Program Evaluation

Table 1: Student Name and Comments:

Group Members Roles Commented On

Compilation of group Group 2 Narrative
Robert Cox
reflection and final paper Learning
Professional Evaluation Group 2 Narrative
Oscar Guajardo
Student’s Response Learning
David Jones Final Edit and Formatting Group 2 and 4
Group Reflection: Group 2 Narrative
Nate Schmitt
Highlights and Process Learning

Professionals’ Evaluation:

Professional 1: Aida Diaz

Your role, position, and qualifications.
I have been a principal at Albert F. Biella Elementary School for the past four years. In
addition to this, I worked as a teacher at Cali Calmecac Language Academy (the school
used for the Program Design), which is a bilingual charter school and a big percentage of
the students attending are Hispanic with mixed incomes households and live in or around
the town of Windsor CA.
What do they like most about your program design?
I like the fact that it is relevant to the adults who will be taking the course. I also know
many of the families in town. In addition, the fact that this course will be offered during a
time of day that is convenient improves participation and success rates. Windsor is a small
town in Sonoma County, and the economy is based mainly on the wine, tourism and
hospitality industries.
What do they think should be improved? Why? And how?
I think the program is designed in a comprehensive manner. My only question would be
this: will there be a follow up course that they will be able to take? I would also have the
adult student set up their email accounts and such earlier in the course since that is one tool
that they would be using immediately.

Professional 2: Coleen Olmstead

Your role, position, and qualifications.
Currently, I am an Outreach Coordinator for Santa Rosa Junior College. I work closely
with the Adult Education, non-credit ESL and College Skills Departments. Prior to SRJC,
I worked with Migrant Education for 15 years and served as a Program Coordinator and
Parent Education Specialist. In both roles, I served adult English Language Learners (ELL)
and K-12 ELL students.
What do they like most about your program design?
In my experience, there is a critical need for the program design. It appears to be well-
thought-out. When working with ELL adults, it is very important to move at a slightly
slower pace if teaching in English, especially when dealing with technology. We often
assume that adults these days have experience with technology, but with our
migrant/immigrant community that is not always the case. I like that the program seems
to spend a bit more time on the foundational skills.
The designer(s) has/have a good understanding of the needs of ESL students as evidenced
by class logistics. The program design clearly addresses the needs of the adult ESL students
I have encountered. Issues involving language and cultural barriers, limited educational
backgrounds, little or no previous computer experience, frequent changes in work
schedules, transportation are all too common.
What do they think should be improved? Why? And how?
Perhaps one thing that might be useful would be an assessment of some type. With adult
learners, it is probable that they will come from a wide variety of backgrounds so a pre-test
could be helpful. For program improvement purposes, and post-test would provide
valuable information.

Students’ Response:

Do you agree with the evaluations or not? Why or why not?

Regarding some of the question posted by one of the Professional Educators: Our design
is for a Basic Computer Applications program for students who do not have any skills or
experience using computers; so, there could be follow-up course students whom graduated
from this program could take. This could be a more intermediate or advanced program to
further polish their skills or courses in computer application programs such as Excel®,
PowerPoint® or any other program used in a professional environment. Moreover, email
is one tool that is helpful for adult students and one that they could be used immediately,
but the Basic Computer Applications program is designed to gradually teach compounding
skills, which build off of one another; for example, you need to learn how to use the mouse,
how to use the keyboard, typing, etc. in order set up an email account. Therefore, many
adult students cannot set up their email accounts and such earlier in the course since it will
be difficult for them to do that.

How would you improve your program design?

Another Professional Evaluation comment was that “perhaps one thing that might be useful
would be an assessment of some type” (post-test) since the adult may come from a wide
variety of backgrounds. So, assessments of some type would be a great improvement to the
program design, especially in designing skills exercises as formative assessments in order
to determine student’s progression – what they do not understand or are lacking. An
evaluation of lacking skills and/or procedures should be performed when given individual
feedback or instruction; after the exercise, a review of lacking skills/vocabulary should be
given. Moreover, they use similar exercises to reinforced, by repetition, the skills and
concepts will be a good addition.

Group Reflection:

- Highlights:
Some of the best parts about having your program evaluated by a professional in
adult education are that they will bring experience to the process of creating a program. As
current students, there are small items that we may miss, such as learning targets, or proper
scheduling where there will not always be a full 16-week schedule. There is a real
connection between the ideal program, and the real world in which the program must
operate. The professional will also provide suggestions; when to cut out busy work such
as extensive vocabulary, and when a topic needs to be expanded upon such as repeating a
skill at a higher level with more repetition.
- Process:
During the completion of the program evaluation, it was important to make contact
with the professional early and often. It was also very important to clearly layout what we
were looking for in feedback. This will help eliminate confusion on commenting on small
items such as document layout, or small grammatical errors. By focusing on the content,
our group would be able to determine if our concepts and connections to a post secondary
educational setting were on track, or needed to be reevaluated.
After making contact with the professional, it was important to set a quick turn
around schedule for feedback on the program. Once the initial feedback was returned to
the group, we had to sift through the feedback and determine if there needs to be a deeper
explanation, or if the program can be quickly adjusted. There should be additional time
for an open conversation with suggestions and a final submission of the program back to
the professional for final evaluations.

Table 4: Summary of Program Evaluation:

Evaluator Evaluator Ideas for Improving Revisions/

Number Name Program Design Responses
She recommended to set up email
accounts earlier in course structure. She Oscar Guajardo
1 Aida Diaz
also recommended a follow up process Robert Cox
and course.
Coleen recommended an assessment of
some type.
Coleen Oscar Guajardo
2 Using a pre and post test format would
Olmstead Robert Cox
allow the instructor to measure progress
and course effectiveness.