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Recent Research Highlights

Independent Evaluation of WIDE World

In 2005-2006 the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) conducted an independent evaluation to ascertain how effective WIDE World courses were in changing the way educators approached their work. They obtained very positive results:

"The study demonstrates that WIDE course participants learned to integrate theoretical concepts into their practical decisions as educators, and to link ongoing assessment to the understanding goal of a lesson. [...] The results of this study were statistically significant and provide positive proof of the efficacy of WIDE online courses in preparing educators to 'teach for understanding."

-- Harvard WIDE World Online Courses: Are Educators Putting Course Ideas into Practice? (Executive Summary, p. 1)

EDC studied 321 participants' accounts of their application of ideas they learned in the courses. The evaluators distinguished meaningful, robust use from more rote or superficial applications. They found a marked change from the middle to the end of the term, as the proportion describing robust applications to their work grew from 42% to 70%.

The study also addressed teachers' approaches to assessment of students. Scenarios presented both before and after the course elicited rationales for using certain assessments in light of the fictional lessons' goals. The fraction of teachers who understood how to link assessments with these goals increased from 23% to 55% -- also a statistically significant improvement.

A more detailed description of the EDC findings can be found here. Soon we will be posting results of an additional EDC evaluation conducted in the winter of 2006-2007, examining WIDE World's effect on a large, urban US school district.

One Year Follow-up Survey

In June 2007 WIDE World conducted its third one year follow-up survey, to learn what benefits the courses might have produced for participants from 2006 and for their students. We obtained very positive results, most of which held regardless of demographic characteristics or contextual/district factors. Some findings:

• Effect on Practice
  • 90% of respondents cited improvement in their educational practice, with 68% reporting either "significant" or "dramatic" improvement
  • 66% considered Teaching for Understanding either "quite important" or "extremely important" in their work
  • use of collaborative instructional practices increased significantly since the start of the course
  
  
• Effect on Students
  • 90% cited improvement in student learning, with two thirds reporting either "significant" or "dramatic" improvement

In describing changes that occurred since the course, many educators described enhanced ability to rethink, reevaluate, or reflect on their practice. Many talked about improved collaboration with other professionals, which aided both lesson design and professional development initiatives. Teachers talked about increased student engagement and greater student understanding of the purposes of a unit, leading to students' taking greater initiative and producing better quality work.

More detail on the Follow-up Survey results can be found here.