Personal Blogs

I am still looking for more-sophisticated quiz systems but I have looked at 2 papers which have investigated the use of online quizzes as a way of encouraging students to do pre-class reading, so the only feedback they receive is whether their answers are right or wrong.

Positive findings

 The primary finding of Marcell’s (2008) study was that brief, regularly-scheduled, out-of-class quizzes were associated with asking more reading-related questions and making more reading-related comments at the beginning of class. Also, Marcell concluded that pre-class quizzes were associated with students being more likely to complete the assigned reading before the class. Many students reported that regular quizzing provided a structure for studying that encouraged them to pace their reading and to work harder to understand the material.

Contradictory Findings

Johnson (2006) refers to contradictory findings about the benefits of quizzes. She cites Brothen and Wombach (2001) whose findings indicated that “spending time taking quizzes…was related to poorer exam performance”(p 293) even though in-class exams consisted of items identical to those in the quizzes. (a possible explanation is that students used text-books to answer quizzes.)

Johnson asks whether the link found by some researchers between quizzes and increased achievement shows that their use causes achievement or that achievement causes their use.

Both these papers refer to WebCT which is apparently a quiz tool. Does anyone have any experience of it?

Brothen, T., and Wambach, C. (2001). Effective student use of computerized quizzes. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 292-294.

Johnson,G. (2006) Optional Online Quizzes, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 32 (1)

Marcell, M.(2008) Effectiveness of Regular Online Quizzing in Increasing Class Participation and Preparation, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2 (1)

My first crack at this seems to have disappeared into the ether so here goes again!

"An authentic assessment seeks to develop and measure skills which are specific to a subject or vocational area. It may also seek to develop and measure more-generic, transferable skills.(such as collaboration, team work, initiative) Some assessment, particularly in subject areas with a less obvious vocational application, may be authentic by virtue of those generic but equally valid skills. "

We have just about reached the end of the project and I feel our team has gelled really well. After the initial disruptions caused by absence there is a real sense of productive team work

Salas et al. (2005) suggested that there are 5 key factors:

• team leadership
• mutual performance monitoring
• back-up behaviour
• adaptability
• team orientation.

How do we rate?

• we did not appoint a leader or any other specific roles. That was just as well given the absence of 2 team members for substantial periods
• using only the discussion forums and weekly Skype meetings we kept tabs on what was happening quite effectively
• the team helped and advised colleagues when extra support and input were needed
• there was a constant willingness to change and go back on decisions. No one dug their heels in.
• the discussion forum (over 100 posts) was the secret to our knowing what was happening

Salas et al. mention 3 further factors:

• shared mental models
• mutual trust
• closed-loop communication.

If 'shared mental models' means 'singing from the same hymn sheet', I think we were, by about half way through.

There was no element of competition or the feeling that another team member was trying to score extra brownie points.

I'm not sure what 'closed loop communication' might be, but we certainly had good and regular communication, individually via the forum and as a team via Skype.

I have started filling in the self assessment and peer assessment proforma. I have been an advocate of informal peer assessments for some time but this is the first time I've been involved in formal self and peer assessment.

There is a clash between comparing myself with my peers ( she is better at me at doing X so I must give myself a lower mark) and sticking to criteria (she is better than me but I still think I meet the criteria and should therefore get the same mark).

Add to that my naturally modest and self-effacing personality and you can see that I'm not finding it easy to be objective.

Maybe peer assessment is more of a formative than a summative tool?

Not only did I find this morning's online conference very helpful but it also prompted me to have a go at fitting some of what we discussed into the STARR model. Here's what I came up with:

In the end I have managed to produce my own story-board. I was much influenced by David and Patrick's story-boards but I think mine has some differences:

• I have tried to adopt a more consistent style of text box. I think lots of different boxes can be confusing and distracting. I have gone for more subtle pastel colours rather than the psychedelic ones.
• I have tried to build in a little more emphasis on the students' activities (though I wondered whether we should all be more specific rather than producing a generic story-board.Let's see what the others say!)
• I was conscious that we would probably want to avoid giving too much of a role to the teacher or the whole thing might look rather teacher-centric

Well, I am still spending quite a lot of time navigating the project web-site. I have just posted a design pattern, which goes into quite a lot of detail, though I am not at all confident that it is what is asked for.

I remember finding the part of H800 which dealt with Learning Design quite challenging. As I understand it, the aim of such design is to identify a pedagogical challenge and then to establish the steps that need to be taken to meet that challenge. On H800 I looked at how an online course could be designed, the idea being that this design could then be used as a template by anyone planning an online course.

I am not convinced that that is possible or helpful, really. Or perhaps what makes me sceptical is not so much the nature of the task as the rather abstract language which is used (e.g.in the Design Pattern template we are using).

I've had a difficult few weeks in which I have scarcely been able to do any useful work for H817.

1. What I have realised is that if you do fall seriously behind, the complexity of this project and the need to get to grips with the website can be bewildering. So what I have learned is that a project such as this one does need allow for students not to be available all the time. What about a week off in the middle?
2. There seem to be problems with Elluminate but our Skype session today was really useful. David and Patrick spent ages getting me up to speed after my absence, and helping me navigate the website. Thank you so much!
3. I found it very hard to carry out some of the activities when I was reliant on an iphone or ipad, partly because of lack of internet connection, but also because I couldn't perform some of the functions eg I didn't find a way of saving and embedding the persona templates
4. I have always managed to keep up-to-date with my OU work so in fact I think it has been a salutory and informative experience which I will keep in mind when I have online students of my own.
5. We seem to be making the Discussion Forum our main vehicle for keeping in touch, and we are also adding Twitter to our armoury.There is also a weekly video conference session
6. I have learned that you don't necessarily have to have 100% input into each part of the project and in fact it is a strength of our collaboration that so much good work has been done without much input from me up to now.
7. I'll report back in a week, hopefully to say that I am fully immersed and up-to-date!

