Module 3 Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Participation in a collaborative learning community should be assessed by actual “time on task” as stated by Dr. Siemens (Laureate Education, 2008).  This can be monitored by various online technologies that displays time on sites and actual movement between other classmates sites.  Dr. Siemens (Laureate Education, 2008) discusses the need for rubrics to be “fair and direct, have stated outcomes, and be equitable for all.”  I also agree with his acknowledgement of tracking student growth.  Personally, I am driven by feedback.  I, too, view a student assessment as an instructor assessment as well.   I do NOT wear my heart on my sleeve.  I welcome any constructive feedback that I could apply and change to make me a better person or make me interact with others more affectively.  If my students, as a whole, do not do well on a test then I would be doing them an injustice if I were not to take the blame for that. 

Dr. Siemens (Laureate Education, 2008) brought up a subject that continues to be debated about how “not every assessment has to result in a mark.”  This very topic makes my job very difficult as an elementary school teacher.  I spend all day conferencing with students, re-teaching skills, addressing weaknesses, and checking for understanding again and again.  I know where my students are and where they need to go.  However, parents feel the need to know a score of where they’re child is today in terms of an average grade.  The pressure to be able to give a mean score ends up sending me in a panic “Do I have enough grades by the end of the term?”  Really mean scores mean absolutely nothing in terms of showing what weaknesses (specific standards) within subjects a particular child has. 

If a student does not want to network or collaborate in an online learning course, the instructor must share how the course will be a “balanced diet,” as Dr. Siemens (Laureate Education, 2008) referred to as the mix between independent and community interactions.  The instructor must also present the pedagogy for the expectation to work amongst a community of learners and its implications for the real world.  The student must be able to slowly work their way into the network.  I see them working independently for a couple weeks, then posting their work on a board for others to view and perhaps comment on, then a small group setting first to eventually become part of a bigger community. 

Another Blog poster about Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer) (2008). Principles of distance education. Baltimore, MD: Author.