Communication tools and online assessment

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Tools and Technology
Communication tools and online assessment
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The following slides are designed to give a taste
of what is happening in some depts at THC with
online tools for communication and assessment.
Most refer to the work that I am directly
involved in. I am aware that most if not all of
you will be familiar with the tools used here but
I wanted to develop something that would be
useful in other training situations with people
who may be less familiar. PLEASE dont feel
patronised! There is little info on the tools and
methods themselves- Rather, the priority was to
show what is and can be done. It is not
exhaustive and it is hoped that other examples
and some of the issues and pitfalls will come out
in discussion though they are not a focus of this
presentation
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Communication Tools

• Discussion Boards
• Chat
• e-mail and SMS

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Discussion board interface in webCT
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Discussion Boards
This is what a typical discussion board thread
can look like. The two contributions you can see
here are from level 2 History students and
theyre responding to prompt from me which I
typed in class in front of them and then sent
them away with instructions to respond for h/w
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chat room in webCT
We sometimes use it (as has been done here) to
give one to one feedback/ support at a
distance. Mostly its used to prompt discussion
(maybe once or twice a term) when you want to get
all students participating. Students sometimes
schedule chats as part of group work.
There are all sorts of web protocols and short
hands which you may want to familiarise yourself
with lol -)
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What are the initial considerations?

1. Technology and expertise It depends on what you
   have available
2. Encourage colleagues to see it as a way of
   enhancing face to face discussions
3. Because they give opportunities to students to
   contribute who may not otherwise, this can help
   with assessment too. So, if your aim is to enable
   more learners to participate then this is an
   effective way.
4. Because they support different learning styles
   and preferences you can set up a discussion that
   mirrors one you have had in class- sceptical
   colleagues are often surprised by the differences
   in contributions

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Ways these tools are used at THC

1. Schedule a chat as part of a collaborative task
2. Use discussion boards for students to share work
   and ideas
3. Follow a thread in class and use it as a prompt
   for discussion
4. ESOL/ Basic Skills- have a chat then get students
   to correct all or one type of error on the
   script
5. Tell students you will give a detailed response
   to all questions asked outside class time but
   only on the discussion board (thereby all
   students hear your answer)
6. Assessments

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Communication Tools Student feedback

• Although it takes a while to get used to, its
  worth it for the satisfaction of seeing something
  solid in response to your own ideas or
  contributions
• Its good to have everything there- you can go
  back to it.

Access to Teaching _at_ THC online feedback June 2003
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Communication Tools Student feedback

• We need to feel comfortable with new methods of
  learning- for H.E and in our future careers
• Its Great fun
• You do not have to feel shy about speaking out
  in class and getting it wrong

Access to Teaching _at_ THC online feedback June 2003
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Example of use with Access History students
This is a page from the History and Politics
WebCT course which is used by AS, A level and
Access students (across two sites). On this page
the conditional pages are those that are
released only to named students. When these pairs
clicked on their names (the only ones they could
see) they got to
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this. It reminds them of the (differentiated)
task and asks them to file their responses to
webCT.
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These are then available for other students,
revision and for supporting assessment
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Assessment
Diagnostic Formative Summative
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Diagnostic 1
Screenshot taken from http//www.bksb.co.uk/inte
ractive_diagnostic_assessment.shtml
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Diagnostic 2 (sort of!)
A short self marking Hot Potato quiz made
available immediately after first session.
Students completed the same test on paper at end
of class and could check their own results.
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Combination diagnostic and formative
WebCT self test used in week 3 but with whole
class (once pairs attempted paper version)
Available for future review. Hot Pot would be
equally good.
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Formative 1- contributions to discussion boards
Sample posting on discussion board. Students
given tasks that they may incorporate into class
presentations but also enables more ground to be
covered and for students to work at their own
paces/ to their own levels (or just beyond)
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Formative 2 - Group Assessment and Review
Millionaire (template found on FERL)
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Formative 3- Critical Reading Hot Pot with
detailed feedback
Students work at own pace
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Summative 1- Half of psychology end of year exam
in WebCT

• Self marking and tallying
• Set up time about same as marking time but
  available for next year.
• Trends in errors much easier to identify and
  remedy (post exam)

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Summative 2 Mixed format questions on Grammar
Part self marking, part tutor marked- students
get results and feedback in webCT
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Other tools used
E-mail submission of assignments (for some
students) SMS support for ongoing work Quia and
other web based quiz tools. Interactive Word,
Excel and Powerpoint Others?