When we are evaluating a tool, we evaluate it against its design specifications; mathematics and deduction tell us from there that it will produce its intended outcome. It is only when we evaluate the use of a tool that we evaluate against the actual outcome. So measuring drop-out rates, counting test scores, and adding up student satisfaction scores will not tell us whether a MOOC was successful, only whether this particular application of this particular MOOC was successful in this particular instance.
Randolph Hollingsworth on 24 Feb 11A study published recently in Business Education Digest (Keith, Perreault, and Chin 2009) explores students' perceptions of how prevalent and consequential ethical questions are in the business world. Surveys of business students at a midwestern university revealed that while 83 percent of students either "agree" or "strongly agree" that "situations where ethics may be called into question are frequently encountered in business," students underrate the ethical consequence of several potential conflicts....they found that women were more likely than men to believe that personal ethics and corporate behaviors should align and that ethics are essential to success.... women and men shared similar and relatively lax beliefs about what kinds of disciplinary action are appropriate, reinforcing the researchers' beliefs that more ethics education is necessary for business students.