Week 3 - eLearning Guidelines for Quality

Over the past few days I've been enjoying the Easter sunshine and slowly exploring the eLearning Guidelines for New Zealand at http://elg.massey.ac.nz/ What an interesting site!

My task for this week is to:

• Select two elearning guidelines relevant to my area of practice - these will be used in my evaluation project
• Identify two issues related to quality in eLearning - these will provide part of the rationale for my evaluation project
• Post the two eLearning guidelines I have chosen with an explanation of my reasons for choosing them

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Well...[shuffles feet] the above was all I was able to write (as a draft) over the Easter Break! However during the past week I have been reflecting on what I've read...so, for what it's worth:

Intro and rationale:
We have been using BlackBoard for approximately 6 years - mainly for online-summative-assessments of the theory elements of Level 2, Hairdressing unit standards.
These assessments are conducted under 'exam conditions', on site, in a computer lab.
When we introduced this form of assessment we had excellent feedback from our younger students (ie those <25)>

• will the technology work on the day of the timetabled class assessment?
• do I have a Plan B if the technology doesn't work?
• if a student cannot attend the timetabled assessment time, how do I get them onto a computer and ensure the same 'exam conditions' ?

I think the main thing I have learned from this is ensuring the teaching staff are comfortable with the technology used. If they are comfortable then the students feel comfortable using this form of assessment.

With the above in mind, I have chosen guidelines which I hope will address both my students' and particularly my colleague needs.

Two Guidelines relevant to my area:
1: TD7 Can students practice using the assessment tools used in the summative assessment?
Comment: IMHO our next step is to update our formative assessments to better familiarise my colleagues and our students with the summative assessment.
Issues:
- "Brain Shift". While my colleagues can see the value in online assessment there seems to be some reluctance to produce online formative assessments. Currently we still seem to be 'stuck' in a paper based formative assessment style which (to me) has no bearing on the summative assessment conditions.
The issue here could possibly be related to...(see next issue)
- Professional development of the potential of e-learning, the tools that can be used, and the people who can produce them.

2: TO8 Is subject and instructional design expertise available to staff to develop and support quality e-learning courses?
Comment: I think this is very much related to point 1. Yes it is available...but do we make the most of it? I doubt that we do.
Issues:
- Moving from "chalk and talk" to empowering the learner to have a variety of opportunities to learn (another 'brain shift'?)
- Time...I'm sure we can all relate to this one. Especially time for training. Having, for eg, Templates makes life much easier but staff still need to be trained in how to use them.

Hmmm...reading back on this I'm not sure that I have completed the task for the week 3 - I look forward to your feedback :)

Week 2 - Quality and Evaluation

It's now officially Week Four - I'm still here and still in 'catch up mode'...
During Week Two we were asked to answer three questions about evaluation. I've found these have taken a bit of time to think about and I've realised there's a lot more to 'evaluation' than I had previously considered.

So, on to the questions and my answers:

Why is evaluation important to you and how do you define it?
To get my thoughts in order I had to consult a dictionary or two re 'evaluation"
The definition that best worked for me was found at dictionary.com under 'programming'...

"2. The process of examining a system or system component to determine the extent to which specified properties are present."

Other definitions were around the ability to 'form an idea', the 'value', 'worth' and the ability to 'assess' something. To me these could be subjective...
I prefer the definition above as (to me) it seems more objective - ie: here is the criteria, has it been met or not?

So why is it important to me?
Seems to me that if evaluation is done correctly it would be an efficient tool which would indicate if I am meeting the intended purpose.

What sort of evaluations mentioned on the presentation are familiar to you already and why?
Currently (in our predominately F2F teaching/learning environment) we use both formative and summative evaluation.
To explain:
Formative: Around weeks 3 - 6 we ask the students to evaluate the programme so far (ie. how are they finding the course/programme, do they know where to find support, are they enjoying the content etc). This is done via an online BlackBoard survey which is anonymous and only the collated stats and comments are visible. The results are circulated to the tutors.

