Week 1 first impressions

I like the adaptive release of the study materials, quizzes and discussion boards. Discrete boards for each topic eg. Week 1: Self Assessment; Week 1: Learning Outcomes; Week 1: Reflections. It would be difficult to take this multiple board approach in the combined program site but the idea has possibilities in other courses.

Very small class. Tutors appear to work hard to develop a 'presence' early in the online experience. I look forward to the discussion summaries at the end of the week which should give closure and the class moving onwards together. I am not sure how this would go with the self paced nature of our courses / paid work hours that our students keep - Could this work for us? Perhaps the contract idea at the beginning of course may help this (ie we all had to agree to contract terms that we would devote 4-6 hours a week for the duration of the course - was this a CQU or OCSLD requirement?).

Wording was something along the line

I confirm that I am willing to:
1. To commit to completing the course.
2. To devote between 4-6 hours per week for the five weeks of the course.
3. To apply what I have learned to review my assessment practices.
4. To share new insights and ideas with colleagues through seminars, workshops, etc.

Started the readings to find strong emphasis on Bloom's taxonomy again, I will relook at the work we did last year in the assessment course in the Grad Cert in Flex Learning. The Key Reading 1 has some nice examples of learning outcomes. Key Reading 2 provides some good links re Bloom. Initial thoughts re Key Reading 3 is that the self assessment tool presented is quite negative in the way it is termed however basic idea has some merit (ie. a self assessment checklist which forces students to evaluate their own work).

I really like the idea of students submitting a self assessment with their assignments particularly with regard to their priorities for feedback.

1. strengths of this piece of work
2. weaknesses in this piece of work
3. how this work could be improved
4. the grade it deserves is …
5. what I would like your comments on …

A worthy idea to try ... wonder how it will go with novice learners and whether their lack of understanding 'what an assignment looks like' would interfere with their ability to self assess ... would it be worth trying to assess their ability to self assess as development of a process skill ...????

Team teaching of this course seems to be a very useful approach. I look forward to the summaries for each week with regard to our handling / discussion of the content and tasks. I may use this idea in my third year course.

Week 1 to be continued ...