Evaluation of the Technology-Based Learning Grants Final Report

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Release Date

Evaluation of the Technology-Based Learning Grants Final Report

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Issue
2011-21

Publication Info

In June 2008, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released a Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA) to provide $10 million in funding for Technology-Based Learning (TBL) projects throughout the country. Based on responses to this SGA, ETA awarded funds in January 2009 to 20 grantees in 16 states to develop and implement TBL projects over a three-year period. These twenty grantees included nine community colleges, five universities, four private non-profit organizations (one of which was affiliated with a university), a state workforce agency, and a local workforce investment board. Each grantee planned a project focused on a particular high-growth industry; the most common of these were health care and information technology. This final report presents findings based all data collected during the first two years of the grants. The report begins with an overview of the training programs and then focuses individual chapters on program design and development, instructional methods and course structures, and partnerships. The report concludes with a brief discussion of preliminary outcomes and lessons learned that have emerged from the implementation of the programs. The evaluation featured the collection and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data collection occurred primarily through two sets of site visits to grantees. The six grantees that implemented their programs within the first ten months of the grant were visited in fall 2009, and the 14 remaining grantees were visited during the spring and summer of 2010. Quantitative data collection consisted of quarterly performance reports submitted by grantees to ETA. Two additional data collection activities are forthcoming: (1) gathering detailed participant-level administrative data from grantees’ management information systems to supplement data collected from quarterly report submissions; and (2) conducting an online survey of TBL participants. The third report for the TBL Grants Evaluation pertaining to the collection of participant administrative and survey data is anticipated for release in late 2012.