Assessment and Building an Assignment
Goals:
1) For students to understand, in broad terms, the main theories of distance education outlined in Chapter Two.
2) For students to be able to infer (apply in a new realm) what these theorists might have to say about new developments in online education.
This assignment is in three parts: the first and last are formative; in other words, they will be assessed on the way they demonstrate your learning process and progress. The second part is performative, in that it will be assessed in terms of how well what you write demonstrates your understanding of the theorists you choose. The rubric (to follow) will outline in more detail what sorts of things we will be looking for in each of these parts of the assignment.
Part One
(25 points)
Please read and annotate Chapter 2 in the textbook. Then, in your personal class blog, write a brief, paragraph summary of your understanding of each of the distance education theories of the following theorists: Keegan, Wedemeyer, Moore, Peters, Holmberg, Knowles, and Perraton.
Please read at least two of your peers’ summaries on their blogs. You will not need to respond to them unless you choose to. But the work of others may help you re-see your own summaries and may help you with the next part of your assignment.
Part Two
(50 points)
A. There is a convention on the future of distance education and online learning. All seven of the above theorists have been invited to speak about one of two questions (which follow). You are to take on the voice and views of one of these theorists and write a presentation that addresses one the questions. You are speaking to an audience who is familiar with some things about distance learning and online education, but not necessarily your theory or philosophy. Your written presentation should be no longer than 500-600 words.
B. Next, you will change hats and take on the voice and views of one of the other theorists on the panel. You will be a respondent to the first presenter; what this means is you will write a response which highlights the differences and/or similarities between your philosophy and the first presenters philosophy and how these inform your answer to the initial question. Again, your response will be no longer than 500-600 words.
Question One: How do you see the creation/proliferation of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Classes) fitting into your theory of distance education? How do they challenge or extend your theory of distance education?
Or
Question Two: How do flipped classrooms fit into (or not) your theory
of distance education: explain.
There will be two discussion posts: one for each question. Please post your two presenters as one post under the question you have chosen. So, we will end up with a series of posts which all address the same question but with the different theorists you have all chosen.
Read the all discussion posts for the question on which you wrote your theorists’ responses.
Part Three
(25 points)
Metacognitive Writing (on your blog)
1. What was difficult about doing this assignment? Talk about the challenges of doing this sort of writing and what you did t overcome them.
2. Which theorists did you choose and why?
3. What questions do you still have about the work of these theorists? About the meaning of theory and how it is used in education?
4. What do you want to remember about the process of doing this assignment?
Metacognitive Response (on your peers’ blogs)
Please read everyone’s blog. Then respond with questions and observations about how your experiences coincide with or differ from that of two (2) of your peers.
Rubrics
I created two rubrics: one formative and one summative. I could not get my the link to work (it took me to another persons rubric), so I will put the name and numbers of the rubrics here (http://rubistar.4teachers.org):
Formative:
Understanding Theory: Distance Education (Formative Sections) (G. Benbow-Niemier, #2382591)
Summative:
Distance Education Theories Discussion: Summative Sections (G. Benbow-Niemier, #2382591)
Goals:
1) For students to understand, in broad terms, the main theories of distance education outlined in Chapter Two.
2) For students to be able to infer (apply in a new realm) what these theorists might have to say about new developments in online education.
This assignment is in three parts: the first and last are formative; in other words, they will be assessed on the way they demonstrate your learning process and progress. The second part is performative, in that it will be assessed in terms of how well what you write demonstrates your understanding of the theorists you choose. The rubric (to follow) will outline in more detail what sorts of things we will be looking for in each of these parts of the assignment.
Part One
(25 points)
Please read and annotate Chapter 2 in the textbook. Then, in your personal class blog, write a brief, paragraph summary of your understanding of each of the distance education theories of the following theorists: Keegan, Wedemeyer, Moore, Peters, Holmberg, Knowles, and Perraton.
Please read at least two of your peers’ summaries on their blogs. You will not need to respond to them unless you choose to. But the work of others may help you re-see your own summaries and may help you with the next part of your assignment.
Part Two
(50 points)
A. There is a convention on the future of distance education and online learning. All seven of the above theorists have been invited to speak about one of two questions (which follow). You are to take on the voice and views of one of these theorists and write a presentation that addresses one the questions. You are speaking to an audience who is familiar with some things about distance learning and online education, but not necessarily your theory or philosophy. Your written presentation should be no longer than 500-600 words.
B. Next, you will change hats and take on the voice and views of one of the other theorists on the panel. You will be a respondent to the first presenter; what this means is you will write a response which highlights the differences and/or similarities between your philosophy and the first presenters philosophy and how these inform your answer to the initial question. Again, your response will be no longer than 500-600 words.
Question One: How do you see the creation/proliferation of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Classes) fitting into your theory of distance education? How do they challenge or extend your theory of distance education?
Or
Question Two: How do flipped classrooms fit into (or not) your theory
of distance education: explain.
There will be two discussion posts: one for each question. Please post your two presenters as one post under the question you have chosen. So, we will end up with a series of posts which all address the same question but with the different theorists you have all chosen.
Read the all discussion posts for the question on which you wrote your theorists’ responses.
Part Three
(25 points)
Metacognitive Writing (on your blog)
1. What was difficult about doing this assignment? Talk about the challenges of doing this sort of writing and what you did t overcome them.
2. Which theorists did you choose and why?
3. What questions do you still have about the work of these theorists? About the meaning of theory and how it is used in education?
4. What do you want to remember about the process of doing this assignment?
Metacognitive Response (on your peers’ blogs)
Please read everyone’s blog. Then respond with questions and observations about how your experiences coincide with or differ from that of two (2) of your peers.
Rubrics
I created two rubrics: one formative and one summative. I could not get my the link to work (it took me to another persons rubric), so I will put the name and numbers of the rubrics here (http://rubistar.4teachers.org):
Formative:
Understanding Theory: Distance Education (Formative Sections) (G. Benbow-Niemier, #2382591)
Summative:
Distance Education Theories Discussion: Summative Sections (G. Benbow-Niemier, #2382591)