I teach courses in blended learning environment, and I want to keep my students active and motivated to participate and share information. What helps me to achieve this goal, to assess students' online participation or just control it.
Hi! As a researcher in blended learning, or as I rather like to label it; ICT integration into teaching and learning, your question makes me wonder a little. Take this as positive and constructive comments, not as criticism. Many university teachers see this question as meaningful - however, I do not.
Do you have a regular Face-to-face campus course with some online functions like discussion boards, document access, turning in assignments etc added to that? Of course that can work for you and your students, but I do not see it as a sustainable blended model in the longer perspective. It easily results in the information overload, ”a course and a half” syndrom, or in a course with two separated parts, in reality a campus course and an online course in parallel.
If your course had more integrated parts, this kind of question about grading online participation becomes less meaningful.
Do you demand that students are active in Q&A in the classroom and grade that? In that case you should reasonably grade discussion online as well, you should grade ”discussion”/expression/reflexion/critical thinking, not activities in different technical modalities. Let a discussion come up in a F2f session, demand the students to continue the discussion online so a wrap-up with contributions from all can be done at next f2f session. Some students are very talkative in the classroom, other want to think before expressing themselves, which there seldom is time for in the classroom. Let them all participate in the same discussion, each in the way they prefer. Do not make artificial differences between classroom and online.
It is all about communication, within the course process. See one of my papers, attached, and also see my ”thought experiment”, meant to help understand integration of ICTs, all ICTs - analogue and digital, into traditional teaching. We still are in a mode of initial ”digitalisation” of old ICTs for teaching, for making what we already do faster, cheaper, more accessible, flexible and possibly more effective. Not so much of a revolution as we may think perhaps. Then we have next step, where we will use the true digital information procession power in applications as learning analytics and adaptive learning to assist both teacher and learner with information processing and personal adaption. But that is another story. Attaching a conf paper on that.
Article A time based blended learning model
Research A back-to-basics thought experiment about blended learning
Conference Paper Using Philosophy of Information to look at teaching, technol...
Yes ! You can use a group discussions forums, I recommend the Google app. And you can implement to a PBL program.
Regards.
Hi! As a researcher in blended learning, or as I rather like to label it; ICT integration into teaching and learning, your question makes me wonder a little. Take this as positive and constructive comments, not as criticism. Many university teachers see this question as meaningful - however, I do not.
Do you have a regular Face-to-face campus course with some online functions like discussion boards, document access, turning in assignments etc added to that? Of course that can work for you and your students, but I do not see it as a sustainable blended model in the longer perspective. It easily results in the information overload, ”a course and a half” syndrom, or in a course with two separated parts, in reality a campus course and an online course in parallel.
If your course had more integrated parts, this kind of question about grading online participation becomes less meaningful.
Do you demand that students are active in Q&A in the classroom and grade that? In that case you should reasonably grade discussion online as well, you should grade ”discussion”/expression/reflexion/critical thinking, not activities in different technical modalities. Let a discussion come up in a F2f session, demand the students to continue the discussion online so a wrap-up with contributions from all can be done at next f2f session. Some students are very talkative in the classroom, other want to think before expressing themselves, which there seldom is time for in the classroom. Let them all participate in the same discussion, each in the way they prefer. Do not make artificial differences between classroom and online.
It is all about communication, within the course process. See one of my papers, attached, and also see my ”thought experiment”, meant to help understand integration of ICTs, all ICTs - analogue and digital, into traditional teaching. We still are in a mode of initial ”digitalisation” of old ICTs for teaching, for making what we already do faster, cheaper, more accessible, flexible and possibly more effective. Not so much of a revolution as we may think perhaps. Then we have next step, where we will use the true digital information procession power in applications as learning analytics and adaptive learning to assist both teacher and learner with information processing and personal adaption. But that is another story. Attaching a conf paper on that.
Article A time based blended learning model
Research A back-to-basics thought experiment about blended learning
Conference Paper Using Philosophy of Information to look at teaching, technol...
If the activity is required, it should be graded. Otherwise why would a student do it? What would be the advantage to them? A few students would do it for the love of pure learning, but they are not the majority. Most students are open to new methods of instruction. But, they also have to see some reward or advantage to them or many will just go after the sections that give them points towards their grade.
Hello!
