Assessing Collaborative Efforts

         Based on this week’s learning, there are various ways to assess students in collaborative learning environments. The assessment tool should be fair and able to assess the learning objective. A rubric should be developed for each learning task. The rubric is a tool that will display to the learner the requirements of each assignment. It can be used a checklist for the learner and a way for the learner to assess their own work before submission. Rubric helps to eliminate any misunderstanding because all of the requirements are listed for the learner. According to Pallof and Pratt, “This activity not only provides a realistic picture of how a student interacted with course material and their peers, it also reduces the possibilities of grade inflation, dissatisfaction and grade appeals by providing evaluative material that is objective and quantifiable”(2005,p.44).  The instructor can take into consideration the amount of contribution the learner added to the environment and the quality of the work the learner produce when assessing collaborative assignments, but it should be listed on a rubric as well. The use of a rubric is one of the best tools to used helps to eliminate the possibility of being graded objectively.

        When groups are form for collaboration roles should be assigned to each group member. Each member knows his or her responsibility for the group assignment. The instructor should be aware of each group’s member role. The instructor should monitor each group member’s participation regularly. If necessary the instructor will have to address a students lacks of participation.  Swan states, “ make participation in discussion a significant part of the course grades”(2004,p.2).  If its stated that participation will be a major part of the student’s grade may courage students to participate more.  Since participation is part of the rubric the student grade will suffer due to the lack of participation.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Swan, K. (2004). Relationships between interactions and learning in online environments. The Sloan Consortium.

StoryBoard Draft

http://www.scribd.com/doc/135282520/Storyboard-Draft

Distance Education Communication

          Distance Education Communication

The way that people communicate is changing at significantly over the last decade. At one time there were very few methods for people to communicate via the Internet. People would send email and use instant messaging. Through the developments of social networking and face-time chatting it’s starting to change the way students in an online community communication with each other.According to Langton, "the online tools that are available today to help facilitate global interactions among learners are numerous”    (http://langstonnotes.blogspot.com/2011/12/module-2-assignment.html?showComment=1325309162482#c5823722556074796785).
Most of the course I took in the master’s program required students to create a blog. Through this blog students would communicate their ideas and views on a particular topic.  When assigned to work in groups sometimes the group members will befriend each other on a social networking site they have in common. This provides an easier to communicate and also allows the group members to learn more about it each other. There may be students have synchronous chats to collaborate and share ideas as well.

http://langstonnotes.blogspot.com/2011/12/module-2-assignment.html?showComment=1325309162482#c5823722556074796785

The Next Generation of Distance Education

Distance education and traditional education both have pros and cons to each. They are actual very similar. Both setting have an objective that the students must master. It how effective the learning assignments are that determines if the setting is effective.  

A traditional education is normally a very controlled setting and learning is based on collaboration and having oral class discussions. This environment may hinder some people from maximizing their potential. The teacher may not spend a lot of time on discussions that are not directly aligned with the standards or objective.

Distance education increases the learner-to-learner collaboration. This form of education has on going collaboration where the learner is not in a controlled setting. The learner is able to maximize their potential in this setting. The learner can conduct independent research to discuss with their distance education classmates. Distance education is mainly performance based. The learner independently learns the content and has to demonstrate their understanding of the information.

As stated before, one setting is not better than the other. I depend on the learner needs and preference.  Some people work well in a controlled setting and other does not.  It important to make sure that the content is delivered in a meaningful matter to meet the need(s) of the learner.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70. Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's title.