Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

How should participation in a collaborative learning community be assessed?

Instructors must provide clear expectations by using rubrics or some other form of measurement for assessing student work. Students will be more satisfied and instructor’s assessment will be made easier when the assessment is in alignment with the learning objectives and the collaborative activities (Pallloff and Pratt, 2005). An important way to assess and encourage collaborative learning is to have an outcome or product for discussions which is graded. Individuals in the group should be graded on individual contributions as well as group contribution using rubrics (Swan, K., Shen, J., and Hiltz, R., n.d.).

How do the varying levels of skill and knowledge students bring to a course affect the instructor's "fair and equitable assessment" of learning?

The instructor must have an understanding of collaborative learning and basic principles of student assessment that is aligned to the design of the course. The students must come to the learning-centered course with at least minimal skills and knowledge and be rooted in good practice (Palloff, R. and Pratt, K., 2005). The fair and equitable assessment is based on more than learning outcome. Instructors’ grading criteria should also include behaviors and activities that are not measures of learning outcomes, such as attendance, participation, improvement, or effort. These may be a part of the learning outcomes but are not usually measures of learning outcomes. The instructor will need to use different methods of assessment to analyze and assess the knowledge and skills of the students (http://www.cmu.edu/teaching).  The interpretation of the assessment is in the hands of the instructors or faculty members because they are familiar with  the knowledge of the course learning goals as well as the assessment methods and materials.  They decide on the appropriate standards and can determine if the learning outcome is good or  not (http://www.cmu.edu/teaching).

If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, what should the other members of the learning community do? What role should the instructor play? What impact would this have on his or her assessment plan?

There may be circumstances such as computer problems and family demands that might present some participation challenges for the student.  Hopefully, the instructor has laid the ground work for such a time as this by getting a signed buy-in contract from the student, for example.   This would ensure that the student is aware of the importance of the collaborative activity.  The instructor should reach out to the student via of a phone call or a simple email message to find the cause for not wanting to participate.  The other members of the learning community should also try reaching out to the student and “just communicate” with him/her to get specific reasons for not wanting to participate.  The student should have already received and reviewed the rubrics and course information and thus be aware of the course requirements including the collaboration portion (Palloff & Pratt, 2005).  Instructional strategies may be as important as the assessment in encouraging participation in small group activities in the online classroom. Instructional strategies will also improve the group learning experience and add other benefits such as helping students to achieve deeper learning and to build their confidence and skills (http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/675/1271).

Comments posted on April 10, 2013 to http://dsprings2004.blogspot.com/
                                                             

http://techlingualatina.blogspot.com/ and

http://www.msanglin.blogspot.com/

References:

Brindley, J.,  Walti, C., and Blaschke, L. (June, 2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning: A refereed e-journal to advance research, theory, and practice in open and distance learning worldwide. Retrieved on April 1, 2013 from  http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/675/1271

Enhancing education: Whys & hows of assessment. Assessment of learning outcomes. Retrieved on April 1, 2013 from http://www.cmu.edu/teaching

Palloff, R. and Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating Online: Learning together in community.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Swan, K., Shen, J., and Hiltz, R. (n.d.). Assessment and collaboration in online learning. Kent State University. Retrieved on April 1, 2013 from  http://www.kent.edu/ehhs/dl/upload/assessment-and-collaboration.pdf