COSEE National Network Evaluation

Inverness Research, Inc., Inverness CA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a proposal to conduct the national evaluation of the COSEE Network. In this proposal we lay out an approach for designing and conducting the evaluation. This approach centers around collaborative design, creating a community of evaluators within the COSEE network, and taking a broad perspective on the ways in which the investment in COSEE is making contributions to the field. The major evaluation tasks we propose include an annual survey of Centers, the creation of an evaluator community, and direct data gathering from Centers in the form of interviews and site visits. We see COSEE as an investment in a national infrastructure for Ocean Sciences education: a network of Centers and associated partners that can not only provide educational services but also build the capacity of the field for doing higher quality and more extended Ocean Sciences education. We believe that the evaluation of COSEE should focus on both the direct educational contributions that COSEE is making, but also on the more intangible contributions in terms of generating leadership, collaborations, knowledge and advocacy for the field. We also argue that the evaluation should help COSEE better understand itself, improving its design, informing its management, and refining its implementation. The COSEE Network represents a sophisticated arrangement that creates a national network linking together distinct Ocean Sciences Education Centers. The evaluation plan proposed here draws upon and adds to a knowledge base of the design principles underlying networks, centers, and science education improvement. The evaluation will not only document the contributions of the network to public and professional audiences, but also study the network as an example of an improvement infrastructure for Ocean Sciences education. This conceptualization will help to create an evaluative framework that will allow for a richer understanding of the multiple dimensions of NSF's investments in large complex network projects. The evaluation will thus contribute to the knowledge base that informs the design and evaluation of large-scale, field-building initiatives. This proposed evaluation plan will promote the improvement of education, particularly science education, in multiple ways. First, it will help COSEE understand the investment made in the Network by studying the ways in which and the extent to which the network is serving its intended audiences and providing well-designed opportunities for a variety of audiences to learn Ocean Science. Second, the evaluation will help the COSEE Network better manage the use of its resources, by understanding the needs and opportunities for refining the way in which the Network operates. Third, the evaluation will contribute to a better understanding of ways in which the Network builds both individual and collective capacity for doing high-quality Ocean Sciences education. And finally the evaluation will contribute to a better understanding of how this design -- a network of independent centers -- can be used in other arenas to further develop a national improvement infrastructure for science education.