It’s the last day of the last week and I can honestly say I have learned a lot about assessments. I’d never done a blog or participated in a wiki before this class. The final project was challenging for me, but it’s allowed me to stretch and learn new things. It’s also putting me one step closer to where I ultimately want to be – Teaching on a university level.
My classmates are all very knowledgible and willing to share their knowledge. Everyone wants everyone to succeed. Is that because we’re all adults? Nope, it’s because everyone honestly cares.
I look forward to seeing my classmates in another class somewhere in the future.
Well in the words of Nike, Just Do It. After all the anxiety of last week, and even into the first part of this week (but not as bad as last week), I finally just walked away from the project for a couple of days. I decided I was just to tightly wound to do much with it other than a little more research.
Then after seeing some of my fellow early bird students post their projects, I decided I could do this. So I began. One step at a time. I wrote each section one at a time and moved on to the next part. Then I had all the parts except the conclusion and summary. I got out the rubric for the project and checked off each item on the rubric and tried to make sure it all got covered.
All the sections were posted with the exception of the summary and conclusion. I got those done at last and I believe I’m through with it. It’s absolutely the first time I’ve ever had to do something like this before, next time will be easier 
. I’m beginning to wonder if this project would have gone easier if this had been one of my later eLearning classes instead of second, but it really doesn’t matter now.
I finally took my trainer’s hat off (at least for a while) and put my teacher hat on.
Tagged: Journal
This week I’ve felt like I’m drowning. I know I’m the only one who was disappointed in the web conference. I assumed since we were given a phone number to call in with, that was one of the ways we would be communicating with each other. However, since the majority could use a microphone with their computers, the telephone option was dropped and the audio on the web conference was very difficult due to the echos we experienced when almost everyone talked. It was very difficult for me to follow the conversation. My computer also froze up during the middle of the presentation and I had to log in again after rebooting my computer. Everyone assured me I didn’t miss any of the key points, but it was very frustrating for me.
I’ve also come up against a mental wall this week as I try to get my head around this final project. This is so very different from the way we develop training modules, but I know if I’m going to get to my final goal of teaching at the university level, primarily online, I have to master this difference. I still feel lost, but I’m not even sure what questions I need to ask. Hopefully, as I continue to work through this project one task at a time, it will become clearer to me. At any rate, I’m going to give it my best shot.
The precourse survey is complete: Click Here to view the survey
Wow! Is Week 5 gone already? Time is flying by.
This week we primarily focused on using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Assessment on a potential journalism class. I understood it much better after I looked at the revised/shorter version, than the long/original one. I like to see a summary, or condensed version first, so I get a better idea of what to look for in the longer version. Back in my f2f days as a student, I would often listen to the lecture, take notes, and then go back and read the assignment. It’s backwards to some people, and difinitely doesn’t work in those classes where the instructor insisted on having a short quiz at the start of every class.
As I was reading this week, the assessment taxonomy made me think of a conversation I had with a history professor I was privledged to have taken two classes under — 15 years apart. The first class was an American History class where we mostly memorized names, dates, etc, and spit them back out on a test. The second class was a World History class. In this class we had to read about an important person in the past and write a paper every week. One I remember in particular was comparing Saddam Hussien to Adolph Hitler.
The professor and I were talking about the two completely different styles of teaching and how much more I got out of the later class than the first. Of course being older has something to do with it, but the professor said something I will never forget. He said, “Back when you took American History I was convinced that was the way to teach it because that’s the way it had always been taught. Now, I know you can always look up names, dates, and places; but being able to apply what you’ve learned is so much more important.” That’s pretty much sums up, to me, what this week’s class was about.
Here’s the link to the review of Casey’s journalism class using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Assessment
http://sites.google.com/site/dailiaadamsportfolio/assessments-class-documents/bloom-s-taxonomy-of-assessment/Assessment_taxonomy_Casey.doc?attredirects=0
This week was a week I have both looked forward to and dreaded because of the team project. Having been involved in some less than successful teams in classes a few years ago, I was hoping I would not get in one of that type of team. I had wonderful team members to work with, and we successfully completed our project.
Here’s the link to our project http://sites.google.com/site/dailiaadamsportfolio/assessments-class-documents/Assessment_Toolbox_Group_4%5B1%5D.doc?attredirects=0
It did seem strange not to have discussions on the reading assignments, but I do understand the reasons behind it. It may have fragmented our efforts too much. This was always the problem with my UoP classes. We always had team projects and individual projects running at the same time and it was usually a new project in both team and individual each week.
Our project to compile information for an assessment toolbox was a worth while project and I enjoyed reading the other team’s projects as well. While some of the topics overlapped from one team to another, the approach to them was always different.
