6201
BLOG/REFLECTION
END OF PART
3 - LESSONS 8-10
BARB
ANDERSON APRIL 26, 205
Lesson 8 focused on
assessment. An important part of course design and
facilitation is assessment. A variety of
assessments used are able to determine whether and what students have
learned. For assessments to be fair they
should be clear, use a variety of methods, agree with what was taught, engage
students, and be interpreted correctly (Suskie, nd). Frequent assessment keeps the student
focused, shows the student about progress in the course, and feedback helps the
student to continue moving forward (Anonymous, nd).
Assessment involves collecting data to evaluate teaching and learning
and should be associated with course goals and objectives. Although assessment comes in many styles and
varieties there are three main types or categories (Anonymous NIU, nd). Diagnostic assessment is done before the
teaching takes place and may allow you to identify current knowledge, strengths
and weaknesses, etc. Pre-tests and
self-surveys can assist for diagnostic assessment. Formative assessment occurs during
instruction to determine the process and progress in learning, effective
teaching, or areas where improvement is needed.
Homework problems, group discussion of class content, or question and
answer sessions can be beneficial. I use
IClickers in both lab and lecture to review material already presented and to
test student preparation. I try to use
it as a learning tool especially when a question is missed. I will try to go back and rethink the
concepts and critical thinking to arrive at the correct answer.
Summative assessment occurs after the formal learning process is
finished and indicates how well teaching was done and how well content/ideas
were learned by evaluating a product.
Rubrics which include grading standards are often used to evaluate
learning at this stage. Final learning
can be evaluated by such tools as tests, a paper, a project, or a response to a
discussion thread.
Authentic assessments can be very creative and allow for task/content
mastery as if it were a real world situation and is usually process
oriented. The tasks required often
involve or lead to higher thinking skills such as problem solving,
collaborative learning, analysis, and synthesis (Mueller, 2014). Authentic assessments tend to be involved
with performing a task concerned with real life, application, student centered,
and have direct evidence. In biology an
authentic type of assessment might be a debate for genetics or an environmental
issue where information is gathered, organized, pro and con sides are presented
as a class presentation, and both sides compromise to form an action policy to
minimize/solve the issue. Another
example would be as our students assist with prairie work: collect seeds, process seeds, plant seeds,
transplant seedlings, plant in the prairie, maintain brush and/or burn the
prairie. Students should see a rubric to
know how they will be graded beforehand, then the same rubric should be used
for the actual grading.
Rubrics are scoring tools
provided so that students know on what and how they will be graded. Generally a grid is made with real life
criteria or tasks to be measured down the left side and scores appear across
the top. Entries in the boxes in the
grid give the expectation in that category for each score. I developed a rubric for eagle behavior. Categories included time/date of observation,
who, what, description of behavior, writing.
Each category received a 3 for much detail, 2 for fair detail, and 1 for
poor detail. A total of all scores
assigned reflects the grade. Rubrics
could be developed for grading all assignments and is a fair way to assess students.
Feedback is important to
students because it lets students know what they know, what they still need to
learn, and focuses their learning (WPI Academic Technology Center, 2007). Feedback should be prompt within one week and
should be of high quality because it is more difficult for the online student
to ask questions about their grade. You
can provide feedback by acknowledging that you received the assignment and
provide information feedback in terms of comments and a grade. Good feedback allows students to be more
connected to their learning and usually results in a more beneficial learning
experience. Feedback that you give
should be valid, reliable, and realistic (Anonymous FSU, 2011).
Social media is used by
almost all of us today, including our students.
I believe that some social media should be introduced into the online
class to engage students in active learning, group collaboration, and to
strengthen the learning community. I
would feel comfortable in using one or two of these methods during a particular
term in my online class. Twitter,
Facebook, and/or social bookmarking could be used. On Twitter a student class group could be set
up. One use could be to follow a
scientist for several weeks, keep a journal, and then report on your scientist
in a discussion thread. A second use
might be to follow a specific organism or eagle nest like Decorah on UTube or
UStream and report current events as they are happening. Students could keep a journal and report
weekly on a discussion thread. For
Facebook I would also need to set up a class/group site. Facebook could be used for announcements or a
social lounge to promote organization and interaction. Other uses for Facebook might be to follow
science newsfeeds on current events or to create flashcards for one of their
class units. I had never heard of social
bookmarking before. I used DIIGO for
bookmarking articles. In this way
students could build a library on a particular topic for their future use. You could actually create an individual or a
group assignment for this. This tool can
also be used to build study skills in terms of notetaking with sticky notes and
highlighting important sections. This
would provide a good group project to evaluate and improve each other’s study
skills.
