"Assessment can be seen as the engine that drives students course activity; online or off (Swan, Shen, & Hiltz, 2006). Assessing students correctly and effectively can be challenging for individual students, however, group collaboration has been a challenge to assess for a while. According to Siemens (2008), collaboration is not the issue; the issue is how you change an assessment on a model based on collaborative learning. Simenens suggested that students should access their peers which can take a minor load off of instructors and allow students to interact and share experiences through online discussions (Laureate Education, 2008). The peer to peer assessment will not only allow students to participate with each other and gain knowledge from each other, it can become a significant part of their course grade. Students should be assessed in a collaborative learning environment by participation alone. There are several technologies used today for group members to be able to communicate and work collaboratively. Wikis, blogs, and online discussions are networks that allows for students to participate with their peers. If students are not participating, then it should reflect in their grade. I believe that what matters most if whether the students have actually learned something despite their skills or knowledge that is brought to the learning environment. I am uncertain if knowledge or skills should affect an instructor’s ability to equally assess learning in a collaborative learning environment. It may be an assumption that during collaborative learning, students bring some sort of knowledge or skill to their group no matter the varying levels of skills. Roles in the learning community should be delegated by skills and knowledge, the instructor should be informed on these skills so that they can assess effectively. Students could possibly fill out a self-aptitude test which is used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of an individual’s capability. This test could aid the instructor in determining what students are strong in what areas so that they can be assessed in that area.
If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community, others in the learning community should inform the instructor about the student's lack of participation and continue to collaborate among the students that wanted to be involved in the learning community. The instructor should then inquire about the student's lack of participation because he may have a justifiable reason. A justifiable reason could be a student's lack of knowledge associated with the use of online communication tools. For example, I was unfamiliar with how to use Wikis to interact with my classmates in the learning community, and that was the cause of my lack of participation. I did not participate because I was unfamiliar with how Wikis worked, however, I finally figured it out! The choice not to participate in a learning community would have a major impact on an individual’s assessment plan because assessment is not being allowed to be utilized because of the lack of participation. Also, an instructor is not able to determine if the students is understanding the course content if he or she is not participating with peers online.
References:
Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. Vodocast. Laureate Education, Inc
Swan, K., Shen, J., & Hiltz, S. (2006). Assessment and Collaborating in Online Learning. Educational Technology Center .
Useful Links:
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/collaborative.html
http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v10n1/pdf/v10n1_5swan.pdf (GREAT ARTICLE)
http://www.computer.org/plugins/dl/pdf/proceedings/icce/2002/1509/00/15090262.pdf?template=1&loginState=1&userData=anonymous-IP%253A%253A71.199.168.58 (GREAT ARTICLE)
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Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI agree that assessment drives instruction. I like your idea that roles should be delegated based on strengths, skills, and experience. Delegating roles in this manner ensures everyone has a fair chance to participate.
Deidre Buckhalter
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your clear and succinct post.
I appreciated your sharing with us your experience regarding non-participation because of lack of familiarity using wikis. I wonder to what degree the members of the learning community need to help bring every participant in collaboration up to speed on the tools required to meet specified objectives. Should each student come to the collaborative exercise having sufficient working knowledge and experience? On the other hand, what aspect of a student’s non-collaboration should the group choose to penalize? Is it one’s lack of regular communication, minimal feedback to group’s work, lack of interest in collaboration, and other aspects? I would advance the argument that learning objectives should determine the nature, scope, and value of the process of achieving them. If the lesson were on “group dynamics,” then non-participation would receive a failing grade. On the other hand, if the lesson were on “preparing a group paper on bed-wetting,” then determining the nature of non-participation is central to effective and meaningful assessment. Preparing rubrics that detail the nature and scope of assessment is critical to the task.
I have a fundamental question: “What is the value of collaboration with one’s peers in a doctoral program?” Does the nature of a doctoral program dictate the value of collaboration or does collaboration determine the value of the program?
Just thinking!
David Abraham (Blog response in Module #3)
David-
ReplyDeleteYou post an interesting question. We are asked to complete many projects to demonstrate an understanding and have colleagues to use for peer help, however there is not a project that involves all aspect of the online learning community and subsequently receiving a group grade. I would then say that the nature of the docorate program dictates the value of collaboration.
Kimberly
ReplyDeleteI agree that peer-to-peer assessment is a valuable tool for online collaboration. Without communicating with other classmates, we cannot evaluate who is learning or if they are present in the online learning environment. As you mentioned, assessment on collaboration efforts must be based on participation alone. If people neglect their responsibilities as an online contributor, their academic success should suffer tremendously. The goal of online education is to for all students to participate in collaborative learning, and enhance their cognitive and social skills simultaneously (Anderson, 2008, p. 57). This goal can be accomplished when people commit to the learning community as a whole. To evaluate one’s progress in a collaborative learning community, instructors should incorporate self-assessments, rubrics, and portfolios (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 43-44). Rubrics help students know what is expected and how to get the best score. Michael Macfarland explains how to grade essays in an online courses using rubrics. He explains that rubrics help to create a universal language, so that everyone can obtain the best grade possible (2009, December). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UptalKfTyM When a student creates an online portfolio of work, instructors and future employers can evaluate the student’s abilities individually and collaboratively (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 43). As online collaboration becomes more popular, I think we will see an increase in the amount of student or collaboration portfolios. Self-assessment helps us to reflect on what we know and apply what we have learned from others. The Curriculum Corporation (2009) provides an excellent set of strategies for engaging students in self-assessment, which are the use of student-led conferences, rubrics, graphic organizers, learning targets, and time management (http://www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/professional_learning/student_self-assessment/student_strategies_enhance.html.).As we engage in more collaborative learning projects, I think applying several of these strategies would help to create a solid online learning team, who could accomplish great things.
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), The theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed., pp. 45–74). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
Curriculum Corporation. (2009). Strategies to enhance student self-assessment. Retrieved from http://www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/professional_learning/student_self-assessment/student_strategies_enhance.html.
Macfarland, M. (2009, December). Using rubrics in an online class. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UptalKfTyM.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p. 43.
@Davis :
ReplyDeleteI think that it is the instructors responsibility to help learners with the tools required to meet specified objectives, especially objectoves association with the use of technology. I think that students should come to the collaborative exercies being familiar with what is being asked of them and it depends of what is considered sufficent.
@Amy:
Rubrics are my best friends, students do SO MUCH BETTER when they treat the rubric as a checklist to determine what is required of them. The more detailed the rubric the more clearer are the expectations that are required from the students. Even the online rubrics that we use are very helpful in the assessment of learning.