Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
Abstract
Risk assessment is used to identify potential hazards and prioritize those that may be most likely to have a significant impact. While widely used in the aviation, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, formalized risk assessments are not often used for instructional interventions such as e-learning. As part of a formative evaluation for a new e-learning course, facilitators and design team members performed a risk assessment on topics related to the technology used in the course, the communication of mentors and participants, sustainability, and evaluation. With this information, the design team and mentors prepared a risk management plan, identifying ways to prevent unwanted events as well as to plan for contingencies in the case of their occurrence. The framework of the plan is described, together with details of its implementation in a formative evaluation of the course