Lesson 9 focused on diversity (both cultural and other types)
and ethics. Our online students in one
class can come from all over the
world. Culture includes the patterns of
behavior, customs, and habits acquired by being a member of a particular
society (Germain-Rutherford and Kerr, 2008).
Although the variety in cultures within the classroom can be a blessing
and add variety and strength to the learning community, the possible wide
cultural diversity can also cause issues and be challenging to manage. Because educational systems are influenced by
the culture of that society, all educational systems represented in a
multicultural classroom may not identify with the same academic standards or
ethical values. For example, if you have
students who have experience with student vs faculty centered class, deep vs
superficial learning, instructor as facilitator vs formal lecture, etc in the
same classroom, culture has given different expectations within the same
classroom. Humor used in the classroom
can be understood differently based on culture.
A remark in one culture could be misunderstood in one culture, funny in
another, and actually obnoxious in a third.
Humor should be used carefully and sparingly as to not offend some of
your international students. Be careful
when using examples and assignments.
What is well known in one culture or location may be completely unknown
in another and therefore have no relevance.
Choose examples and assignments that everyone understands. Language can be an issue. If you are conducting the class in English
and one of your students uses Spanish first and English 2nd they
probably can write and read English better than they can listen and speak in
English. The language issue can create a
barrier because they may need captioning or additional time for processing
their second language. Listening and
speaking in a Collaborate session will probably be more difficult for them than
taking time to write a response in a discussion thread. Access to technology could be an issue for
international students. A student from
Chicago is more likely to have a new computer with reliable Internet access for
class participation than a student from Africa.
If the African student needs to go to an Internet café every time they
need to do classwork that is inconvenient.
If the connection is unreliable this creates another issue for the
student.
One of the biggest issues involves time zone differences. You could have students living in many
different time zones in the same class.
This might be a problem with holding office hours, trying to hold a
Collaborate session, doing group work, or keeping deadlines. For example if a group is trying to work on
their project in a live session and
student 1 is in Chicago, student 2 is in Hawaii, student 3 is in London, and
student 4 is in India-if you schedule the session for Chicago time you have
likely disenfranchised half of the students because they are sleeping!
Although cultural diversity can be challenging, strategies can be
developed to minimize the problems.
Goold (2007) makes the following helpful suggestions for teaching a
culturally diverse online class: provide
information how to access online units by email/letter, introduce yourself, set
rules for online behavior, use one learning community for the class, use
examples from different cultures, mix cultures within student groups, and make
an online social club available.
For students whose primary language is not English you can make
transcripts available or subcaption films, present information in written form,
and allow extra time for task completion.
Time zone differences can impact deadlines (use time zone of college
teaching the course and publicize it boldly in course materials), as well as
group work and live sessions. Groups
could be constructed using students who have more similar time zones for ease
of scheduling. A live session like
Collaborate could be scheduled one with an archive on local time. The next one could be scheduled for students
in the opposite part of the world with an archive for other students. When using humor, examples, or assignments
use items that are universal so all students can benefit and none of your
students are left out or offended.
Although disabled students are not part of the cultural diversity issue
you should be sure that your class activities/design don’t disenfranchise these
students but include them. Be conscious
about activities with physical limitations, visual, or auditory issues.
Ethical issues or “right or
wrong” are part of the everyday life of online education. Mpofu (nd) discusses possible Internet issues
such as: acceptable use and privacy,
licensing and piracy, copyright and fair use, plagiarism, and ownership of
course materials by the online instructor.
One of the biggest issues of concern in online classes is
dishonesty. Olt (nd) suggests that
cheating is the rule rather than the exception.
Students cheat in many ways in the online classroom: sitting together taking a test, one student
submits another student’s paper as their own, they are using GOOGLE as a
resource while taking a quiz or test, a student is thrown off the computer when
using cut and paste and asks for more time, or students read other student
posts to gather ideas for their own post, students plagiarize without citing
their resources, etc.
