Chapter 3 Reading of BlendKit course

I find myself behind in the course. I saw the tweet Kelvin sent on Fighting the Mid-MOOC Slump! Ughhh, I need to fight it!! Grin.

Chapter 3 relates to blended assessments of learning. Much of what I read I already knew, but it was helpful to review it again and I am really grateful for the articles included that I can provide to my faculty. As mentioned previously, our institution is a Quality Matters Licensed Institution and I wanted to share what it states in relation to our readings here. Quality Matters charges us to ensure our courses apply assessments that are sequenced, varied and appropriate to the student work being assessed. First and foremost these assessments being aligned with the learning objectives, of course. It also emphasizes the importance of Academic Rigor and Authentic Assessments, which was covered in our readings here.

Here is a great illustration, in relation to Adult Learning, for the need for thoughtful consideration in the assessments we choose for our online, hybrid and traditional.

 

image taken from: taken from: http://vpstories.com/2013/11/14/assessment-and-the-21st-century-learner-bccuric/

Notes for Self:

Formal assessments provide a systematic way to measure students’ progress. Contribute to the final grade and is to indicate student mastery of the subject.

• Quizzes/Tests:
• Cheating (keep in mind this happens face to face and online)
• I have been taught to create large pools of questions to generate random pools, to limit time given and have looked at proctoring software from Respondus. 
• I appreciate the articles given to improve Assessment Design
• Essay:
• is appropriate for gauging how well students are able to apply the concepts learned in class
• Tools: Discussion area, Assessment tool (essay questions), Assignment tool, Peer Review tool
• Projects/Authentic Tasks
• assessing student abilities to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to real world problems.

Informal assessments generally provide the faculty member the ability to gauge their students’ comprehension of course material. Need not be graded and can be used for practice.

• practice tests/quizzes, 
• faculty can use this to gauge comprehension, studies show students who used it got better grades.
• One-Sentence Summary/Reflections
• Students answer seven questions separately: “Who? Does What? To Whom (or What)? When? Where? How? And Why?” Then they put those answers together into one sentence.
• Student-generated Test Questions

Presence in the Classroom

Week 2: Blended Interactions

As I read through Week 2: Blended Interactions reading it reminded me of a book we read "Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching" by Rosemary Lehman and Simone Conceicao. The way presence relates to instructor to student interaction and student to student is that these interactions let the student know that they are not alone in this online environment. The quote I'd like to pass on to my instructors is:

• High impact activities, where students interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters, increase learner engagement and result in greater success in learning. (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2007)

I specifically want to use this for faculty that do not want to include student to student interactions in their hybrid/online courses.

In game design there is a constant tension between what is enough scaffolding to get players motivated and able to pursue the mystery and how much can be left open-ended for players to learn on their own. Too much scaffolding can easily feel “school - like” and procedural, taking away from players’ initiative to tinker around to discover things on their own. Too little scaffolding may leave players lost and disengaged." (Asbell-Clarke et. al., 2012, p. 53)

I am particularly interested in this quote because I am currently being asked to learn more about gamification and game based learning. It is something that I need to keep in mind when designing for courses using either of these concepts. How much instruction am I needing to give to students in order for them to progress through the course and how much is too much that I inundate them.

Notes to myself:

Two arguments against minimal guidance learning (related to bad design)

1. How do the students know what to do?
2. How will learners make sense  of information that is fragmented and distributed (ex course that uses articles instead of text), rather then well organized as textbooks

Personal Learning Environment

• environment where people and tools and communities and resources interact in a very loose kind of way.
• ex. MOOCs

 Role of Educator

• minimal or guided & instructivism or constructivism
• Models of educator and learner roles and interaction
1. studio or atelier (Jon Brown 2006 & 2013)
• students learn from fellow students as well as instructor
• activities of students can serve to guide, direct and influence each individuals work
• instructor observers work and can direct students to someones innovative approach
• Good Tool: Blog
2. network administrator (Fischer)
•  instructor assist learners in forming connections and creating learning networks
• as learners encounter new information sources, they critically evaluate the sources suitability as part of the holistic and diversified learning network
• Gaps in the learning network are dealt with by both instructor (through evaluation) and student (through self reflection)
3. Concierge (Curtis Bonk)
• instructor directs learners to resources or learning opp. 
• Provides soft guidance (times lectures other times allow students to explore on their own)
• pr
4. Curator: Expert Learner (George Siemen)
• Creates spaces where knowledge can be created, explored, and connected.
• through displays, concepts and artificats
• Learner is also free to explore