International
Journal of
Educational
Technology

Editor Notes

The articles in this issue of IJET have a common thread of evaluation. The feature article by Burton & Lockee propose using local needs assessment as a way to direct the use of new technologies to mitigate the brain drain that has been ongoing for years from rural areas. The Hogan article describes a situated evaluation of classroom use of electronic images. The Schoenfeld-Tacher & Persichitte article describes survey research of faculty using distance education technologies. The Bullock & Schomberg study used questionnaires of faculty attending a summer institute to evaluate an innovative approach to higher education faculty development of technology expertise. Klassen & Drummond evaluate the uses of interactive multimedia simulations using a experimental group/control group paradigm. Irani used a experimental paradigm to evaluate the factors determining student reaction to distance learning. Klobas & Haddow applied multiple methodologies for evaluating the impact of computer-supported collaborative teamwork. One important lesson from this collection is the wide range of evaluative methodologies and their different strengths and weaknesses. In the rapidly changing domain of educational technologies, it is clear that expertise with a range of methodologies will be more useful in tracking the impact on learners and teachers than any one methodology.

Dr. Roger Hacker, University of Western Australia
Dr. James A. Levin, University of Illinois