One strategy to decrease cheating would be a sign-on or visual
monitoring during a test. Frequent
assignments and email contact will give the instructor a good idea of student
ability. Controlling the use of
resources can be achieved by keeping electronic copies of assignments and a use
of a plagiarism checking system.
Prevention of students working together when they shouldn’t can be
minimized by letting students know you are watching submission dates and times
and the amount of time spent doing the assignment. Random test questions are a good way to
discourage collaboration since everyone gets a different test. Design good assessments that require mastery,
instead of memorization and guessing.
You should modify assignments to prevent sharing old assignments. An academic honesty policy should be outlined
in the syllabus/orientation and should be included in the learning contract
that students sign at the beginning of the class. If students know that you do not condone
cheating and that there will be repercussions they may be more honest in the
classroom.
I selected Ethical Principles in
University Teaching (Murray, 1996 adapted) that discusses nine ethical
principles that should be followed at the university level. They include the following: competent in course content, competent in
pedagogical principles, ability to deal with sensitive topics, contribute to
student academic development, avoid dual relationships with students,
confidentiality for grades, attendance, and private conversations, respect your
colleagues, provide valued assessments, and respect the instructor. I chose assessments. Plagiarism, collaboration, and dishonesty are
issues of concern. I have discussed
several preventative measures such as:
learning contract, plagiarism checking, log in/monitor tests, set time
limits and watch submission dates and times.
Lesson 10 focused on
applying online facilitation practices
to solve problems common in online classes and producing a group reference
guide for new online instructors. We
were asked to choose 4/8 problem situations presented and offer facilitation
solutions to resolves the issues. First
how do you deal with a student who is not
actively participating (#1) in the class?
I would email each student and then schedule a Collaborate session to
explore improving student participation.
Prior to the start of class a section on expectations for student
participation can be included in the orientation and the learning
contract. An early assignment or
discussion thread post could be about the importance of student participation
in an online course.
The second problem that I investigated was hostility (#2) in the online classroom. When a discussion thread turns nasty I would
immediately email the students involved and explain that disrespectful talk is
inappropriate in the online classroom. I
would ask for acceptable dates from each student to schedule and conduct a live
required Collaborate session to address and resolve the disruption. Prior to the start of class I would be sure
that three things were in place to prevent this from happening again. I would include a section in the orientation
about acceptable discussion behavior and have students sign off on it in the
learning contract. Next I would have a
live class session by the end of the first week to give examples of good and
poor discussion behavior (role playing).
The third problem that I tackled
was group dissension (#4). The first thing that I would do if a group
member felt excluded would be to email them and suggest that together we would
try to solve the problem. I would then
email all members of the group, try to arrange a live session (second choice
asynchronous discussion) to discuss and solve the meeting time issue. To prevent this group scheduling problem from
occurring you could include information about selecting group meeting times in
both the course orientation and the learning contract. If it is absolutely impossible to find common
meeting times than all members would need to participate and make decisions in
an asynchronous discussion.
The fourth problem that I worked on was late arrival in the course (#6).
I would immediately email the student when they show up the first time
to let them know that the course is not self-paced and that they should have
been working within the first few days of the start of the term. In fact, had the student not logged in and
started the course by the end of the first week I would have already emailed
and/or called them to find out why they had delayed starting coursework. Then I would make arrangements for a private
live session with the student. After discussion
I would suggest that the student look for an 8 week class to finish their
requirements. To prevent this from
happening I would state boldly in the syllabus, orientation, on the home page,
and in the learning contract that the course is not self-paced and has weekly
deadlines.
