| توضیحات: | This book had its origins in a mixed-methods project at the Uni-versity of British Columbia to evaluate distance courses. One day, it became clear that the themes that kept emerging from the data analysis were the same themes found in the four facets of Messick’s (1989) frame-work. Although this insight seemed like a revelation, it is less surprising in hindsight because Messick’s framework is a comprehensive conception of merit and worth or value, and “value” is the heart of evaluation (Wolf, 1987). We and other authors have found Messick’s framework to be useful and appropriate as a model to guide studies in both program evaluation and test validity (Ruhe, 2002, 2003; Ruhe & Zumbo, 2006). Chapelle, Jamieson, and Hegelheimer (2003) have also used an adapted version of Messick’s framework to guide evaluation studies of distance programs.
Program evaluation is an important component of successful distance education (Martinez, Liu, Watson, & Bichelmeyer, 2006) and e-learning instructional programs. We are living in a time of rapidly changing tech-nology and course delivery structures, rising stakeholder expectations, and increasing competition as more providers enter these expanding markets. This context creates an ongoing need for continuous improvement, course updates, and blending of new technologies and pedagogies. This is where evaluation fits in. “Every time we try something new, it is important to consider its value” (Davidson, 2005). Evaluation is a systematic investiga-tion to determine the merit and worth of a set of activities. The root of the word “evaluation” is value. Educational evaluation is “an enquiry which sets out to explore some educational program, system, project or event in order to focus on its worthiness” (Bassey, 1999, p. 63). There are many reasons to evaluate e-learning courses, including to determine whether course objectives are being achieved, to justify investments, to make better decisions, and “to buy, license or build particular courses” (Horton, 2001,)
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