Distance Education and Online Collaboration
According to Siemens’s vodcast “Assessment of Online Learning,” face-to-face (F2F) assessments are now basically on the knowledge level; however, it is shifting to the participatory model of assessing due to the influence of distance learning (DE). Assessment becomes more collaborative in nature as online learning becomes more prevalent. Students, community, and instructor (based on participation or projects) assess peers in online community. In this way, assessment is becoming more authentic. Assessment is teaching. This shows "fair and equitable assessment" of learning because it can show student growth, amounts of participation, and is based on authentic contexts.
George Siemens in his vodcast “Learning Communities” stated that schools in K-12 provide singular individualist model of learning in a F2F environment. Society is a learning community where people work together. Individuals need online experience with working in a system. Trust and cooperation and novel type interaction-externally, so ideas will be creative and fresh.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005, pp.31-38) stated that it is necessary to anticipate problems, such as conflicts and technical difficulty and address them early by offering suggestions or support. The role the instructor plays is crucial; they serve as a guide, set the stage for collaboration, provide resources and links, and make sure the workload is manageable. The role the instructor plays impacts the assessment plan because they have to set the parameters for the assignments and assessment. Since the assessment would be collaborative in many instances, instructors have to participate in the discussions, encourage others to think using provocative questioning, and be open for cultural differences. If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, members of the learning community can e-mail the member by private email, call them in case of technical problems, and
Researching other blogs online, I found a blog from Indiana University (2010) that contained information on “world guidance on how to implement team-based projects, troubleshoot them, and promote their success” with a 32 page report attached to the suggested blog.
Reference
Indiana University. (2010, March 9). Student collaboration in the online classroom [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://icoblog.wordpress.com/category/collaboration/
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Siemens, G. (n.d.). Learning communities. [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com
Siemens, G. (n.d.). Assessment of online learning. [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com
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ReplyDeleteYour comments about the role of the instructor are interesting. Our online instructors do not create the assignments. The department head or one of her designees does. I think that our instructors provide feedback to the course designers, and some of them may alter what happens in the sections they teach.
ReplyDeleteOur instructors participate in our discussions and assess our individual work. I have not seen a place in the grade book that specifically assesses our community involvement. We are assessed on the number of times we participate in discussion and in the number of responses we make to others. I think this points out the difficulty in assessing learning that is the result of participation in a community for online or F2F learning.
Cyndy
Cyndy, In my experience with a class I had last semester, the instructor assigned a collaborative project for making a table comparing theories and theorists. We each had to contribute some to the table. We did this like a Wiki, each changing the table as they wanted. It was color-coded for each person to show how much participation each gave. The course designers did not structure this, it was the instructor. I think we are thinking of two different types of "community." One being the community we live in and the other being the "online community" that instructors have molded from the coursework through their interpretation(s)of the assignment. Deb :)
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