Evaluating information technology in teaching and learning

The effectiveness of instructional technology depends on appropriate evaluation of the technology, with special focus on outcomes. Because evaluation assesses how effective the technology is in enabling learners to master a particular subject, what students learn becomes an important criterion for evaluation. But how and when to assess learning and comprehension is an important and continuing problem. This paper deals withstrategic evaluation, which emphasizes technical accuracy, pedagogical soundness, substantive fidelity, integrative flexibility, and cyclic improvement. Effective strategic evaluation is a continuing process-ranging from querying immediate comprehension, to modifying instruction, to assessing long-term effects.