Part III. Matching Feedback and Assessment to Online Activities

(Vanessa’s Section…)

The Feedback Issue

• Students participating in online activities look for feedback to know:– A. the instructor is reading their contributions– B. their participation is valued– C. their participation is adequate, in terms of quality and

quantity

• Feedback need not be individualized to be effective– Whole class commentary provided on a regular basis was

found to be just as satisfactory from the student point of view (Dennen, 2001)

The Assessment Issue

• Often, online activities go unassessed–“Add-on” syndrome: Adding an

online activity to a previously designed class because it sounds like a good idea

The Assessment Issue

• Students are more likely to participate when then know there is impact on their grade– Direct impact: graded on participation

(quality, quantity or both)– Indirect impact: participation should bolster

performance on other assessments– Students quickly become aware if an online

activity is not related to assessed learning objectives

The Assessment Issue, Cont.

• Sometimes the wrong things are assessed• Examples:

– Assessing students’ online moderation skills when the course topic/learning objectives have nothing to do with online moderation

– Assessing quantity of participation, but not quality

• which, granted, is easier, but encourages sloppy message posting rather than thoughtful learning dialogues

Assessing Asynchronous Activities

Some ideas …

1. Social Ice Breakers

• Feedback:– Critical because it sets the tone for instructor

attentiveness and interactions

• Assessment:– Not really necessary or appropriate

• What you might do:– Participate in the ice breaker alongside students

– Compile a list of “who’s who” from student responses and distribute to class

2. Learner-Content Interactions

• Feedback:– Should be built into the activity– Computer-automated

• Assessment:– Generally, these activities help prepare students for

formal assessment

• What you might do:– Make explicit to students the value of completing

these activities and their relationship to success on graded activities

3. Scenario-based Simulations

• Feedback:– Should be built into the activity– If not automated, instructor must provide or monitor to

ensure peers provide it

• Assessment:– Simulation can be assessed directly themselves or used to

prepare students for authentic assessments

• What you might do:– If objectives are process oriented, assess student

performance in simulation– Encourage learner reflection on the process and their

performance

4. Anonymous Suggestion Box

• Feedback:– Important to respond to students

• Assessment:– Neither necessary nor appropriate

• What you might do:– Compile a list of suggestions with

corresponding actions taken or reasons why action is not possible/feasible/desirable

5. Student Formative Surveys• Feedback:

– Instructor should reference student responses in aggregate form

– Individual responses may receive feedback, but students should not be singled out

• Assessment:– Neither necessary nor appropriate

• What you might do:– Use topic-based surveys as a lead-in to a learning unit– Use course feedback surveys to make changes to the

class

6. Role Play

• Feedback:– Students want/need to know if they are adequately

playing their roles

• Assessment:– Based on participation (to ensure the roles get played)– Following the role play, based on subject matter

• What you might do:– Post a general message to the class, filling in missing /

misrepresented roles and noting exemplary contributions– Have learners write a reflection paper on the topic, highlighting

the various perspectives and defending the perspective of their choice

7. Case-based Labs/Experiments

• Feedback:– Should be built into the activity

• Assessment:– Generally, these activities help prepare students for

formal assessment

• What you might do:– Make explicit to students the value of completing

these activities and their relationship to success on graded activities

8. Authentic Data Analysis• Feedback:

– Should focus on helping students analyze the data

• Assessment:

– Based on results of the analysis OR on the process (depending on learning objectives)

• What you might do:

– Have students respond to the activity’s questions, either individually or collaboratively

9. Just-in-time Teaching/Syllabus• Feedback:

– Responsiveness to student contributions must be explicit and frequent

• Assessment:– Appropriate assessments should be developed based on the student

contributions in conjunction with the pre-planned course material– If participation might be a problem, students should get points for

completing quizzes/surveys (Small participation grade, or bonus points on tests)

• What you might do:– Have students write a reflection on how their point-of-view is similar

to/different from their peers– Post results of student quizzes in aggregate form for class review– Update regular tests to incorporate the just-in-time materials

10. Perspective Taking

• Feedback:– Focus on how well students are representing

different perspectives

• Assessment:– Perspective-based role-play will likely be assessed

• What you might do:– Fill in missing perspectives — or have students

review their work and identify missing perspectives

Assessing Synchronous Activities

More ideas…

Learning Conversations

• Includes Webinar, chats (regular, expert, guest)• Feedback:

– Instructor can debrief the chat afterwards, providing a summary and commenting on contributions

• Assessment: – Not really fair to assess students on basis of synchronous chat

contribution due to limited airspace– Content/experience should be assessed through another means

such as reflection, essay, test or project

Group Work• Includes Team Meeting and Collaborative Online

Writing• Feedback:

– Focus on group’s process and how to improve it

• Assessment: – Based on product (collaborative writing, other project)– Based on process (Was work distributed equally?

Completed on time? What would be changed the next time?)

• Peer ratings• Assessment of contributions in group’s online work space

(archives)

Advisory Activities

• Includes Online Mentoring, Secret Coaches and Protégées

• Feedback:– Such activities are all about feedback– Should focus on learner performance on past class

activities– Should look forward to future activities

• Assessment:– Assessment would be neither appropriate nor

desired, although participation might be required

Questions and Perhaps Some Answers...???