Around mid-semester we ask students to evaluate their individual tutors. This asks specifics re tutor teaching methods, feedback etc. This is paper based and is collated by an independent person so once again the information collected is anonymous and the collated stats and comments are sent to the individual tutor.

Around the middle of each term we hold F2F meetings with a student rep. from each class and ask them to put forward suggestions/concerns that their class/group may have. This is summarised as minutes and available to both tutors and students.

Summative evaluation: At the end of each programme we ask students to evaluate the programme via an online Blackboard survey.
We then have a verbal discussion with the group as some prefer to talk in a group atmosphere rather than writing their thoughts down...both of the above are circulated to tutors.

Finally, statistics on course course completions etc. are summarised and explained/commented on in an Annual Programme Report(APR). The APR is circulated to all staff within the department, agreed upon and then sent to the Academic Development Centre (ADC) for comment/review.

The last two summative evaluations I also consider to be formative - ie forming an idea of what should change for the next intake of students.

Why is quality important in eLearning?
Personally I find this q. difficult to answer. To me eLearning is just another form of teaching/learning. There needs to be quality in both F2F and eLearning.

I wonder if I am being naive with this thought?

Flight of the Conchords

Part of the presentation we needed to view in week two (see below) was a You Tube clip by Flight of the Conchords - See: Bowie Song.
Personally, I think these guys are great and I can't understand why NZ and TVNZ didn't embrace them...but that's my own viewpoint.

The questions asked within the presentation, along with my answers, follow:
1: Is this good quality?
Seems OK to me. I've seen better resolution and such on You Tube...but the message and humour still gets across - also a quick download (is that what you mean by 'quality'? )

2: Why is it good?
I enjoy their humour and I think their musical presentation is great!

3: Why is it not so good?
Must admit, I'm left asking questions here:
- Who else shares my sense of humour?
- Does humour relate across cultures?
- Does humour relate across age groups?
- Should I impose my sense of humour on others whom I don't *really* know? (ie my students)

Call me old fashioned..but when it comes to humour I think it needs to be relevant to the students and the learning context.

Quality and Evaluation - Week 2

The first task for Week 2 was to watch a 20 minute slide presentation Why is evaluation so important . I found this slide show interesting - for 3 reasons:

Firstly: I have heard of myplick before but have never seen it used, so I needed to check this out. It seems it's free (always good when on a tight educational budget! ) and apparently one is able to share/embed presentations (including audio) on the web.
This sounds like something worth trying. (see myplick FAQ for more info )

Secondly: I discovered something about my own learning - a 20min presentation was too much for me! While the presentation was very informative I found myself twiddling my thumbs and looking out the window. I couldn't concentrate for that long with out doing something.
I found myself watching it in 3 stages over a couple of days...I guess that would be about 6 minutes each? Then, I was able to grasp some of the info ...and I think I'm finally starting to digest the information and understand it after reviewing it for the fifth, or sixth time.

Thirdly: Must say it has been nice to be able to go back and review. This is not something that can easily be done in a F2F presentation.

Key points of the presentation:

Evaluation - is it really necessary

What is evaluation?

What are you evaluating - context is important

Why evaluate

How to evaluate

Evaluation methods

Designing an evaluation plan

Evaluation reports

Resource

It seems there's a lot to consider when it comes to evaluation.

No Pressure...Yeah right! :)

Pressure...can it motivate or de-motivate a student?

Surprisingly I just realised I fall into the former category (well, at least for today!)
I've just started my 5th paper in the Graduate Certificate in E-Learning...unfortunately I was two, nigh on three weeks late in enrolling ...right now I'm wondering if I can catch up.

I think I can...this is something I'm determined to do...but I think there are a few things to take into account here:

#1 There has to be internal motivation. Today I want to achieve...will I feel the same tomorrow? Right now, I'm sure I can but who knows what challenges tomorrow may bring for the keen student.

# 2 (From above) Who will inspire me tomorrow? My online teacher? My online colleagues? Me?

#3 Is the pressure achievable? For me, today, I think so....

But I am left wondering...
How does one phrase an encouraging message to student who is late to enrol?

Sue