Last Week In E-Assessment

Wow. I can't believe it's the last week for our E-Assessment class. We are writing our final notes to our classmates on the class discussion board and reflecting on the 8 weeks that have gone by.
First, I learned a lot! I am so much more comfortable working on a wiki space after building our midterm toolbox. Second, I have a better understanding of rubrics and their application to a course, whether it's online or offline. It is useful for all assignments. Third, I have "met" some great people and their support and help has made this course so much better!
I am still working on my final! I know! I know! But it's also nearing the end of the school year and things are getting hectic.
Anyway, if you are looking for a great program, you should try the UW Stout  program for E-Learning.

Assessment Class: Let's Go To The Movies

My favorite movie is Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back.
The second of the Star Wars franchise was released in 1980. However, in the series, it becomes Episode 5 after the release of Episodes 1 through 3, in 1999 - 2005. In this film, Luke Skywalker is training to be a jedi under the tutelege of Master Yoda. While Luke is in training, Darth Vader is pursuing his friends, Han Solo, Leia, and other rebel forces. It is a cat and mouse game between the Imperial forces and the rebels. There is the fight between good and evil. It is part of an epic saga that has a lot of themes but one of my favorites is the coming-of-age aspect and the ability to choose your own path.
I remember going to see this movie at the movie theatre located next to the base housing we lived in. My dad decided to take my siblings and I to see a matinee for my birthday. It was a rare treat for us to go to a movie theater, we usually would go to the drive-ins, so this was a big deal. It was a sunny day and we were going to a matinee showing. You could really feel the excitement in the air with all the kids and their parents waiting in line. We had to sit pretty close to the front of the screen so during the epic space dogfight at the end, I got pretty dizzy. The movie ended and we were all filing out. I remember grabbing my dad's hand as we walked up the aisles to exit the building. As we walked into the sunlit lobby, my six year old self looked up. To my horror, I was holding some other dad's hand!!!!! I dropped his hand, still dizzy and now horrified and turned around. There were my siblings and my dad looking at me amused

Reflections: Assessment in E-Learning Week 2

Student E-Portfolio Work in Progress

This week in Assessment in E-Learning, we discussed a number of different assessments as well as elements of assessment, such as rubrics. The best part of this module is the Authentic Assessments page, which is filled with wonderful resources from everything from blogs to e-portfolios.

Since I decided to try out e-portfolios with my students this year, I focused on reading the various e-portfolio articles linked on that page as well as the rubrics. I have not been comfortable with using and sharing rubrics with my students. Other teachers seem to be very guarded with sharing the rubrics in other courses so I thought that was the norm. However, I am finding that when I share rubrics with students, they have a much better understanding of what I am grading them on. They  are more careful and take more responsibility for what they turn in.

I am lucky that I work with Dave Wee, who blogs at Big Building, Lots of Books, and is trained as a teacher. He is a great person to bounce ideas off of and to also brainstorm assignments and assessments with. This year, he has really utilized the use of rubrics in our LMS and I can see how much better his students work is in regards to blog posts.

Hopefully, as the class continues, I will develop and improve upon the courses that I teach. I am already utilizing rubrics for my technology leadership course and hopefully, that gives my students a better understanding of what is required of them.

Reflections: Assessment Course Week 1

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia

Week 1 of Assessment in E-Learning has gone pretty well. No major problems logging into the systems, which is always a plus. Also, accessed the wikispaces easily so that was fun.

The readings were pretty interesting and we had some great discussions as to why multiple assessments are necessary when assessing student learning. I especially enjoyed reading about the positive and negative aspects of discussions and forums. My housemate does not see the value of discussion forums when the facilitator is not an active member of the discussions. He feels that people everyone is "learning" that their opinions are not a valid way for him to learn about the topic.

I totally disagree. I find that discussions are a great way for me to learn about what other people are doing out in various fields. It also is a way for me to reflect on the readings more than if I was discussing them in the classroom. Also, I am one of those students who absorbs more in class and am not prone to participate over more extroverted students, so, discussions are my way of participating.