In addition we were required to post responses to the other four topics on other student’s
original solutions that were posted. In making changes (#3) to generate more
class energy and more thoughtful responses you could modify grading rubrics,
change reading assignments and discussion questions, and try to add more live
sessions to build a stronger learning community. In superficial
participation (#5) the student is doing a mediocre presentation on their
discussion posts. To improve the quality
of the work you could email the student and ask to discuss their level of work
in a live session. In addition you could
quiz students on the reading prior to discussion posts, require a minimum of
one citation per post, and include a specific level of work to be performed as
part of the learning contract. In What Has Changed? (#7) a student
abruptly presents with a much higher quality of work than usual. You are suspicious of plagiarism. I would search for and use another free
plagiarism tool to check. I would then
email the student or talk live to find out their side of the story. If you can prove plagiarism you can evaluate
how much to penalize the student. If you
can’t prove plagiarism you should let the student know why you are suspicious
and that you will be watching them. You
could prevent or minimize this by including information about plagiarism in the
orientation and as part of the learning contract. In I
Don’t Get It (#8) a student is having trouble because of poor computer
skills, lack of computer literacy, and has trouble following directions. To prevent a student like this from draining
your facilitation time for the entire class I would email the student and
suggest reading the orientation carefully, take advantage of tutorials, and
partake of the Blackboard orientation course.
Having a class partner may also be helpful. To prevent this from the start, include a
list of basic skills needed and include suggestions about how to brush up on
skills as needed to help improve success.
You could also include a section in the learning contract about skills
necessary for coursework.
Our was group project to prepare
a reference guide for a new online instructor (spanned lessons 9 and
10). We included three sections of tips
for the new online instructor: Before Class Starts (me), First Week of
Class (Ashley T.), and During the Course (Carrie J.). Time and effort in preparation before the
class starts is critical to your success in facilitation as the course goes on
during the term. All information needs
to be updated and all links should be checked each term. When the class is ready to go from the first
day both students and faculty have more class satisfaction. Your course should include a home page,
welcome page/announcements, syllabus, orientation with FAQ’s, calendar, and
learning contract.
During the first week of class
it is important for students to feel comfortable, to set the climate for the
class, and for students to begin the work.
Make announcements, send emails, and be present in the class. Provide an icebreaker so students can get to
know each other and prepare/start group work.
Be sure to contact any students who are not participating the first
week.
If your course is set up well and you are diligent in getting the group
started the right way during the first week you are well on your way in
facilitating the course successfully for the rest of the term. Be vigilant and consistent in checking the
discussion boards, for student questions, and email. Make announcements often to stay connected
and keep checking course content for edits and upating links. Stay caught up on grading because a student
should have results back within a week so they can stay focused and progress through the course.
This section of the course includes very valuable topics for the online
instructor. Assessment is a varied but
critical portion of an online course.
When designing and facilitating a course the instructor must consider
diversity issues (cultural or disability) as well as ethics of academic honesty. Practicing solving potential problems that
are likely to be encountered in the online class are helpful in possibly
preventing the issues. A reference guide
for giving tips to a new online instructor can be helpful in making their first
class more successful.
References
Anonymous (NIU). nd. Formative and summative assessment.
Anonymous. nd. Student assessment.
Accessed 3-30-15 http://learndat.tech.msu.edu/teach/student-assessment
Anonymous (FSU). 2011.
Chp 13 Grading. Instruction at
FSU Handbook 2011.
Germain-Rutherford, A. and B.
Kerr. 2008. An inclusive approach to online learning-
Environments. Models and
Resources. Turkish Journal of Distance
Education 9(2): 64-85.
Goold, A. 2007.
Accommodating cultures and cultural diversity in online teaching, Australasian
Journal of Educational Technology 23(4): 490-507.
Mpofu, S. nd.
Ethics and legal issues in online teaching. University of Namibia.
Mueller, J. 2014.
What is authentic assessment?
Authentic Assessment Toolbox.
Murray, H. 1996 (adapted). Ethical principles in university
teaching. Society of Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education.
Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth.
Vancouver, BC
Accessed on 4-6-15
http:www.teaching.utoronto.ca/gsta/teaching-essentials/ta-toolkit/ethical-principle.htm
Olt, M. nd. Ethics and distance education: Strategies for minimizing academic dishonesty
in
Online assessment.
Suskie, L. nd.
Fair assessment practices-Giving students equitable opportunity to
demonstrate
Learning.
Accessed 3-30-15 http://bb9.govst.edu/bbeueldev/ped/-att-context-rid-6564154_1/courses/ONTL6201-01_15SP/FairAssessmentPracties_Suskie_Lesson
WPI Academic Technology Center. 2007.
Teaching with Technical Collaboratory:
Providing
feedback in your distance learning.
Accessed 3-30-15 https://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Teaching/feedback.html
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