Blended learning and blended contents are two different things in my opinion. The use of the two terms in the question, one time as 'blended learning environment' and another as 'blended course' makes me a little confused.
I teach on campus f2f courses and use an LMS to host and distribute the materials and activities. I call this arrangement blended contents. Allow me to consider that you are doing like me and that your question is about the grading of students' contributions to the discussion / feedback / forums.
In this context, I don't support grading contributions because students might consider it as assignment and feel obligated to do it. Instead, I use the discussion forums as a tool to encourage students try something that is not covered in the materials. Say for example, using a class in Java that does a function faster than the one discussed in the classroom.
Many students will take this as a challenge and start working on it and in some cases the topic is brought to the classroom with questions and suggestions.
Yes, but not for passive participation. There must be an assessable product
Absolutely not. Online participation should be about building participatory learning, open communication, establishing and nurturing confidence, and allowing collaboration to grow. As soon as you make it 'assessable' you have lost the whole point of community building and nurturning love of learning.
Yes, it should. Students' Participation is an absolutely vital aspect in both traditional and blended learning.
Yes, it should. Students' Participation is an absolutely vital aspect in both traditional and blended learning.
I think if you can get access to their active internet participation, it is recommended that these tasks should be given marks. Allocation of marks is one of the ways by which hou can trace the educational individual differences of students. You can identify those who have active participation from those who have little or no participation. Best regards. Hazim.
It depends on subject. On line participation of students in blended course will help them . But should not be graded but monitored. On line learning , discussions increase the scope of learning . If some contents of a course blended with online course then it will work better and can be then graded appropriate manner provided students have really participated in online course as per instructions.
By your words I understood that the question is about motivation and participation. If that is true, I would bring gamification methodology to the table. You will find things as badges and leaderboards which are worth and relatively simple to be implemented. For instance: To be graded would be the top level of badges
Dear colleagues,
Thank you all for your views. In some cases, teachers are not allowed to assess and score students' online participation. In such cases, teachers look for and encourage participation, open communication, enhancing confidence, and collaboration. Freedom, participation, collaboration, and accessibility of knowledge are behind using blended learning in some higher education institution.
Hello,
Yes, of course, the participation of learners in an online course is noted and the teacher can also have the minutes of the final synthesis of the results of these students' work.
For formative assessment blended learning can enhance learning experience of students and thus can be graded
Yes but not the first discussion. If students are new to the discussion forum, they may not always write within the word limit or follow the required netiquette. As such, point out where they need to improve from their first discussion, so that they are aware of what is required and then grade only their best posts to give them the best advantage. If the discussion forums are not graded, students may not give it their best effort. I have used them in debates successfully as shown in this resource: Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...
Many thanks,
Debra
Yes Debra I totally endorse this since i have had the experience of conducting graded discussion at Virtual university of Pakistan for many years, initially it is difficult for students to get the hang of it all, however, after a while they get quite proficient in it.
It is really true that the main purpose of blended approaches to learning is to enhance learners' engagement, collaborative work , and self access learning. However, Concerned scholars have currently emphasized that blended courses should accommodate some kind of assessment component so as to get students to take responsibility for their learning and to validate their understanding of the course objectives. Under such perspectivization, standardized tests with traditional grading systems provide minimal feedback and can be detrimental to learners' participation and engagement. Rather, there is need for qualitative assessment techniques like collaborative group projects which encourage better interaction , richer forms of feedback, and deeper modes of learning.
Thank you dear colleagues for your valuable answers and views.
Dr Aida Mohammad Ali Bakeer ..I entirely agree that it should be graded as well.
Hi Aide.... personally, i believe that it shouldnt be graded, bcuz, in the end, what matter the most is/are the assessments required of the said course; so, as long as the students submit everything required, there shouldnt be any problem. However, administratively, i also think that there should be some sort of evidence that indicate students' presence "during the course"; thus, their log-ins should be taken into consideration, perhaps as a requirement to graduate or completion of the course, but not graded as part of the course' overall assessment.
in my case, yes, i found that way can attract my students to more involve in online activities
I do agree with Debra Sharon Ferdinand-James ide points. Maybe you can show some examples of good comments or good constructive feedback as a guide to the students. Furthermore, students will not give comments if there is no marks awarded. I personally feel that blended learning should be graded as a part of the assessment.
