Authentic Assessment

I would like to share the information below that has helped me to increase my knowledge on assessments, which has also made me more appreciative of the Adult Education Programs.

Authentic assessments as noted by Myer (1992) is not the same as performance assessment, in that, they are similar to the point that both forms of assessments provide challenges, and engages the students; however, authentic assessments affords the learners with sufficient time for planning, completing the assignment, “self-“assessment, revising, and consulting  with another.  Additionally, when using “authentic assessments,” student assignments must be evaluated using the “same kinds of criteria (standards) used to judge similar task,” (Wisconsin Education Association Council, 2014).

“Authentic Instruction and Learning”

Based on Wisconsin Education Association Council, (2014) authentic instructions and learning are very much like “performance or authentic assessments” in relationship to students retaining knowledge and instructions. Educators desiring for improvement in assessments, and instructions have to integrate the two.  “Newmann, and Wehlage, 1993 article” states that instructions are “authentic if they help learners obtain the following objectives:

1.      “ Construct meaning and produce knowledge”

2.      “Use disciplined inquiry to construct meaning and”

3.      “Aim work toward production of discourse, products and performances that have value or meaning beyond success in school,” (Wisconsin Education Association Council, 2014).

Reference

Re Wisconsin Education Association Council. (2014). Performance Assessment.  Retrieved

January 06, 2014 from http://www.weac.org/professional_resources/Testing/performance_assessment.aspx

E-learning: More Than Meets the Eye

I am entering the last half of the last week of my course all about e-learning.  This was one of the few required courses I was blase about because of the content.  I work in a corporate environment and while we use online technologies, an actual online class is not what I do.  However, I am happy this course was required, have learned quite a bit, and could see myself facilitating online courses as a second job (I was told by someone he could see me doing that).  One of the most significant things I have learned is there is the same amount if not more preparation required for facilitating an online course as compared with a traditional face-to-face classroom or even a hybrid environment.  In a true e-classroom, there is no face to face interaction unless participants take advantage of collaboration through Skype or other applications for video chat.  This means instruction, activities, and assignments need to engage and motivate learners on their own.  This can be extremely difficult!  In my own experience, there have been courses that are more difficult to involve myself with whether it be the content (if it's required and I don't really have an interest, it can be hard for me to get motivated to complete my work) or the methods used (even with interesting content, discussion that is not developed to encourage research and support doesn't support engagement).  E-learning requires significant motivation for self-study and exploration and if there is not proper support from a facilitator, almost any learner can lose motivation to continue their learning.  Some major learning I have taken from my courses with this program are the different applications out there to aid in learning.  One of these is Piktochart.com.  Here is an example of my work that just so happens to be about the topic of this post:

Just a reminder...

IIRC, Facebook was started as a way for college students to share their thoughts and experiences regarding college -- all of it, not just classes, learning, opinions about professors or frustration with learning content but the entire social aspect of the university, who not to date, great places to get a beer, frats to avoid, etc. In a way, FB replaced some of the more traditional ways of interacting with other students, i.e., forming a club, electing officers, drafting a charter, roping in a faculty sponsor, setting an agenda and scheduling meeting times that were the most convenient for everyone involved.

Back in the day, before the World Wide Web, there was a series (tens of thousands, actually) of discussion boards on something called USENET that pretty much had everything one was interested in discussing. They all began with "alt." such that, if you were interested in discussing a particular topic (or even finding a companion), you searched groups like, "alt.cognitivescience" or even subgroups such as "alt.cognitivescience.quantum.theory" to engage with like-minded students and individuals. The FB inventors took that idea and made it Web 2.0 since, the old USENET groups were moderated (it's where the terms "flamer" and "lurker" originated, among other things) and one would sometimes wait for days for a reply to a post (bearing in mind that, back then, very few people had access to the Internet) -- suddenly, interaction was immediate and IRT (in real time). The meeting was ongoing and asynchronous.


That's what this PLN is supposed to be about -- Web 2.0 technology used for the purpose of sharing information, interests, gripes, opinions, insights, input, arguments and anything else we can throw into this that will add to the dialog -- and our own education.

Party like it's 1999

EEK! I just looked at the last time I posted and it appears that I've allowed this place to go fallow -- so much for the "post at least once a week" wisdom that old-school bloggers used to share (actually, I think it was once a day!). Anyway, I took the leap and, over a couple of nights and a couple of beers, put together this video résumé to throw out there to prospective employers:


Many thanks to Stevie Wonder and the Red Hot Chili Peppers for "Higher Ground" -- please don't come after me for royalties, I need a job!

 Maybe I'm being too tough on myself, saying that I've partied like it's 1999 (never considered using THAT song, frankly) by creating a video résumé and posting it on YouTube, for all 11 viewers I've had to see, because I don't think their are a bunch of people doing what I just did. Yeah, I'm no pioneer but it amazes me that more people aren't taking advantage of the technology that's available -- free (for the most part), easy to use and engaging.

The video was created using PowerPoint and converted to an MP4. I played with it in Camtasia and Articulate but I didn't see that those programs added anything to it, so this is what you get. Occam's Razor and all of that.

Par-TAY!!!

Cross-posted at #The Firebird Suite

Assessment in Adult Education

Well hello, it has been a little while since I posted on here, actually an entire class! I have been quite busy personally and just keeping up with the requirements of class has kept me busy. Well, enough about me... The current class (ending today) is all about assessment and evaluation. I thought I knew assessment but there is so much more than I realized which has provided me with valuable information in my job position. Well, Jim and I were assigned to be on a learning team together this class with another student, Tamela. I wanted to post this awesome PowerPoint we put together earlier in class. The assignment was to interview at least five adult educators in various types of learning about assessment. Jim designed the PowerPoint, we all worked on content, and I offered the voice. We hope you enjoy (sorry the sound quality is not the best)!

Cart before the horse on MOOCs

Saying that the MOOC debate rages on is rather like saying, "Mosquitoes bother me," yet I encounter that quotidian statement in pretty much every article I read regarding the issue. It probably doesn't help that the name itself sounds like some street-level pejorative but we use the words we have, not the ones we want.

As a fairly-new construct of how knowledge is delivered, MOOCs would naturally be controversial based on their relatively recent introduction to the education field. However, aside from stale arguments that MOOCs can't deliver what classroom instruction can (an argument that has existed since the introduction of the first online course), most of the arguments I've encountered against MOOCs have been specious, at best.

Probably the most contentious issue surrounding MOOCs is their potential for social and economic equality (as I argued for in the this paper) and it's funny how ironic arguments from the Left and the Right cavil about the death of the academy, the Left squealing about how universities should be opened up to everyone, the Right whining about  the death of elite institutions.

Putting matters of delivery aside, MOOCs are the first step in an educational revolution, where learners decide what knowledge matters to them and that knowledge is delivered to them as it matters. For the first time in human history, learners have the capacity to attain knowledge no matter their circumstances or geographical isolation (provided they have a broadband connection). The potential for economic and social justice is here and it's about to be manifest.

Are MOOCs a nostrum? Not at all -- the problem of income inequality has to be dealt with, first and foremost. However, the potential to undercut the current system has begun with MOOCs, especially as learners from marginalized populations take advantage of their educational opportunities an use that position to bring up brothers and sisters.

Indeed, the potential for social and economic change is huge due to the possibles afforded through informal learning opportunities. That possibility will be dealt with in a later post.

Crossposted at The Firebird Suite

My first Prezi

Please be kind.... and cross-posted at The Firebird Suite (under the Portfolio tab).