Week 1
The best thing about putting me in a position of 'learning' is that I get to re-experience what students feel as a student in a learner centered environment: the anxiety, the determination, and the sense of accomplishment.This week's assignment with the wiki was a little troubling for me because I had only heard of wikis but was quite negligent about them and tended to avoid them. Being pushed out of my comfort zone feels GREAT!
I enjoyed the discussion board comments and found that the helpful advice given by my colleagues about how they will use surveys and wikis as assessments in their disciplines challenged me to look at a more broad definition of assessment and how to incorporate technology through assessment in my face to face courses.
Goals resulting from this first week include:
1. Libby's suggestion to create a wiki for my
Advisory Board in ECE
2. Create a wiki for the 286 students in the
ECE major
3. When creating a survey, to check out Joe's
suggestion Quia (www.quia.com).
Class Wiki
One of the assignments for the class the first week was to create class wiki about online netiquette. Here we were able to compose our own 'class rules' about online postings. There are a plethora of ideas collected among my colleagues and many which have helped to shape and manage the postings in the discussion board. I am hoping to possibly use the wiki as a page for the ECE students in the program or for my Advisory Council to collect their ideas for meetings.Week 2
This week I created a blog! What is most intriguing to me is my sense of trepidation in terms of learning something new, especially when it involves technology. When I read over the module and see all the assignments I tend to panic a bit wondering how I will get the assignments completed within the course of the week. And then I realize I am putting up this mental block in my head in regards to the learning. The question becomes, I can't or I can? I find that I must break the learning into chunks and reflect upon ways that I can immediately utilize it in my teaching.I'm continually amazed at the level of expertise of the colleagues in the class when it comes to the technology and how some colleagues are at ease with the technology and some are finding it just as challenging as I do.
Sharing the links to each others blogs has been interesting. As I click on the link to someone's page it is almost like meeting someone for the first time! For those who put pictures within their blog, I have enjoyed visually meeting them and found an interesting fact about them. What a neat way to build community.
I continue to enjoy the discussion boards as it opens up new ideas for me to ponder. This week I have appreciated the experiences of my colleagues who already use the blog and have identified uses and pitfalls. The result of this week's learning challenges me to integrate blogs this coming semester in the ECE program.
Finally, I appreciated the links from Vandervelde which included ideas on how to construct good rubrics. It is always a gift to have so many resources at one's fingertips.
New goals for this week:
1) Use Joe's link in order to create a talking head in my blog (that's this weekends
project www.voki.com)
Jill's Voki
2) Identify the most logical class and purpose for blogs in ECE
3) Create a means to evaluate the blog (i.e. rubric)
Question to Ponder:
If an instructor chooses to use blogs, what is the best way to read and evaluate student blogs? How does one introduce the blog and 'excite' students to want to use it? In what way do they create the blog so they see how they can use the blog as a teacher of young children?
Week 3
Concept Map
The assignment this week was to construct a Concept Map. I chose to create it using the program Inspiration because I know that the Inspiration program is used in many elementary schools. I personally keep reflecting about all the technology I'm learning and think how students can utilize these technology strategies within their teaching. My goal is to introduce Concept maps into the Literacy class through Inspiration. I can visualize students brainstorming ideas to teach key literacy terms such as phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, etc. I also see this tool being used to as an assessment of students preliminary ideas for creating lesson plans.Research Project
This week we were put into groups to begin our midterm research project. I must admit that I don't always appreciate group work especially in an online environment as I find it too difficult to try to coordinate work styles of all members. I can understand now my own students sentiments about 'group work' and how some can perceive the efforts of others greater/lesser than their own. It is evident each group needs a leader but as adult learners, who becomes the leader? Who is boldest to choose what their research preference is and who waits until everyone has chosen? It also becomes a challenge when some members have made other plans for the week and the group needs to find ways to work around the schedule of others. I am more content working within my own time frame and being in charge of my own destiny. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and I am certain to have a reflection about it next week. This experience is helping me see how students view group work depending on their own learning and work styles.The instructor continues to help clarify questions and assists us in seeing the big picture and purpose of all assignments. I appreciate that for it helps me to focus more on the outcomes of the course.
I am happy to report I'm still learning but each week it looks as thought it's a high learning curve.
Here is one things to celebrate. With Joe's advice I was able to embed my Voki into my blog.Yeah! Thanks Joe!
Jill's Voki
Goals:
1) As Program Director, I believe I will create a blog for the ECE area a Students can check out my blog for news items and announcements. I will also be including a Voki.