The midway point is here and now we’re moving to the last half of the class.
Tagged: assessment toolbox, mid-term, teamwork
It’s been an extremely busy week for me this week. I’ve been on vacation from work, but I’ve had grandkids underfoot almost every day (and most nights). Trying to squeeze in class time between entertaining them has been quite challenging. Now I remember why I postponed my education while my own kids were small.
However, this week in class we learned about two new assessment techniques; jigsaw and concept mapping. I’ve been doing jigsaw for years and just never called it that. Every group project I ever did while obtaining my MBA from the University of Phoenix was done that way. It works very well on the whole. Basically jigsaw is just dividing up the sections and tasks of a project, a paper in this case, among the team members. Then every one goes about gathering the information for their section and brings it back to the group. From there it’s combined, given an intro and conclusion, edited, and submitted. Pretty simple stuff that can occasionally go hay wire. Much simpler to grasp than concept mapping.
When I read the case study, my first thought was, “Oh no, this is going to be complicated.”. Then as I started to work with it, I realized it was very similar to computer programming flow charts and some other tools I’ve used in the past. If there were a simpler case study to use in class I think the idea would come across a lot faster to the students. It’s very simply a visual outline. It can be as simple or as detailed as it needs to be.
And how could I forget about the coming e-storm. Coming is a misnomer now, but it was written in 2005. Once a year the Marketing e-team (of which I am a part) get’s together to assess where we want to be in the coming year, what technology we’re going to add or delete, software upgrades, etc. The e-storm is all around us everyday. It seems that every time I open my e-mail at work I’m being requested to take a look at this software, look at a new piece of equipment, etc. And all of this is just from my end!!.
The users are more confused and just as bombarded. Part of my job is to try to make the technology hide in the background so it doesn’t interfer with the training modules they are taking.
Well, now it’s on to week 4 and the team project. The half way point is in sight!!
This week we were introduced to Concept Mapping. In some ways it’s similar to Microsoft Visio and even to computer programming flow charting. However, I see it’s potential as much freer. By freer, I mean it’s not so rule bound as either of the other two tools. You can make it that way if you chose, but you don’t have to. You’re free to let it go where it needs to.
My first concept map is a result of helping a friend learn how to home can tomatoes.
Thanks to Mary Hopple for helping me get the map posted. One small step left out can make a world of difference.
Tagged: concept map
Another week is coming to a close in the Assessments class.
This week was another new adventure in learning how to set up and use a blog. Like wiki’s it was another new experience for me. Of course I’ve read blogs before, but I just never took the time to create one for myself. As a whole I like them. I do have one sticking point about blogs and maybe I’ll eventually find a way around it.
That one thing is in posting on a page. It’s reverse chronological order. I can see where that’s very helpful for someone who has subscribed to the blog for a very long time – they only have to go to a page to see the latest post. The problem is for someone who hasn’t always subscribed. As they read through the blog, especially if they aren’t familar with blogging, they will read a solution to a problem, or a question to an answer before they know what the problem or question is. It makes me think of the Jeopardy game in this respect.
I’m sure I’ll either eventually adjust or figure out a way to make it easier for both the existing subscriber’s and the newbies to find the information easier.
As we started Week 1, I was excited to begin another class. I often tell people my dream job would have been to be a professional student. Unfortunately, some wealthy benefactor who could pay the bills, never came along. However, I am fortunate to be working for a company who will foot the bills for my education with one tiny catch. I must continue to be employed by them!!
We worked our way through an introduction to various types of assessment. Some I was very familiar with and others I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted to get familar with them. Quite honestly, I’d never felt the need to explore them. Working in the corporate world restricts some of them from being used – at least in the company I work for. Others I’d just never considered as a way to assess learning. A quick review of the topics in week 1 follows.
Surveys
This tool is very familiar to me. Our customers sometimes tell us we are survey happy. It is one of the easiest ways to get feedback from our customers about their likes and dislikes. It’s also a way to assess if they are really understanding what we are trying to teach them in our online training sessions. It seemed so natural to me that I was almost surprised when some of my fellow classmates “discovered” the idea of surveying students while teaching was going on.
Wikis
I had never participated in a wiki before. I had never had the desire to explore them. They most remind me of live and in person brainstorming sessions. This is where my fellow classmates seemed to be able to see more potential for them than I can use. I can see where they would be very beneficial in a classroom environment, but since most of my training sessions are quick, short, intended to deliver a single idea, and allow the student to do something with that idea, the wiki isn’t something I’ll be using. Our legal department would never be comfortable with the free wheeling style of a wiki – even with the assurance it could be edited by a company employee.
Week 2 Here I come!!
Tagged: Journal, Week 1
