According to the Siemens video “Assessment of Collaborative Learning,” participation in a collaborative learning community can be assessed by the peers, by feedback from online communities, and from the educator. Additionally, Siemens stated that assessment by the educator is going to be fair and direct, based on the stated outcomes, and equitable. The assessment should be based on where the student started and what skills did the student has upon entering the collaboration. If a student enters the collaboration and has not been exposed to the subject matter before, the assessment should be based on the growth that the student makes from entry point to assessment point. The assessment should go beyond mark-based and should include some type input that helps the student know what was well done and what could be done to improve.
When a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, the other members of the community should inform the instructor and highlight the importance of each individual piece for the success of the community. According to Hurst and Thomas, a common counterbalance to release pressure is a conference call between members where team members work through obstacles together. The instructor should play the role of facilitator and request documentation showing what each person contributed to the success of the assignment or project. According to Palloff and Pratt, the instructor should retain the determination about what to assess, how to assess and how to respond to any evaluation material gathered through material submitted by the collaborative group. Anderson's summary of a teacher's role was divided into three areas. In the first area, the teacher's role is to design and organize the learning experience and maintain the course contents by inputting expert opinions and personal experiences. Secondly, the teacher's role is to devise and implement various activities that encourage dialogue between the online students and the teacher. Finally, the teacher's role is to moderate the online learning experience and add subject-matter expertise. ~~C. Penny Penagraph
Ref:
Anderson, Terry (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton, AB: Au Press.
Hurst, D. & Thomas, J. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton, AB: AU Press.
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Siemens, G. (2010). “Assessment of Collaborative Learning” & “Learning Communities.”
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I agree that the student should be assessed based on what the student knows when entering a course and how the student grows, but how do you differentiate the assessment from students who have a strong sense of course content when they enter the course?
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it is the teacher's role to facilitate collaboration among group members and to take all group members efforts into consideration for assessment. Group participants cannot force members to participate so the teacher should monitor everyone's output and determine if everyone did their part.
I must agree with Renee, I think that we should encourage participation but we can not enforce it. However, I do agree that we should create assessements that meet students where they are started and ended at the end of the course.
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