New Methods of Assessment/Group work on chosen technology3

Objectives

To start own information gathering in connection to own social media. Special emphasis in on gathering practices, ideas and experiences of assessment.

General

David Baume did the orientation lecture with the title "An outcomes-based approach to the assessment of learning" on Tuesday 20.1.2009 at 10.00-11.30 GMT. The recording of the session is in address An outcome-based approach to the assessment of learning The session was an interactive one and you can see the Tiedosto:Assessment of learning V3.pdfslides here. Aim is to continue working with questions in last slide. Aim of this orientation was to give up-to-date information where are we at the moment in assessemnt and what are our future challenges in the near future.

During this week join some social media network interested in same topics as your small group is. Start to design an online excursion to some place and plan interview questions (see in more detail below).

Assessment

Use of technology

The use of technology to support assessment practices has a long history. Yet the focus to date has largely been developing online objective tests rather than on using technologies to address fundamental educational issues. e-Tools are effective when they are allied to assessment approaches that enchance the students' ability to generate internal feedback against standards and to self-regulate their learning. Current technologies can support these processes. Tools to support self-assessment are available, as are tools to support the delivery of teacher and peer feedback, although more research is required to determine the effectiveness of different type of teacher feedback. It is also easy to support dialogic feedback through web-based systems (e.g., VLEs). Overall, new technologies are not only leading to new ways of enhancing current assessment practices and offering new possibilities (e.g., assessing online discussion) but are leading to deeper thinking about how we conceptualise assessment in higher education. (David Nicol and Colin Milligan 2007, 74.)

ePortfolio

Further information on the ePortfolios Group is provided in the Moodle Area for this course.

Wiki

Get familiar with some wikis used in education and collect typical characters of these wiki-courses. Compare the results with your peer and taka a look if there is some teacher you would like to interview about his/her pedagogy and experiences in using wiki and assessment. Plan interview questions and the media where it takes place (wiki, Second Life, Adobe Connect Pro etc.)

Here a couple of examples:

1. Educational wikis

2. DramaticIdentityA particularly innovative wiki use (in this authors opinion) is DramaticIdentity. A DramaticIdentity is a temporary hat that you put on when you assume the role of another (nonhuman) entity, allowing it to speak on the topic at hand. (Peter Mereal in References, Category Wiki-5)

Blog

As part of this course, you and your peer will be asked to identify and informally interview an educator who is involved in the use of blogs in education. The interviewee can come from whichever country and organisation you and your peer find interesting. Examples of educational blogs and bloggers are proved below:

• Resourcing the Curriculum: Blogs in Education - Provides an overview of Blogs/Blogging and then list a number of useful blogging sites and resources.
• Blogs on Educational Blogging - Extensive list of educational blogs.
• Blogged Website Educational Directory.

During this week, you should begin to design, with your peer,interview questions and collect things you wish to discuss with the tutor and the rest of the Blogs small group. If possible, you should aim to secure an interviewee and conduct the interview during the week commencing 2 February (Calendar Week 6).

Your tutor will be available during this week (time TBC) to enable the whole blogs group to discuss their experiences thus far and share their progress with developing the interview.

Second Life

Get familiar with one case how to use SL in education YouTube video. Join some Forum/s of SL Educators where you can meet teachers and other persons using SL in teaching. Here you can find a person already using SL in his/her teaching and which you would like to interview.

Start planning an interview where you get information from SL educational use and assessment forms in SL from a person who has used SL in teaching. The person can come from whatever country and organisation you find interesting together with your peer. Design interview questions and collect things what you want to discuss with others in small group and tutor.

On Friday you will meet your tutor as a small group in EduFinland. You discuss what kind of experiences you have had so far in SL, what kind of networks you have found and what kind of interviews you plan to do with your peer.

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