Digital assignments: How shall we grade them? A couple of years ago, I took the decision to encourage students to submit their assignments in forms other than the traditional, paper based essay. It was about time. Should we persist in assessing students in modes of communication they may never use in the real world? Clearly, there are several questions to contemplate here. The first question is how do you grade these assignments, if they are not presented in traditional essay mode? The second question is how can you ensure that students put the equivalent cognitive effort into say, a video, as they would into a 4000 word assignment? Whatever you decide to do, it will be imperative that you ensure all assessment criteria are applied equally across all assignments, no matter what wrapper they are presented in. There are further, procedural and administrative issues that each institution will need to deal with. I'm certain this is not complete. Photo from Wikimedia Commons Digital assignments: How shall we grade them?
How Competency-Based Learning Actually Works A report from The National Center for Education Statistics found that 38% of those enrolled in higher education are over the age of 25 and one-fourth are over the age of 30. The share of all students who are over age 25 is projected to increase another twenty-three percent by 20191. These findings demonstrate a significant shift in the traditional higher education student. While many developments, such as MOOCs, Open Educational Resources, flipped classroom models and accelerated three-year degree programs have entered the landscape, another great option for variety in learning is Competency-Based Learning (CBL). CBL is designed to provide students with a personalized online education that they can complete at their own pace and that takes advantage of competence learned through experience. As defined by the U.S. History Adoption Delaware County Community College (Pennsylvania) incorporates competency frameworks within traditional course-based programs. Benefits Altering Higher Education
Projects at High Tech High Project Based Learning at HTH High Tech High: buy the book These projects are examples of the work that is done at all of the High Tech High Schools. It is our record of what we have done and how to get there. Contrary to what you may have heard on Oprah, not only do High Tech High students read books, but they actually produce books too. Humans have always had an innate desire to explore past the boundaries of Earth to the Moon and beyond. This senior math project was the third and final project for the "Computational Thinking" class. During this 2 week intersession course, students learned about the physics of surfboard design, and created handplanes in the woodshop, which we then used for bodysurfing. Second graders took on the role of scientists to investigate the role of bees in our ecosystem, and the various ways bees are being threatened. Everyone loves a good carnival! Students will discover how humans interact with nature in urban ecosystems. A community is a system.
Assessment in open spaces Photo: Tay Railway Bridge (Dundee) CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Tim Haynes “We have to build our half of the bridge, no matter who or where we happen to be.” – Colm McCann Summary: Learning and pedagogical relationships are transformed when we engage with students in open online spaces or networked publics. These can become ‘third spaces’ of learning, beyond the binary of informal and formal learning. Once a closed classroom (physical or online) becomes open to the world, assessment options multiply, with many more opportunities for student choice, voice and creativity, and of course, feedback. [Slides] [Audio interview] xx This post summarises my talk at the eAssessment Scotland 2013 conference, “Assessment in Open Spaces”. The eAssessment Scotland conference is a completely free, 2-week event which is open, distributed and accessible. In this context, I examined three spaces in which networked educators meet networked students, and explored the affordances of these different spaces. Like this:
What is Authentic Assessment? What is Authentic Assessment? Definitions What Does Authentic Assessment Look Like? How is Authentic Assessment Similar to/Different from Traditional Assessment? Alternative Names for Authentic Assessment A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills -- Jon Mueller "...Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field." -- Grant Wiggins -- (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229). An authentic assessment usually includes a task for students to perform and a rubric by which their performance on the task will be evaluated. Examples from teachers in my Authentic Assessment course 1. In the TA model, the curriculum drives assessment. 1.
8 Questions Answered By Popular Social Networks The number of popular social networks may seem overwhelming. We can share links, ideas, comments, jokes, pictures and everything else, and new social media options seem to pop-up everyday. This may discourage learners, teachers, instructional designers and eLearning professionals from using the fantastic benefits of a social presence on the internet. Social media may overlap – and they often do in some ways – but they are not equivalent. Each offers its own unique set of attributes. One way to stay oriented in this seemingly chaotic jungle is to keep in mind what is the underlying communicating need that drives the usage of these media. The video here focuses on 8 popular social networks and discusses the questions lying behind each of them, using the point of view of learning. Facebook: What are you studying right now? Founder of SlideTalk, a company focused on converting PowerPoint presentation into engaging talking videos.
Roger Tilles warns of 'dangerous' overemphasis on education testing Originally published: October 2, 2013 9:42 PM Updated: October 2, 2013 10:23 PM By JOHN HILDEBRAND john.hildebrand@newsday.com State Regent Roger Tilles leads a public Q & A at the Port Washington Library. (Oct. 2, 2013) (Credit: Barry Sloan) One of the region's top education policymakers warned a Port Washington gathering Wednesday night that what he termed a "dangerous" overemphasis on testing threatened to undermine a statewide movement toward high-quality Common Core academic standards. The speaker, Roger Tilles of Great Neck, who represents Long Island on the state's Board of Regents, said he supported Common Core, like most educators, because "it makes kids think." Tilles said, however, that Core standards were becoming confused with new tests that were rushed into place in April, and were being used to rate students' achievement and teachers' job performance. "I really don't want to see the Common Core lost, and I hear that," Tilles said. State Education Commissioner John B.
