Purpose: There are five factors acting as a barrier to effective evaluation of educational technology (edtech) these being: premature timing, inappropriate techniques, rapid change, complexity of context and inconsistent terminology. The purpose of this investigation was to identify new evaluation approaches that will address these and reflect on the evaluation imperative for complex technology initiatives. Approach: An initial investigation, of traditional evaluative approaches used within the technology domain, was broadened to investigate evaluation practices within social and public policy domains. Realist evaluation, a branch of theory-based evaluation, was identified and reviewed in detail. The realist approach was then refined, proposing two additional necessary steps, to support mapping the technical complexity of initiatives.Findings: A refined illustrative example of a realist evaluation framework is presented including two novel architectural edtech domain reference models to support mapping.
Practical implications:Recommendations include building individual evaluator capacity; adopting the realist framework; the use of architectural edtech domain reference models; phased evaluation to first build theories in technology 'context' then iteratively during complex implementation chains; and community contribution to a shared map of technical and organisational complexity.Originality: This paper makes a novel contribution by arguing the imperative for a theory based realist approach to help redefine evaluative thinking within the IT and complex system domain. It becomes an innovative proposal with the addition of two domain reference models that tailor the approach for edtech. Its widespread adoption will help build a shared evidence base that synthesizes and surface 'what works, for whom, in which contexts and why' benefiting educators, IT managers, funders, policy makers and future learners.1 Corresponding author: contact m.r.n.king@lboro.ac.uk 2
Introduction
The evaluation imperative for educational technology in Higher EducationWithin Higher Education (HE) a number of significant factors are putting unprecedented pressure on an institution's ability to develop and invest in educational technology. The financial pressure resulting from the rapid and critical demise in funding with HE in England (a real terms cut of 46% in the funding allocation between 2010/11 and 2014/15) (IPPR Commission on the Future of Higher Education, 2013) has meant institutions are faced with difficult decisions on priorities for investments and cuts. The drive towards efficiency is promoting programmes that adopt lean approaches to operational effectiveness using cost savings as evidence of success with no guidance on evaluating any impact on overall quality in learning and teaching (Universities UK, 2011). The migration of technology development skills away from HE into the commercial sector is another significant factor; with the number one challenge facing institutions being the lack of support staff with specialist...