According to Swan (2004) in order to truly create an online environment that allows for a deeper understanding of the content material there must be a social presence and a cognitive presence. This means that there must be interaction with peers and with content. This statement is so true when dealing with online learning. By creating community building activities students learn the content in a deeper manner because they learn through their own understanding and through their peers feedback. Participation should be assessed in a learning community through the use of weekly discussion boards or various weekly assignments. I really enjoy the discussion boards because it allows learners to post their thoughts on the subject matter and get feedback from their peers and faculty. This allows learners to view differing opinions and to see the subject matter from a different perspective. Students in online learning come from various background and have varying knowledge bases. This can sometimes be difficult for teachers to accurately assess learning and various activities because of the varying levels. I believe that one sure way to ensure that assessment is done in a fair and equitable way is to create a rubric, provide this rubric to the students, and use this as a grading tool. By allowing the students to see the rubric they know exactly what is needed for the assignment and there is no confusion in the grading of the assignment.
If a student does not want to participate in networking with other members in an collaborative learning community then those members should address the wayward member. First, find out if there is a reason for their lack of participation, then encourage them to become a more integral part of the community. If those methods do not work ask the professor to talk to the member about the importance of participating in the group. The instructor should play the role of mentor in an collaborative learning community because the focus should be on the student members of the group. The instructor is there to provide feedback, give encouragement, and mediate if need be.
Swan, K. (2004). Relationships between interactions and learning in online environments. The Sloan Consortium.
Tanesha,
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog posting. I agree that the proper use of a rubric can go a long way in providing fair and equitable assessment. When I first began teaching I found rubric generation to be one of my toughest assignments. I happened to find a great site a few years ago that helped me begin to craft quality rubrics. The site is called Rubistar and can be located at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ . This site provides structure and ideas for creating quality rubrics.
Brandi, I like your thoughts on deeper understanding. Part of our blog assignment is to include "substantial connections to the global learning community by linking to other professionals' postings in blogs, podcasts, and/or Webcasts." Hyperlinks are added to other works in blogspot via the chain icon where you write a post or by writing out the html -> Title (I intentionally wrote "thelettera" so a hyperlink would not form and you would be able to see it but the html does end with
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of deeper understandings, you might link to Heidi Siwack's blog post at http://heidisiwak.blogspot.com/2011/11/moving-towards-deeper-understanding-of.html where she discusses her ideas of collaboration with middle schoolers.
Brandi, I see my example didn't work -> so here it is on another page -> http://durffstudyskills.pbworks.com/w/page/18414685/Link%20title%20code
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