Working on Teams in an Online Setting

Entering the end of week 4 in our Assessments in e-Learning graduate course, I would like to share three of my reflections and observations from that material explored:

1. I learned how to make a Weebly. Simple, but significant. I am a tech geek. Whereas I have built websites using more complicated software, I never knew about Weebly until now.

2. I learned what the jigsaw method for collaborative team assessment means. Another term and method I was unfamiliar with. I now believe that all online courses should utilize at least one jigsaw activity as a requirement for completion.

3. Regarding assessment, I learned that projects can function in this role as more beneficial than something like an analysis paper or midterm exam. A project, be it done alone or on a team, applies the use of skills learned through the creativity process. Learning takes place when creativity happens, as the imagination (right brain) works symbiotically with the rationale logic (left brain) and new pathways are formed. Learning at its best.

 

Two insights I have about working on teams in an online college setting:

1. Working with teams on collaborative projects can be challenging. You never know who you will get on your team and most likely it is somebody you don’t know. A small amount of trust is necessary. You have to assume that these are all working adults who are paying hard-earned money for their courses. They wouldn’t be in the course if they didn’t plan on doing the work. They may not respond as quick as you’d like, yet in the end you must trust they will get it done.

2. Learning via collaborate team projects is a great way to practice William Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect method for enacting course objectives. Whatever the material presented is about (absorb), the students get to work on a team and practice (do) hands-on activities of whatever the focus of the content. As they are working on this project, this ‘do’, they are also connecting. It is the connection that helps open portals to different parts of the mind where patterns are seen, analysis happens and the ‘absorb’ content comes to life through direct action.

One suggestion I have for working on teams in an online setting:

My advice for working on teams in an online setting would be to put all of your focus on communication. The majority of problems that occur on teams ties back to communication issues. Team members don’t receive emails, don’t respond promptly to emails or don’t write very long emails compared to others sometimes. I suggest that a team leader make a schedule at the beginning of the project with due dates for each step along the way during the project. Every member can receive a copy of it and see clearly what the expectations are. With a clear step-by-step schedule even for the small things, it removes some of the pressure of wondering if a team member will respond or do their share. Communication is what it’s all about.

Creative Online Tools for Assessing Learning

With the increase in online learning and technological invention of new Internet tools booming, there are countless ways to conduct formative assessment of student learning in the online classroom. Below is a list of tools using Internet or Apple-based aps, sites or gadgets that any online instructor could use to design a learning activity that also assesses student progress.

Fabulous Online Tools for Learning

Assessment in e-Learning Reflection Week 3

Entering the end of week 3 in our Assessments in e-Learning graduate course, I would like to share three of my reflections and observations from that material explored:

1. Concept mapping and mind mapping aren’t necessarily the same thing.

2. Entities or items that I previously thought of as activities can also serve as assessment.

3. Assessment is the most effective when it reflects comprehension of learning revealed as time goes on evidenced in performance.

Dr. Curtis Bonk teaches online instructors that assessment can help us understand which students learn best under which circumstances and how to thus adjust their learning to suit their learning style. Whereas the old-fashioned way of assessing includes giving standards tests and quizzes at the end of a unit, student-centered assessment offers the student creative or unique ways to showcase their learning as the course progresses. This learning is also intended to support the material. In short, the assessment is a learning mechanism and not a judgment tool to determine how much was memorized. Activies such as creating and writing regularly in a blog can also function as an assessment tool. Students not only do the activity, gaining skill in blogging and writing, they can keep track of their own progress and highlight what they have learned through their blog.

 

Two things that interested me during this third week to explore and research further include as follows:

1. This week we educators were given a toolbox of potential new online tools to use for our courses, either assessment or otherwise. As an artist myself, I am very excited about exploring some of the visual collage-style software such as Mural or Imagination.

2. A class wiki can be used as both an activity and an assessment. Less familiar with wikis myself, I am not on a hunt to discover how best to utilize their benefits in the form of indirect assessment on student learning.

One question that I still have for the course is this:

1.      How are online instructors to adhere to a learning-centered approach to teaching and offering assessments in a classroom where they are limited by the parameters of a school or platform that does not allow beyond the traditional testing format? Many schools are not up-to-date with the new method for teaching online using interactive platforms, tools and technology.

 

When it comes to online higher education, personalized learning is a concept for structuring classes in a way that is unique to the needs of the individual learner. With personalized learning on the rise in the online classroom, assessment freedom (the ability for students to choose their preferred method of assessment) is easier than ever with technology changing the way that we offer authentic assessment to monitor learning. Instructional designers now have the ability to allow students to develop their own creative projects under a set of guidelines that will not only offer flexibility, but will also show evidence that connections have been made of the content. Tying in personalized learning with assessment may look something like a list of assessment options that students can pick from to replace a final examination. Or, they can submit a proposal for their own assessment or project idea to the instructor. Take a look at this animated video on where the student learner should ideally be by the year 2020 in reference to how educators should move toward personalized learning.

When looking for unique ways to offer assessments in an online environment, it helps to have a selection of technology tools at your fingertips. And, with the rapidly growing e-learning movement fueled by advances in this technology, I wanted to share with you a site offering a list off creative tools for instructors that may provide a variety to their assessment methods.


Digital Tools for the Online Educator

Assessment in e-Learning Reflection Weeks 1-2

Coming to the conclusion of week 2 in our new Assessment in e-Learning graduate course, I would like to share three important things that I have learned:

1. Traditional tests and quizzes are no longer the preferred method of assessing student learning.

2. Blogs can be used as a form of assessment.

3. The emergence of technology has required educators to shift their views and uses of assessment.


Two things that interested me in the early weeks of this course to explore are as follows:

1. Blogs as an assessment or evaluation tool (which I still am not clear on).

2. How to know if you are designing assessments correctly in a way that contributes to learning.


One question that I still have for the course is this:

1. When is the time to use traditional or old-fashioned methods of assessment like tests and quizzes?

Welcome to my new blog on adult education in the online learning field. Here is an educator photo of me recently taken in the Caribbean.