As
part of the 2006 course on Educational Design Methods at the University
of Sydney, Professor Goodyear asked us to design a course on a chosen
aspect of Educational Design (this was not assessed) then write an Executive
Summary on the Course, a Critique of the chosen approach and a Reflection
on the whole process.What now follows is the Course Design. You can
find the analysis of this course at Annette
Culley © 2006
Feedback and Formative Evaluation in a Virtual Learning EnvironmentRationale:When you become an on-line student working in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) it can be difficult to adjust to the absence of immediate feedback that is available in the face-to-face classroom. To understand the requirements of the course, to meeting the expectations of the teacher, to have the confidence in your own ability especially if you have high expectations of your performance requires the student to be proactive in seeking feedback and the teacher to be flexible in how they give feedback.
It
is far easier to put your hand up in the classroom and ask a question
than it is to ask a question in a VLE.
You will have to navigate your way to a forum, possibly create
a new thread in a discussion, formulate a written question and wait
for the reply. Of course this is not the only avenue available
in a VLE to get feedback. This
unit of work will explore the many avenues that can be used to request
feedback from teachers or give feedback to students and the most effective
ways of doing this. The
many facets of feedback including the elicitation or provision of feedback
and the use of formative assessment are explored in this unit of work.
1)
Learning Outcomes
·
Identify and use different
forms of cognitive feedback that are available within a VLE.
·
Place formative assessment
and feedback within the context of various instructional design models
studied in previous units of this course.
·
Understand the role feedback
has in the learning process.
·
Identify the essential
nature and characteristics of effective formative feedback.
·
Apply this knowledge to
the design of learning tasks.
·
Give formative feedback
to peers.
2)
Activities Week 1:
a)
Read
the following texts
b)
Complete Multiple Choice Test (MCT):
i)
Complete the online MCT
on the above articles: this is not assessed.
ii)
If you do not get the
answers right go back to the text to see the relevant section.
iii)
When you are confident
you understand the material go on to step c.
c)
Write a 100
word critique on each article. This
critique should first summarize the main ideas in each article.
It should be followed by an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses
of the article.
This is to be submitted by the end of week 1 but will not be assessed. You will be given feedback from your tutor by
the end of week 2. Week 2: Assessment Task: An Authentic problem.
a)
Identify a single learning
objective that you consider appropriate for your workplace that can
be delivered in a VLE. This should
be a fairly simple objective that would require approximately 1 hour
for the student to complete.
b)
Design and describe a
short online course to achieve this objective. This is only a design not the implementation
of the design. Your design brief
is to maximize/optimize the opportunities for formative feedback whilst
achieving the learning objective identified in part a.
c)
Identify the various ways
in which you can integrate formative feedback into this course. Explain
the best way to give this feedback. What are the general principles
of feedback that give the optimum results?
Justify your answers by citing the text reference or your practical
experience.
d)
Place this work in a document
that is visible to this workgroup and enable comments. This is to be done by the end of week 2.
e)
Read someone else’s document
and make comments (based on your readings on formative assessment) about
their design for maximizing/optimising formative feedback. This is to be done early week 3.
f)
Modify your document to
incorporate any suggestions made in the feedback and submit this by
the end of week 3 Marks: 60 marks for your
document, 20 for your feedback to someone else’s document. This mark
and feedback will be finalized in week 4; before the test at the beginning
of week 5. Week 3 & 4: Next Topic Begins This time is to allow for feedback on assignment, resubmit
if necessary and revise for test in week 5. Week 5: Summative Assessment Online Online Test |