2) To work on the midterm and have my pieces complete by Wednesday evening
Week 4
New Concept Map
Receiving feedback about my objectives used in my concept map was valuable for me! As we continue to write objectives that are outcome based, the instructor has given valuable insight and feedback about how to measure the objective. This has made me more keen and aware of the level of proficiency that needs to be included in the objective. I intend to take the learning into my own courses this fall as I instruct students how to write objectives.
Group Projects
This week's focus involved a group project. To be honest, I'm not a fan of group projects mainly because I like to be the master of my own destiny and learning. Not saying that I don't enjoy learning with others but only if they have the same work ethic and degree of commitment that I have. This attitude has created more frustration throughout the years so I must reflect on this more. I have been mindful of the posting which was on this week's module:
Teamwork creates a brain trust. If done well, the learning
and end product should be substantially more powerful than if
it was done by an individual.
This has helped me maintain the focus and determination to create the Big Bird Tool Kit which would be more powerful than if done alone.Big Bird Took Kit
Jigsaw
One of the teaching strategies introduced to us this week was the Jigsaw activity. While I have previously participated in a Jigsaw activity and currently have my own students do them, the process has included reading and reporting verbally about the article. The one positive aspect about this Jigsaw activity is that creating the Tool Kit has greater potential for assessing knowledge gained from the articles and includes a more concrete measure of learning.Discussion Boards
I have appreciated the time this week to work on the group project without the added responsibility of not having to the discussion board, I have missed the repoire and insights from my colleagues. Again, I have noted to myself the colleagues who have similar experiences to mine and tend to focus deeply on their responses to questions or thoughts posed to them. I also appreciate the early posters and envy those who seem to spend oodles more hours on the discussion board than I do. For those colleagues who continually add thoughtful postings and helpful information, I smiles and think to myself, 'once a teacher, always a teacher'.
The learning continues each week in different ways, shapes and forms. I have to say that it excites me to realize how much I am learning and anticipate each week's event.
Kudos to the instructor who is very organized and thoughtful.
Week 5
Feedback
One of the best parts of this course is the amount of feedback received by peers and the instructor. For me, feedback is welcomed and appreciated because it allows me to see another perspective and way to view things. The instructor used audio feedback for our BigBird Tool Kit. I was amazed at how eloquently the instructor delivered the feedback and how precise and explicit it was. As a result of the feedback, the group was allowed a 'redo' on the project. Sending an email to my team resulted in no one responding to the redo. I felt that learning occurs at a higher level when one takes the feedback and makes changes. So I redid my Tool Kit page using the suggestions from the instructor. Below is the new link to the Big Bird Took Kit with my changes which were suggested by the instructor. My team decided not to fix their portion.
https://sites.google.com/site/teambigbirdassessmenttoolbox/
Assessment Taxonomy
We were challenged this week to review Bloom's Taxonomy and to take a look at one of our activities for our final project and decide the level of Bloom's Taxonomy it fit in to. This was challenging for me because of the newly revised language of Bloom's and the template which still uses the old language. As an instructor who frequently uses Bloom's Taxonomy, I have decided to 'throw out the old and adopt the new' however my assignment shown here still uses the old verbiage. The assignment forced me to pinpoint the level of learning and thinking the activity would support and allowed me to aim for the higher level questioning. It was challenging, yet rewarding to be able to devise the Taxonomy Table. The feedback from the instructor and colleagues continues to occur so this is a work in progress.
Bloom categories
|
Learning objective verbs
|
Activity
|
Knowledge
(recall, list,
define, identify, collect, label)
|
||
Comprehension
(summarize, describe
interpret, predict, discuss)
|
Interpret, Identify,
Summarize,
Understand
|
University Supervisors will interpret the Portfolio
Assessment Rubric by describing their understanding
of the identified criteria
under each heading by posting one question and one comment about the
specifications on the rubric on the University Supervisor’s Wiki. The University Supervisor will then
complete an on-line quiz achieving a minimum of 80% proficiency based on the
contents of the rubric.
|
Application
(apply, demonstrate,
illustrate, classify, experiment, discover)
|
Discover, Apply
|
The University Supervisor will conduct scholarly research
on generational learning styles. The Supervisor will discover three likenesses and three differences to their own
learning style and apply strategies
which they will effectively deal with students with contrasting learning
styles. The University Supervisor will post their comparison chart to the
University Supervisor Wiki including their resource list to share with other
University Supervisors for additional information about generational learning
styles.
