Module 3, Blog 3
In
collaborative learning communities, participation should not be solely assessed
by only using checks and marks. Students should be assessed by their abilities
and contributions made towards the success of the group. “Not all assessments
translate into a mark” (Siemens, 2011). Some ways to assess participation
mentioned by Siemens is to allow other students to assess their peers, receive
feedback from online communities, assess on student contributions and assess
based on metrics from learning management systems. One difficulty that
educators have with assessing learning communities is keeping the assessment
fair and equitable. “In order to assess student performance in collaborative
activity effectively, the instructor needs to understand basic principles of
student assessment” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005). This difficulty is present
because students in these learning communities have varying skill levels and
knowledge. One way to combat this issue is to assess based on each student’s
individual growth. A problem that is very prevalent in these learning
communities is dealing with members that do not want to collaborate within a
group. Other members that are faced with this issue should try to collaborate
with the unwilling member to see if the issue can be resolved. If this does not
solve the matter, then the instructor should be notified. At this point in
time, the instructor should have already made some prior guidelines that
address situations like this. “Because of these issues, instructors should take
some precautionary measures at the start of a course that involves
collaborative work” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005). If the instructor finds that
the unwilling member is not cooperating, then the instructor should remove that
member from the group without giving any penalties to the other group members.
The actions of the instructor should not heavily impact the assessment plan
since the unwilling member has not made a consistent effort to do their part.
Reference
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning
together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Siemens, G (2011). Assessment of Collaborative Learning. (Approx.
9 min)
Siemens, G (2011). Learning Communities. (Approx. 11 min)
Related Articles
http://www.brighthub.com/office/collaboration/articles/74181.aspx
http://www.collaborativejustice.org/how.htm
http://www.joe.org/joe/1999april/tt1.php
Olufemi, In life beyond school, group products are assessed by whether they work or not. Participation is not assessed at all in life beyond school.
ReplyDeleteOlufemi, I was wondering how you could make your three links into contextual links. What I mean is, how could you write them into the body of your blog post, rather than listing at the end?
ReplyDeleteOlufemi,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think should happen to a student who an instructor removes from a collaborative group? Should he or she be removed from the entire course or be given alternative assignments? What are your thoughts?
On possible problem I see is when previously meted out workload is disrupted when a group member is removed for non-participation. Should/could the facilitator hold the others responsible? I think not.
ReplyDeleteOlufemi,
ReplyDeleteI too beleive that individuals may not participate because of different reasons and agree that other team memebers should first try to rectify the situation with the reluctant member; however I do think the student should be removed completely, instead an alternate assignment could be given or participation points deducted at the end of the task. This would probably work for the classroom situation, but what happens in the workforce, when this type of collaboration is needed? Just a thought:)