The Impact of an Online Course on Environmental Education Program Evaluation

Abstract

Today, there is an increased focus on consistent and routine evaluation in most sectors of our society, including education at all levels, state and federal agencies, and the granting community. Environmental educators are being increasingly challenged by opponents of EE to provide evidence of their effectiveness and by their funders and their audiences to demonstrate their results (McDuff, 2002; Thomson, 2005). In 2000, NAAEE published The Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators. This guide outlined a set of recommendations about the basic knowledge and abilities environmental educators need to provide high-quality environmental education. The sixth guideline addresses the need for environmental educators to possess skills in assessment and evaluation and recommends that professional preparation should provide environmental educators with the knowledge and tools for assessing leaner progress and evaluating the effectiveness of their own programs. Additionally, in 2005 the National Environmental Education Training Foundation published a report on the results of ten years of research and related studies on the status of environmental literacy in the United States. The report found that the field of EE was not as strong as it should be in routine assessment and evaluation and called for improved research, assessment and evaluation in EE. In 2004, the Environmental Education Training and Partnership, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/National Conservation Training Center and UWSP, designed an on-line course in EE program evaluation, Applied Environmental Education Program Evaluation (AEEPE), to address the need for professional development in program assessment and evaluation. The AEEPE course requires participants to develop an evaluation plan for their programs. This study used a set of four pre and post course questionnaires to evaluate the extent to which participants in the AEEPE course implemented their evaluation plans and made improvements to their programs within six months and one year of completing the course. Results from the research suggest that the AEEPE course effectively provides course participants with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to evaluate their environmental education programs.