|
Analysis
(analyze, classify,
connect, explain, infer)
|
Differentiate,
Analyze, Categorize, Examine
|
The University
Supervisors will examine the
Benchmark Information on the School of Education website. After differentiating the characteristics
between the three benchmarks, the university supervisor will complete an
online quiz with 85% accuracy regarding Benchmark III Information.
|
Synthesis
(combine, integrate,
plan, create, design, formulate)
|
Design, Create,
Assemble, and Construct
|
The University Supervisor will examine the Student
Teaching Handbook paying particular attention to the roles and
responsibilities of the Student Teacher, Cooperating Teacher and the
University Supervisor (pg. 12-17). The University Supervisor will design and create a BLOG comprised of his/her own roles and responsibilities
as a University Supervisor to be shared with the student teacher and the
cooperating teacher. The university supervisor will achieve a Proficiency
rating on the University Supervisor Blog Rubric.
The University Supervisor will design and create
a BLOG comprised of his/her own roles and responsibilities as a
University Supervisor, as defined by the Student Teaching Handbook, to be
shared with the student teacher and the cooperating teacher.
|
Evaluation
(assess, recommend,
convince, compare, conclude, summarize)
|
Rubric Development
Ah, rubrics. Where would I be without them? However, I finally learned the difference between holistic rubrics and analytical rubrics. For my own use, I find that students benefit most from the Analytical rubric yet they are such a challenge to construct! Reading the information about rubrics I have realized that a redo on the rubrics I use is in order for the fall as well as an effort to use the correct terms; analytical and holistic when addressing the rubrics in class.The feedback is still out on the rubric I developed but here is the link to this work in progress.
Week 6
Survey
This week we examined Surveys which can be used as yet another assessment tool. Here in the School of Education it seems like we are always surveying students but I never attempted to create a survey. There are many options for creating surveys including Zoomerang, SurveyMonkey, SurveyBuilder and CreateSurveyI decided to use Survey Monkey to create a survey for potential University Supervisors for the School of Education.
Check out my University Supervisor Survey
Final Project
FINAL PROJECT
Week 7
Final Project
This week we were to perfect and work on our final projects. I did have my project pretty well completed and offered it to the discussion board on Monday. I received some valuable feedback and made the necessary changes.I was also on vacation this week to Provincetown and so I took a little break away from the demands of the course and the pressure to complete the work. However, I found that I still checked the site each day in hopes of finding someone else's page posted. Toward the week's end, I did get a chance to view a few other colleague's work and found that for each 'creative' project, I saw something I could have incorporated into my work. Again, it reiterated for me the value of sharing one's work with others to allow for ideas one never thought about as well as assisting each other in catching links and ideas that were troublesome. The valued opinion of others prevails!
Week 8-THE END
Reflection
I never thought I would see this week come! My husband asked me what I learned from this course but how do you explain what you have learned to someone that hasn't taken part of this class. First of all, I have to say that the title of this course is appropriate, Assessment in e-learning. Although I learned so many tools of technology that I hadn't experienced before such as blogs, surveys, wikis, concept maps, and web pages, the key learning for me came in understanding how to use these tools for assessing student learning. I now understand that any good planning for a lesson or a course begins with mapping out the ideas. The software for concept mapping will be integrated into my courses this semester as I feel the visual is an excellent representation of thought. As well, the wiki hold many possibilities for me this semester including the wiki which I'll create for the ECE Advisory Council, for the freshman in my intro class and possibly for my literacy class as they evaluate each other's lesson plans. I especially enjoyed creating the survey and have now many resources to use to create survey's and tests for my online course. Thanks to the instructor, he suggested Qualtrics which is built into the D2L site so I will be signing up for the workshop during professional development week that instructs how to do that. My goal is to create quizzes for the Intro class as a means to introduce freshman to D2L and on-line testing.This course challenged me beyond what I had imagined. There were moments of panic and frustration for me, but I feel that during the frustrating times is when I learned the most. The sense of accomplishment far exceeds my expectation which is a wonderful feeling. Sometimes, as an instructor, I forget what it's like to be on the other side of the desk. I felt that the instructor quickly 'understood me' as a learner and truly took the time to challenge my thinking and help me perfect my work. While this was rather irritating I appreciated the challenge and felt a sense of accomplishment when finished.
This summer has been a good reminder that I must be more cognizant of the role I play as instructor and learner.
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