I have had 2 quite different experiences of teamwork on H817. The first was when we produced a joint end-product early in the course. There is no doubt that mutual performance monitoring, back-up behaviour, adaptability and team orientation were very much in evidence. Funnily enough, I don't think we can be said to have had a leader, though different people took the initiative at different points.

Everyone was very adaptable - the direction and nature of what we were producing changed quite a bit as the project developed. There was no one who was so fixed on a particular approach that disagreement arose.  For me, this adaptability was the crucual factor - people were ready to change course following discussion

On the MOOC a group of 4 of us actually produced an OER. We seemed to agree quite quickly on the overall topic though it took a while for the different parts of the content to emerge. There was not so much need for adaptability so most time was spent producing materials. Again, there was no official leader but one member got close to that role by virtue of the amount of work she did.

Both collaborative experiences worked because we trusted each other.

Courses for horses

Whether we are talking about constructivism, where Weller still sees quite an important role for the teacher, or connectivism, which it seems can function without a teacher, courses need to take into account the nature and level of the students they attract.

1. Some students would not cope with, or benefit from, a very substantial constructivist or connectivist element in their course (eg full-time A-level students) where the emphasis is on knowledge and understanding of specific aspects of the subject determined by the awarding body.

Of course, teachers have always been able to introduce their students to skills and insights    not specifically required by the syllabus so even A-Level teachers could ween their students onto a kind of blended constructivism if they felt that it was in their students’ interest. Some 16-19 year old students could learn to cope with abundance in a structured environment.

2. On the other hand, some higher level courses would probably lend themselves to a more substantial constructivist approach though I would suggest that even here there needs to be a study skills element before students are cast adrift in cyberspace.

3. Our open education mooc seems to be concentrating on connectivism where learning in a network is the key.

How do we equip learners for abundance?

Some of us have already been chatting about the need for mental skills as well as digital skills . I’m not sure how we equip our learners but here are some thoughts:

• “curiosity, fearlessness to reach out to people you don’t know, flexibilty to see the possibilties in lines of thought or people that might not be directly related to your field of interest.” (Liz Lockett)
• without the courage and curiosity you can’t build a PLN.(Inger-Marie Christensen)
• resilience, when you lose the thread
• faith in your own ability is key
• the realisation that the network is bigger than the individuals
• the realisation that it is not competitive
• online skills, like any study skills, can be learned
• self-motivation
• being comfortable with the idea of putting your views ‘out there’
• a clear idea of the learning outcomes of a course is vital for the student, to avoid too many scenic detours which may be interesting but also time-consuming
• is the ability to thrive with online learning a skill which can be learned or is it a character trait which you have or have not?

What mental skills would you add?

What I like about PLNs is that they leave the building of the network to the learners. Even some of the MOOCs we have looked at have quite a strong structure which is determined by someone else (tutor, course designer etc) but the only constraint on learners when constructing a network is that they have to use tools which other learners are using.

Definition: If a person uses the internet to contact other people engaged in similar learning or professional activity with a view to learning more or increasing their skill level, they can be said to have created a PLN.

Some other points occur to me:

• networked learning does not rely on specific software

• in its most flexible form, the learners can be left to agree on what tools they want to use

• ...but, in practice, it may be helpful, especially for learners new to the PLN approach, to suggest some tools.

• I agree with Rajagopal (2012) that a learner needs to develop the skill of networking, including cultivating a positive attitude towards learning in this way.

• sometimes a PLN may need to function within an overarching structure to avoid the learners sinking in what may seem a chaotic, confusing and disorienting experience.

• Shirky (2003) makes the interesting point that the group is equally as important as the individual in a PLN. Humans are fundamentally individual and also fundamentally social.

I looked at 3 MOOCs: ds106, ChangeMOOC and Coursera and found a range of differences but also quite a lot of overlap.

• ds106 was flashy, tabloid, aimed at a young audience (nothing wrong with that!) and was designed to make maximum use of visual technology. I liked the way it tells the learner at the start which accounts and apps will be needed. That removes some of the unexpected from the course. Its pedagogy was in the spirit of connectivism, with its emphasis on the community of students working together.

• by contrast, Change MOOC had more of the tone of the OU. It nailed its colours firmly to the connectivist mast. In George Siemens’ words  “our cMOOC model emphasises creation, creativity, autonomy and social networking learning. “ ChangeMOOC tended to explain its philosophy and pedagogy and also included  information about paid courses.

• Coursera: seems at first sight not to espouse the connectivist pedagogy (it relies heavily on listening to lectures) but in fact some of its courses offer a choice between a more behaviourist, teacher-led  approach (there is a named ‘instructor’) and a more connectivist approach. Some courses have 2 tracks: CORE track and Practicum; the latter includes the CORE track plus 3 action learning assignments and peer assessment of student work.

I do wonder, along with John Daniel, where the money will come from. Students can pay for certification, formal assessment and direct tutoring with marking of assignments and organisations may be able to charge for providing information to potential employers of the students.