Supporting pedagogical innovation in eLearning through an action-research approach of formative evaluation

Abstract

From the year 2001 till 2004, the Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) granted TECFA, the Instruction Technology unit of the University of Geneva, a mandate to support and evaluate pedagogical innovations of the SVC projects homed at a French speaking university. We adopted a method that linked and support each of the three dimensions of the mandate, namely: to support the projects in the integration of pedagogical innovations; to identify the innovative practices in progress and influential factors; to evaluate the pedagogical aspects of the courses that have been developed. This action-research that we called «evaluation-formation» research, made it possible at the same time to support the pedagogical development of the products and the enrichment of the culture of the actors having taken part in the activities. It builds on a vision of evaluation where actors are fully involved throughout the whole process of formative evaluation and the organization of instructional activities meant to support their development. Our analyses of the mandate’s activities and interactions with the projects have lead to a systemic model articulating the indicators of pedagogical innovation, spaces of integration within the teaching device and the characteristics of the actors. We will end this contribution by presenting the model and then will finally address further applications and developments.