Hello Christy,
You have provided a robust presentation of the many ways in which a website hosted assignment could be evaluated. You are correct on the aspect of “it depends.†Your points engage many of the learning skills and concepts that we hope that student obtain to meet the objectives of a course. Great post!
Phyllis Gooden, Ph.D.
Hello Kelly,
When students use media hosting sites a rubric could be developed with the following items:
Relevancy: The media (photo, video, graphic, text) has to be relevant to the assignment prompts or questions and contributes to answering an aspect of the assignment by visual interpretation.
Content Focused: Is the content in-depth enough to provide a learning experience for fellow classmates
Introspection: Does the media hosting site provide a connection to provide self examination about views or progress in course and offer more self-reflective discussion from classmates
Phyllis Gooden, Ph. D.
Thomas,
I agree with you. It also lets students know your expectations for them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Thomas,
Your post is so good. With all the interesting, exciting things we can do with technology we have to remember why we are using it. You are right, we have to remember the use of the media sites need to have objectives defined and assess them.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Willie ,
You are so smart; you are ahead of many of us. You have to have an assessment plan along with your technology plan. You want the students to have a rich experience but still be successful in learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Yes, a good rubric is key to the development of a good assessment as it ensures consistency in your evaluations.
Assessment always derives from the learning objectives so the first step really needs to be to determine what the learning objectives are for the assignment. Once you identify the learning objectives than you are ready to consider the best means of selecting an assessment method to use to measure if they are satisfied.
Options include tradition methods like true-false , multiple choice or essay questions to digital portfolios and learning journals. But the choice must provide an accurate and reliable means of measuring learning.
For example, if you want students to learn how to make a short film for posting on Youtube the first thing you need to do is determine what objectives you want them to cover in the film. Is it going to be an video introducing them? Or a video on some local historical site? Clear objectives are necessary. For this example lets assume the assignment is to do a 4-5 minute video on a local state historical site. Once this is decided then you develop your rubric to assess it. Basically it will be in two parts.
The first would be simple and objective. Was the video 4-5 minutes long? Was it a state historical site? What it a clear image and focused? Was the Audio easy to listen to?
Then you have the second part which is more subjective, was their narration good? Was it professional looking? Did they summarize the reason and history of the historical site well?
The key is to always remember that assessments are intended to measure learning and so they must be derived from the learning objectives.
This is a good question. I came to realize a long time ago that I must meet my students where they are, and for many students today, that is through the use of technology. Before my students use media, they get a rubric of how they will be graded. I make multiple rubrics (i.e. Facebook page, Pinterest page, video, Amnimoto, Prezi, etc.). I think that it is important that digital and media literacy initiatives move beyond “raising awareness†and move instead toward empowering students to make their own meaningful choices, critiques and content. Successful digital and media literacy initiatives must set goals beyond awareness-raising, and evaluate their success based upon clearly-defined criteria. Just my two pennies on the issue! :-)
Kara,
I agree it is a great tool. Would you consider using a rubric?
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Eileen,
One place you may want to look id padlet.com. It is similar to pinterest and you can lock it down or make it available to all. It is free. I used it this summer and my students really liked it.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I would probably have it as a blog and they would have standards, similar to a written assignment, that would have to be met. Many students like using blogs to share information on. I think this would be a great way for students to submit information.
Kara
I have not required students to have a digital portfolio but I think I'd like to try this since there is so much writing in my business communication course. Is there a good resource I could consult to explore the topic? (Or will it be addressed later in EL 110, by any chance?)
Scott,
These are all great strategies. You just want to make sure you your assessment is tied to the goals of the course and isn't viewed as busy work to the student.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Stacy,
A rubric is such a tool to use to be clear about expectations for students and give you a way to be more objective toward the assignment. It is a win-win for both.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Francis ,
You have a great attitude toward creating community in the online environment. Discussion boards are just that, a place to discuss. It can be a vibrant way of communicating among the group.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Jerome,
I agree with you. A rubric is perfect for this type of assessment. You are right about assessing weekly a rubric would be perfect for that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dori,
That is true, and it is really a great opportunity for students to pick the work that shows they meet outcomes. It can be a very powerful evaluation.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
I would argue that there are multiple ways to assess student use of media sharing. In addition to some formative assessments throughout, including discussion boards and peer led discussions, I would recommend a scavenger hunt of sorts, where students are tasked with finding appropriate resources, pictures, and videos in order to determine their ability to find these resources. In addition, socratic seminar-type questions would enable me to determine the extent to which media hosting and sharing sites have been integrated into their learning.
I think the most effective method would be to develop a rubric. This allows students to be clear about expectations, and it makes assessment of what students produce a less complicated process.
I love this discussion! It is so much fun to work with students in this kind of medium. It's equally important to assess what they are learning. I love the use of discussion boards. We have an opportunity to use these in several of the schools at which I teach and they are really effective. You really get a good feel for what they students are taking away from what you are sharing.