Thank you Alex De Kweldju, Jamri Dafrizal, Linda Khoo Mei Sui, and Dr Balakrishnan Muniapan for your answers.
I think this is more related to the course topic and how it is designed . if the learners are mature and the subject is a high-level one , it may not be graded. while if the topic is more informational and target junior learners , then grading would be an effective tool to encourage and stimulate learners.
Not graded perhaps but used towards a final assessment as participation through oral representation, diaries, portfolios, etc are already used.
Dear Aida Mohammad I think that if educational technology can be combined with a strong skilled teacher, this will make for a classroom where a teacher is able to build powerful relationships and direct their attention where students need them most. The teacher can spend time communicating, connecting, facilitating, providing feedback, and ultimately helping all students learn. A great teacher, equipped with great online learning tools, is changing the way students think about school, about their education, and about their lives. They’re making learning effective, efficient, empowering, and engaging. Provide positive feedback to students and enjoy success, thus grading can be also an effective tool to encourage and stimulate learners. I suggest to you read (The Role of the Teacher in a Blended Learning Classroom), you may find more answers about your question.
Thank you Mayyada Mahdi for your reply, and the recommended article.
Presumably online experiences are an integrated component of the course tapestry. Consequently, these “homework” activities’ efficacy must be assessed for the benefit of present and future students. It is not that difficult when one plans regarding products to be produced and assessed.
Yes, online part in a blended learning should be graded like the face-to-face part. But the educators need to make sure that all the participants are provided equal digital access. If there is digital divide exists among the participants, grading online part may hurt the participants on the wrong side of the divide - those who don't have adequate ICT access.
In my online courses, typically half of the students' final grade results from their interaction in the "forums." In the weekly cycle, they must make their initial posts by Thursday night and reply posts by Sunday night. Depending on eh class, there are two or three forums each week in which they must comment.
I have a grading rubric for the posts, but as long as they make thoughtful comments showing critical thinking, and make them on time, they get full credit.
As both a postgraduate co-ordinator for distance taught qualifications, and a distance postgraduate student, I can understand the benefit in seeing that all students are posting something in forums and are displaying the fact that they are active participants in the course. From a student perspective, however, there isn't always something meaningful to contribute (especially if you haven't been one of the first 4-5 students to comment) and it just becomes a compliance exercise, rather than a task in which we are articultaing what we have learned.
I do think that portfolios and monitoring what materials students are accessing (and how frequently) may be a better indication of thier engagement in a course.
While I agree with Emma that some professor have designed their discussion boards as a compliance exercise, depending on the student there are other benefits. Some students who would rather die than respond publicly in class write freely and openly in an on-line forum. There is one size fits all solution that effects every student in the same way.
I do not believe that Forum participation should be graded in the sense that you are describing it. Forums should be places for open communication without fear of judgement about what is being said (from an academic perspective) - rather they should be places for building knowledge together through peer interaction. However it is possible to leverage this for formal assessment. My approach is to include a final reflective/reflexive blog post as part of the final assessment that requests students to examine their thinking, developing knowledge and emergent professional opinion on the subject content based on their own blog posts and forum contributions. This CAN be assessed against very robust rubrics and is a much better way of supporting learning than forced interaction for the sake of it because the forums are marked. There is now fair way to mark forum contributions and as Emma Page-Gray has pointed out, all that it achieves is forced and artificial involvement. Forum contributions should be like active and vibrant tutorial discussion. Write, feedback on other's ideas, let people know when you have had a 'light-bulb' moment and why, share fab readings, support each other in assessment preparation, and build knowledge and learning together. Emma Page-Gray
Judy O'Connell - Not sure if you are replying to my previous comments or not. :-) The grades I give for forum posts have a rubric, but as a practical matter, as long as the post says something thoughtful, showing critical thinking, it gets full credit. Only when posts are extra-short, showing minimal effort, do I deduct points. We get some really good discussions, and the discussions represent a considerable amount of the constructivist process of fitting new information in with what they already know.
Unless you are going to make forum discussions optional, there must be some means for holding students accountable for actually doing the work.
Hi. Judy O'Connell, Michael W. Marek, Litart Litarature, Nirmala S.V.S.G, thank you for sharing your information
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