How to measure innovation in eLearning. The i-AFIEL methodology
30 Apr 2009.
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Authors
Víctor Prieto López, Coordinador, Cevalsi - Observatorio Valenciano de la Sociedad Tecnológica y del Conocimiento
This paper presents and discusses innovation in relation to the European project Innovative Approaches for a Full Inclusion in eLearning (i-AFIEL) and, in particular, the methodology applied to measure innovation in eLearning projects developed by the Spanish OVSI Foundation. The paper focuses on the concept of innovation and the three key aspects related to the eLearning context: technological innovation, sociological innovation and service customization.
A series of Innovation Criteria are proposed and discussed as elements to be measured in order to understand the degree of innovation of each eLearning project. The challenge of the i-AFIEL methodology is the transformation of these indicators into numbers and scores, and thus to evaluate quantitatively the success and the novelty of the projects. The evaluation system involves the transformation of the Innovation Criteria into Indicators, and the transformation of the latter into questions and tools addressed to two different target groups, a students' questionnaire and an organization's questionnaire, allowing to have broader and more objective views and measurements.
Some examples of the application of the i-AFIEL methodology are provided in the paper with some final reflections and conclusions about the need of further improvements and development of the methodology itself. The i-AFIEL model can be considered in deed a concrete example of how a research study in eLearning may be carried out in a creative way.