Module
3(2) Assessing Collaborative Efforts
Collaborative learning has always had a strong
presence within traditional brick and mortar institutions. This type of
learning is now being utilized in the online distance education as well. Siemens
(2008) states that “participative pedagogy is the collaboration and teamwork in
curricular activities”. I tend to feel the best way to assess the participation
of the learning community is by requiring peer reviews be completed by group
members. They would then submit them to the instructor for final review and grading
based partially on their peers responses.
In the Distance education and online learning
environments there could be times when a member of a learning community does
not want to participate in a group project. I can say this because there have
been times when I would have preferred to complete a project on my own instead
of working with a group. I believe that a lot of students tend to feel the same
way because they simply don’t want their overall score to be dependent on their
peers and vice versa. The instructor should rely heavily on the learning
community and their peers because they will more than likely use this
information to assist with scoring of an individual or overall group project.
Resource
Principles of distance
education: Assessment of collaborative learning. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Hi Cottrell,
ReplyDeleteYour post highlighted some interesting points relating to online collaboration assessment. I found your candor to be enlightening, I usually do not mind working in groups, so, it was interesting to hear your perspective. I work with high schoolers, and, while a peer rating is important in assessing group work, can their assessment be trusted for a final grade? Thanks for your insight.
Hi Bianca,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! You are definitely right when you state that peer ratings are important in a group setting but for a final grade, I think the assessment of the instructor would need to be the most trusted for the final grade. Having an even balance of peer reviews and individually submitted work should be a good way to generate the most accurate grade.
Thanks again for your comment!