, such as how
well the methods develop the trainees' ability to master the skills as an
integrated whole.
When evaluating the training program, the teacher educator should
be ready to consider changing any part of his training procedure that
appears to be in need of change.
This view is predicated on the belief
that teacher educators have set program goals that they want to accomplish
and are concerned about actually accomplishing them.
The efforts of the
i
67
teacher educator to achieve better training results should, therefore,
not cease as long as there is some room for improvement.
Evaluation can
be an invaluable aid in providing information that can be used to make
«<
decisions that improve the program or some part of it.
However, if the
teacher educator has not clearly established exactly what it is he
wishes to accomplish or is not really concerned about whether he accomplishes
it, evaluation is not likely to be a very useful exercise.
68
SELECTED 8I5LI0GRAPHY
Reading, Massachusetts.
■J
Allen, D’wight and Ryan, Kevin. Microteachinq.
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1969.
2.
Amidon, Edmund J. and Hough, John B. (Ed.). Interaction Analysis:
Theory Research and Application. Reading, Massachusetts: AddisonLesley Publishing Co., '967.
3.
Benedict, Larry. P-octical Guide for Evaluation. Project Evaluation
Capitol Region Education Council, Hartford, Connecticut, 1973.
4.
Cooper, James M. and Allen, Dwight. Microteachinq: History and Present
Status. Lithograph. School of Education, Umversity of Massachusetts.
5.
Evans, David R. Micrc-Teachinc: An Innovation in Teacher Education fzr
Developing Countries, Education in Eastern Africa, Vol. I, 1, 1971, "
op. 9-21.
6
Mager, Robert F. Goal Analysis.
Publishers, 1972.
7
Mager, Robert F. Preparing Instructional Objectives.
California, Fearon Publishers, 1962.
3
McDonald, Frederick J. "The Rationale for Competency Based Programs",
in Houston, W. Robert (ed.). Exploring Competency Based Education.
Berkeley: McCutchan Publishing Corporation, 1974.
9
McNeil, John D. and Popham, W. James, ’"Assessment of Teacher Competence",
in Travers, Robert M.W., Second Handbook of Research on Teaching.
Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1973.
Belmont, California:
Fearon
Pa 1o Alto,
10. Meir, John H., "Rationale for and Application of Microtraining to
Improve Teaching", The Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. XIX, 2,
Summer 1968.
11. Peck, Robert F. and Tucker, James. "Research on Teacher Education",
in Travers, Robert M.W., Second Handbook of Research on Teaching.
Chicago: Rand McNally and Co., 1973.
12.
Perlberg, A._ "Recent Approaches on Micro-teaching and Allied
Techniques Which can be Implanted Early in Developing Countries"
Paris: UNESCO, 1975.
3. Rosenshine, Barak and Furst, Norma. "The Use of Direct Observation
to Study Teaching", in Travers, Robert M.W., Second Handbook of
Research on Teaching. Chicago: Rand McNally and Co.,1973.
4.
Scriven, Michael, "The Methodology of Evaluation" in Worthen,
Blaine R. and Sanders, James R. (eds.,). Educational Evaluation:
Theory and Practice. Worthington, Ohio: Charles A. Jones Publishing Co.,
-v
69
15.
Simon, Anita and Boyer, E. Gil. Mirrors for Behavior II, An
Anthology of Observation Instruments. Philadelphia- Classroom
Interaction Newsletter, 1970.
16.
St. John Brooks, Caroline and Spelman, Brendan, "Microteachi ng",
Trends in Education, No. 31, July, 1973.
17.
Educational Innovators
Von Haden, Herbert and King, Jean Marie. ______________
Guide. Worthington, Ohio: C. A. Jones Publishing Co., 1974.
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