Week 2 - self & peer assessment

Notes on McDonnell (2006): E-Learning Groups and Communities

Highlights importance of allowing students to perform self-assessment to help them become 'self-managing people who can take responsibility for their own learning:

"If this is indeed a valid notion of what an educated person is, then it is clear that the educatioanal process in all our main institutions of higher education does not prepare students to acquire such self-determining competence" (Heron, 1981)

"The evaluation process provides a signal to students about the kind of learning they are expected to cary out; they adapt by choosing strategies that will apparently maximize success" (Ramsden, 1988)

"Collaborative assessment is particularly important in the context of e-learning groups and communities, where an ethos of collaboration and cooperation exists. In this context, the expectation is for students to engage in helping each other develop, review and assess each other's course work"

"It is the collaborative learning and assessment process itself that signals to the students what form of learning is expected of them" (McConnell 2000)

"In contexts where e-learning courses are run on a learning community, or 'community of practice' (Wenger, 1998) basis, it is necessary that the course is designed to ensure that students and tutors engage in meaningful practices through cooperative and collaborative learning processes, and to ensure that knowledge developed is demonstrated in the context of the student's professional practice. This can be achieved by the development of a climate where commenting on each other's work, and giving and receiving feedback are integrated and normal parts of the community's day-to-day work" This justifies the practice on the CG Arts course.

Got to p.94.

Week 2: Reflections on learning in a group

 

After much discussion about our professional contexts in Week 1 we now move on to Week 2. The focus of discussion is our reflections on learning in a group, and some of the key points are as follows:

• Although some find it daunting to engage in online discussion with people whom you have never met, others find the lack of non-verbal cues exciting and fun.
• There were suggestions of the possibility of trying to organise synchronous discussion sessions using video, but the majority of responses indicated that the asynchronous discussion was preferable (and was indeed the reason why some had signed up for this PhD - i.e. it's flexibility).
• The Rourke and Kanuka article raises issues such about expectations of the tutor/facilitator's role, different motivations of participants, what kind of interactions each is trying to make happen (Mary H.)
• Research suggests that intuitive, extrovert personalities prefer studying in online courses than introverted personalities (Daughenbaugh et al, 2002). Therefore there is a need to be aware of different personality types when teaching online and provide opportunities to increase student interaction in online courses - e.g. via group work.
• What is the etiquette of writing in online forums? Some members of the group were averse to overly-long posts while others didn't mind. Some were concerned that too many hyperlinks in a post could be distracting, while others liked the option of being able to investigate further if they chose to.

Module 1 personal learning objectives

The day has finally come - it's day 1 of the PhD. Although there hasn't been much time to feel any kind of trepidation, it's interesting to finally be confronted with the question 'what do you want to get out of this?' I suspect that whatever I write below will change radically over the coming months (and years - aargh).

But for the record, at this point in time, here is what I am aiming to get out of the first module:

1. Obtain a better understanding of research methods and methodological approaches
2. Learn new ways of collecting and analysing data, and be able to consider how to use this knowledge to design future research projects
3. Gain more confidence in critically evaluating both my own and other people's work
4. Meet and connect with others on the course

Tune in next week to find out if I survived Week 1...

Structuralism & Post-Structuralism

The inaugural Higher Education in Teaching and Learning conference in Florida has certainly been an eye-opener. There have been some good presentations and also some that haven’t been so good, but what I have seen has helped me clarify a few things in my mind:

• I need to be more proactive in pushing out new ideas to academic staff. Currently there is no easy way for staff to engage with T&L knowledge on a regular basis unless it is provided through 1-2-1 sessions with staff.
• I need to create more opportunities for staff to interact online and learn from each other.
• The 100% student satisfaction rating for the CGArts course at UCA is an incredible achievement. I need to find a means of extracting the building blocks of this achievement and presenting them in such a way that they can be reused by other courses & tutors.
• My research needs to begin by unpacking the term ‘community’ and establish a definition that is relevant to an undergraduate HE course. Is should focus more on the anthropological aspects of ‘what makes a community’ along with the roles and responsibilities of all community members. It should aim to establish a new pedagogical model that clearly sets out the ways in which a tutor can become a community leader / elder. 
• I need to look at Structuralism and Claude Levi-Strauss, whose research aimed to set out the essential structures of communities. I also need to look at Jacques Derrida and the Post-Structuralists  who refuted Claude Levi-Strauss’ argument and accused him of being subjective.

Alienation theory

So I'm driving through deepest Florida with my colleague Phil feeling like I'm in a movie, a sense of alienation, and Phil introduces me to alienation theory. He explains that a central tenet of the theory is that it is only when someone is on the outside of a 'group' can they have genuinely innovative thoughts. In other words, the more one is integrated into a group or community the more one's views and opinions are shaped by interactions with other members.

Although I can't profess to be an expert this made me think that an effective community manager may need to walk the thin line between being a trusted and participative member but also retain the ability to step away from or outside the protective walls of the community. In such a way the community manager can facilitate the development of the group while also bring in new ideas from outside the group's discussions and frame of reference.

I need to do more reading around this - Hegel, Marx, Schacht (The Future Of Alienation), Erich Fromm (The Sane Society) - but I think there is something important here for academic community managers. Facilitating and effective learning community in a Higher Education context means wearing a number of hats, but what is crucial is the ability to be able to 'pull rank' when necessary while still maintaining an open, honest and trusting relationship with your students.

Or, as Phil put it, you need to be the barman - at the party but working, having fun but with a clearly-defined bar between you and the students.