Developing competent e-learners: the role of assessment Janet Macdonald

Developing competent e- learners: The development of communicative and interpretive ability in electronic media. It involves the use of computers as an effective study tool, but also implies the development of critical and analytical abilities to work as self directed learner.

Use of computers as study tool Managing computer based study Writing using a computer Online communication for study Use of electronic resources for study

Pedagogic approaches for online environments activity based –resource based –collaborative –problem based

Assessing activity based learning assessment must reflect course philosophy assessment will ensure participation at critical pointsparticipation it provides an opportunity for feedback, completing the reflective learning cyclefeedback it can be used to provide incremental support over more than one assignmentincremental support

"timing and incentive are both important - a number of my students commented that they would have completed this activity (and taken a more active part) but stopped when they felt they had to give priority to work on assignments." (E211 tutor) "The course teaches the concept that learning is valuable regardless of assessment outcomes. But when learning is located within the framework of an OU course it is very difficult not to focus on TMA grades as a primary measure of achievement.” (E211 student)

"I had high hopes for the portfolio when I first began the course. I envisioned an electronic filing cabinet where all my notes and diagrams together with printed material scanned in for future reference and linked with s, private chat transcripts and completed assignments. The end result has actually been a collection of different folders stored on different computers together with various binders full of notes....it has been a learning experience with lessons for future courses of this kind.“ (E211student)

"The most important point for me is that it was not until TMA05 that I understood certain parts of Hypernote. I think that this aspect of the course could be improved by providing some short activities to check that the student is on the right track.“ (E211 student) “The middle of the road students…lost some of the content, value and relevance while “tinkering” with the tool.” (E211 tutor)

Assessing online collaborative learning Processes: Competence with tools Confidence, motivation Group task management, timing, concensus Familiarity with discourse

“By the time tma06 came along, each group had been able to get to know each other..My groups seemed to learn that they could depend on each other..” (THD204 tutor) “It was certainly evident from the work and comments from my groups that tma04 helped them get started on tma06 more quickly and efficiently. They had a strategy from the start…” (THD204 tutor)

“there was pressure to fit tasks to a deadline: collaboration was really more on an organisational level.” (THD204 tutor) “…the least successful part was however constructive criticism of each other’s work..nobody gave an constructive response, the replies were generally along the lines of ‘that all looks very good’” (THD 204 tutor)

“To be honest, I think we have a kind of schizophrenia about collaborative working: we like the sharing, the sense of pooling ideas and picking up ideas from others, but we are less sold on the idea of relying on others….” (THD204 student)

Assessing resource based learning Familiarity with toolstools Critical evaluation of resourcesCritical evaluation –metacognition/stage of academic development –motivation/orientation –familiarity with discipline

“I felt like writing to my tutor to say thank you for putting this assignment in. I’d only scratched the surface before. I really felt this was a useful exercise. Makes you get to grips with it..It was interesting to see you got different results for different methods.” (THD204 student) “I read the article on screen, made notes in a Word document, then cut and paste bits across. I found it a very creative way of doing things. I like being able to make one paragraph grow and another one to shrink.” (THD204 student)

“I have to read everything thoroughly, so it takes an awfully long time!” “I’d rather have material in one text. I’m not confident I’ve got everything relevant.” (THD204 students) “I also think that the ability to select is based in knowledge not skill. I see it as more age, experience and literacy level..though of course this overlaps.” “Undergraduates need to be given a framework to work around. They don’t know how big the whole thing is.” (H802 students)

Future directions for assessing e-learning Greater student participation in assessment self/peer assessment and feedback model answers, e-scrapbook iterative assignment development