ClassBadges Now Offering Free Custom Gamification Badges We’ve been watching ClassBadges evolve over the past several months. Way back in October , we wrote about the site that lets you create badges for your students as you set out on your quest to gamify your classroom. Whatever your goal is (improve engagement, increase activity, incentivize learning, etc.) – ClassBadges looked like one of the best options. As of today, they now have custom gamification badges available. So if you’re halfway decent at graphic design, this is a great bit of news for you. In fact, the custom badges feature could be a fun way to get your students involved in actually deciding and creating the badges in the first place. See Also: The 50 Best Videos For Teachers Interested In Gamification It took me a couple weeks to finally get my invitation to ClassBadges so it may take you a similarly long time. After logging into ClassBadges (it may take awhile to get confirmation), create a course.
A Review of “SymbalooEDU, the Personal Learning Environment Platform” | ELTWorldOnline.com by Christopher Harwood Centre for English Language Communication National University of Singapore Introduction Created in 2010, SymbalooEDU is an educational version of the original Symbaloo application founded in Holland in March 2007. It is a software application that enables learners to organize, integrate and share online content in one setting or Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The platform also allows educators to create mixes of tailored resources and share these mixes with students. What are PLEs? Downes (2005) uses the term “e-learning 2.0″ to refer to the shift in web-based learning from read-only to read-write learning. How does SymbalooEDU work? The application has a grid layout, with color icons (called tiles) within each space. What makes SymbalooEDU different from other bookmark resources? Uniquely, SymbalooEDU allows users to add resources or links to projects quickly through its update function. Any Criticism? References Attwell, G. (2007). Downes, S. (2005).
Letters: Modern language exam grades translate into poor results It is well-known that the UK is losing out culturally and economically because of inadequate foreign-language skills among English native speakers. This problem has been significantly exacerbated by the fact that pupils choosing modern languages have not been rewarded adequately for excellent performance. Ofqual has acknowledged in its corporate plan 2013-16 that "relatively few A* grades are awarded in modern foreign languages when compared with other subjects with a high proportion of A grades". This finding confirms evidence by schoolteacher associations that has repeatedly been presented to Ofqual and the exam boards since introduction of the A* grade at A-level in June 2010. The disadvantaging of modern languages candidates in school examinations has been blighting the subject at all levels, and will continue to do so until the unfair grading is addressed effectively.
All In Learning » Tutorials *Key Concept: The Relationship Between ASSIST and PLUS Your primary ALL In Learning tool is PLUS, which you access using a web browser on your computer or tablet. ASSIST is the freely available iOS app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Once you’ve entered your PLUS user name and password in ASSIST, your iOS device becomes a special ALL In Learning platform, with quick, simple, powerful features that make the most of your device’s mobility, convenience, and charming interface and hardware. How to Install ASSIST on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch To install ASSIST on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, search for “ASSIST” in the App Store, and install the ALL In Learning ASSIST app. How to Connect ASSIST to PLUS On your iOS device, open ASSIST by tapping on it.Tap “Settings.”Tap the “Email Address” field and enter your PLUS username.Tap in the “Password” field and enter your PLUS password.Tap “Done.” Watch the step-by-step video: Connect ASSIST to PLUS in ASSIST>>
Teens prefer texting over phone calls, e-mail Year after year, study after study , teens are proving to be texting at an increasing rate. In a new survey by the Pew Internet Research Center, U.S. teenagers are talking on landlines and cell phone less, using more smartphones, and are averaging 60 texts a day--up from 50 in 2009. "Teens are fervent communicators," senior research specialist at Pew Amanda Lenhart writes in the study. "Straddling childhood and adulthood, they communicate frequently with a variety of important people in their lives: friends and peers, parents, teachers, coaches, bosses, and a myriad of other adults and institutions." More than 800 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 were interviewed for this Pew survey. Among the major findings were that texting by older teens, boys, and African Americans are leading the increase, SMS messaging is the dominant daily mode of communication, and the typical American teenager is sending and receiving a greater number of texts than in 2009.
Graduate School of Education | Publications Literature review Oldfield, A, Broadfoot, P., Sutherland, R. & Timmis , S. (2012) Assessment in a digital age: a research review. Discussion papers Series authors Patricia Broadfoot, Sue Timmis, Sarah Payton, Alison Oldfield, Rosamund Sutherland Other publications Patricia Broadfoot, Alison Oldfield, Rosamund Sutherland and Sue Timmis (in press, 2013) Seeds of Change: the potential of the digital revolution to promote enabling assessment in Wyatt-Smith, C and Klenowski, V (eds) The enabling power of assessment. Conference contributions Broadfoot, P (2012) Can Digital Technologies Transform Educational Assessment? Timmis, S, Oldfield, A, Broadfoot, P & Sutherland, R. (2012) Where is the cutting edge of research in e-Assessment? Timmis, S & Draper, S (2012) Assessment Reform, Innovative Technology, Improving Formative Assessment and Feedback: Are They at Odds with Each Other?
[rd] Measuring learning growth in a world of universal education | Research Developments | ACER International Image © Shutterstock/Tashatuvango ACER is leading the development of new ‘learning metrics’ – tools for measuring learning growth – as Ross Turner explains. Staff at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Centre for Global Education Monitoring (GEM), in 2013 identified the need to build measurement tools to monitor learning growth that could be used across different year levels and in different national contexts. One of those projects, under ACER’s Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth program, involved the development of an assessment program in Afghanistan at the Grade 6 level, which is now being extended to Grade 3 and later possibly to Grade 9. With those post-2015 development goals soon to be adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, it is evident that the GEM approach to measuring learning progress is a timely development. Learning metrics Building the learning metrics is progressing in three phases. What does a learning metric look like?