Value Presentation

Evaluation of the EuroMET web-based course in Meteorology

Abstract

The European Meteorological Education and Training, EuroMET, consortium is comprised of 22 partners from universities and NMS in 15 European countries and Canada. The project has been established to provide a multi-media, network-based service to support the education and training needs of students in tertiary education and professional meteorologists in national meteorological services throughout Europe. Two courses have been developed, one in Numerical Weather Prediction and one in Satellite Meteorology. Each course is modular in format and comprises around 70 modules arranged into 9 chapters.

The evaluation, lead by University of Reading and EUMETSAT in Germany, includes both formative and summative evaluations. The formative evaluation took place during the development phase, with batches of modules being released onto the WWW at key dates followed by 4-6 weeks of evaluation. The evaluation findings were reported back to the developers so that, if necessary, modifications could then be made.

With the development completed, it is now necessary to test the course using real learners in real learning environments. This is the summative evaluation, during the modules will be used as teaching and training material. Owing to the number and variety of partners, the courses will be used in many different ways, from teaching whole classes to individual tuition, thus fully testing the flexibility of the courses. Results from this evaluation will be collected by learners/trainees and teachers completing questionnaires and report forms online. Details of both evaluations will be presented.