Regional Education Masters Online Training in Evaluation (REMOTE)
Through funds provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) and the University of Hawai‘i College of Education have developed a distance learning graduate program specializing in evaluation. The purpose of the Regional Education Master’s Online Training in Evaluation (REMOTE) is to build the capacity of leaders and practitioners in the Pacific to conduct program evaluations and use their results. REMOTE is designed specifically to meet the needs of evaluators in the geographically vast and culturally diverse Pacific region. Because programs and their effects are best understood through the lens of the cultures within which they operate, REMOTE was developed using local input and cultural examples.
Students were nominated by SEA Chiefs and IHE Presidents from islands across the U.S.-affiliated Pacific including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei), Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. An initial cohort of 15 students were competitively selected and provided full funding for tuition, travel, and related educational expenses.
Curriculum
REMOTE incorporates a specialization in evaluation to an existing master’s degree program within the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of Educational Foundations. The 2-year program of study requires completion of 30 credit hours over the course of five semesters, as follows:
Summer
(in-person) Introduction to Evaluation
Educational Statistics
Fall
Introduction to Educational Research
Social and Cultural Contexts of Education
Spring
Survey Research Design and Analysis
Foundations of Evaluation Theory
Fall
Seminar in Educational Psychology: Educational Evaluation
Seminar in Educational Foundations
Spring
International Development Education
Directed Research (Evaluation Project)
Late Spring
Graduation
Courses will be offered in a hybrid asynchronous/synchronous format. Instruction is self-paced, within the constraints of assignment deadlines, and students interact with faculty and other students through an initial in-person orientation, online course platforms, videoconferencing, and site-based learning groups. Students convened in person during the first semester’s orientation (summer 2007) to meet the instructors, receive training on distance learning instruction, facilitate future communication among faculty and students and between students, and work toward the completion of their first two courses.
Long-Term Benefits
REMOTE will immediately benefit the discipline of evaluation in the Pacific region through improved concepts, skills, and techniques. This will benefit the international community of evaluators and researchers by developing a body of related knowledge and making it widely available through distance education. In the long-term, this knowledge should inform and enrich the evaluation methods and practices of evaluators of programs having cross-cultural components in the continental U.S.
Contact
For additional information, contact Ms. Kavita Rao, Specialist, at raok@prel.org.