Complexities in the evaluation of distance education and virtual schooling

Vrasidas, C., Zembylas, M, & Chamberlain, R. (2003). Complexities in the evaluation of distance education and virtual schooling. Educational Media International, 40 (3/4), 201-208.

This paper discusses the complexities and issues involved in the evaluation of distance education and virtual schooling. In order to provide an anchor to the issues involved in evaluating online projects, the authors first present the evaluation design of a virtual high school project. Then the emphasis of the paper is on the goals of the evaluation, stakeholder analysis, eevaluator role, data collection, and data analysis. Finally the authors discuss the need for evaluation of distance education and the ethical responsibility of the evaluators involved.