This was the concluding module of the Assessments class. We continued our work on our final project, applying suggestions by classmates to improve our final work.
I found the Hara, Bonk & Angeli Content Analysis of Online Discussion reading very thought-provoking. Their research and analysis is a beginning to the serious analyses that are needed in the realm of online discussions and their impact on learning. The many factors that are present make it a complex topic to analyze accurately. Their research led me to want to see if there was more on this topic, so I searched and found "Analysis of problem-solving-based online asynchronous discussion pattern" by Hou, Chang and Sung (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7100/is_/ai_n28524408). This research focused on problem-solving discussion activities and provided some clearer results that I will seek to apply.
With the large class sizes that I teach, breaking students into smaller groups will facilitate better discussions. Also, I understand my role in the discussion better. Just as in a f2f classroom, the teacher's role changes with the developmental ages of the students, as well as with the "flavor" of the individual class. Classes each take on their own personalities, and the teacher needs to be aware of this and adjust his/her interaction and guidance accordingly.
Finally, reflecting on my overall experience, I have to say how much I value and respect my classmates' talents and work. I have learned so much from interacting with them. We have some very inspiring educators in this group. I have grown significantly in my perspectives, as well as in my understanding of online assessment tools and strategies.
Ginnie
This week was incredibly busy at work and in this class. Grades due, project draft due, work piling up!
I enjoyed putting everything together for the project, although I hit a few bumps along the way. I came up with a fun idea for using Inspiration for it, but then found that my trial subscription would expire before I could finish my project, so I went to plan B and used Googledocs. This class pushed me into using Googledocs, and I am glad it did. It's very user-friendly, although some of the formatting is tricky and I couldn't always to get it to do what I wanted. I wish my students could use it, but it is blocked for them. Edublogs would work, but I had too much trouble with that initially.
I do wonder, though, if a straightforward paper isn't just as effective for something like this. A Word document would have worked just as well, if not better, for me. It would have been easier to format it the way I wanted, and the links would have worked the same way. I feel like I didn't communicate how my course coaches students along in their projects. Everything my students do is assessed. If it wasn't, many of them wouldn't do the work. For example, when they do a PowerPoint project, I break it down into steps for which they need to submit work (resources, title page, attention-getter, organizer, etc.). If I didn't have them submit what they did for each step, most of them would skip steps and turn in inadequate work (then wonder why they didn't get a good grade). That's just how it is with the age group with which I work. Anyway, I didn't want to overwhelm my page with too much information. I am thinking about adding this somewhere, though.
I still feel like I am missing out on best practices. Or maybe I have it but just want more. There are so many tools out there that people are experimenting with, but I think we need to be careful in implementing them. Technology for the sake of technology or for being something new isn't a good reason to use it. In my class I like to stick to a few tools with which students get comfortable. It's important for younger students like mine to get comfortable and understand how to use a few of them, but they would have trouble if I used too many. I do think, however, what I've seen from my classmates in this class have been very good uses of those tools, so I guess we're on the right track.
I especially enjoyed Gail's use of Zoho with Voice Thread. I plan on looking into that for my students.
Ginnie
